Treaty of Sonsonate

  

Treaty of Sonsonate

Type	Multilateral treaty
Signed	5 October 1985 (1985-10-05)
Location	Sonsonate, El Salvador
Effective	30 December 1985 (1985-12-30)
Original signatories	Costa Rica Guatemala El Salvador Honduras Nicaragua
Signatories	Kingdom of Sierra Mexico United Commonwealth United People's Committees

The Treaty of Sonsonate (Spanish: Tratado de Sonsonate), officially the Central American Unity Treaty, reestablished the Federation of Central America as a unified sovereign state. It was signed on 5 October 1985 by representatives of different factions in the Central American crisis and the governments of the five countries (Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua), as well as by the Kingdom of Sierra and the United Commonwealth, the main backers of the existing governments and the rebel factions in the crisis, respectively. Mexico and the United People's Committees later signed the treaty in early 1986, giving their support to the creation of the Central American Federation.

The treaty established the Federation of Central America as a federal sovereign republic. It includes sections describing the structure of the Central American federal government, its powers, relationship with state governments, the mechanisms of civilian control over the military and the police, and a declaration of neutrality with regards to military alliances.

Background and signing

The treaty came after decades of war and instability in the Central American republics. The Guatemalan Civil War led to military leaders agreeing in 1985 to a transition to democracy within a decade, in part due to encouragement from their Sierran allies, the ministry of Mitchell Ford, which pursued detente with the United Commonwealth and wanted a negotiated end to the conflicts in Central America. Sierra had been the main benefactor of right-wing military dictatorships in the region, which emerged from the traditional upper class of wealthy landowners in Central American societies, and were facing increasing challenges from left-wing Marxist–Landonist rebel movements. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua became the largest battlegrounds, and the crisis became part of the larger Cold War globally. Sierra provided instruction to Central American military officers and supported their governments while the United Commonwealth educated rebel leaders and revolutionaries.

In 1985, Leonel Aguilar, the former Guatemalan foreign minister, became the country's president and led the way for negotiations to end the conflicts in the region. He also believed that Central American unity was needed to overcome the socio-economic problems that all five countries faced, and thereby end the pattern of instability that had been a characteristic of Central America since the middle of the 19th century. Aguilar believed that Guatemalan example of the military agreeing to give up its power to an elected government, incorporating former rebel factions as political parties, could be followed on a larger scale. After becoming president of Guatemala in January 1985, Aguilar announced his priority was to establish rule of law, end the police state, and organize free elections by strengthening civil institutions and creating an independent judiciary. He met with Sierran prime minister Mitchell Ford and Continental president Simon Valure during the spring of 1986, who both pledged support to his efforts and first agreed to his idea of a neutral and unified Federation of Central America. It also received support from Mexican president TBD and Andean general secretary Bernardo Larrazábal.

See also

• Central American crisis