Enrique Álvarez Córdova (4 March 1930 – 27 November 1980) was a politician and statesman of

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Biography

Enrique was the son of one of El Salvador's ruling families. He was intelligent, charismatic and wealthy. His mother was surnamed Córdova. Álvarez attended

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international Fraternities and sororities in North America, fr ...

(Gamma Upsilon). After a frustrated attempt to be a Salvadoran "

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

er," attempting to implement agrarian reform as El Salvador's minister of

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and cattle raising, Álvarez dramatically changed course and joined the Democratic Revolutionary Front (''Frente Democrático Revolucionário'' or ''FDR'').

Kidnapping and death

On 27 November 1980, Álvarez and five other FDR directors were kidnapped from a meeting in El Salvador's capital,

San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...

. According to the 29 November 1980, issue of ''

El Diario de Hoy ''Diario de Hoy'' is a morning newspaper in El Salvador. It is published in San Salvador and circulates throughout the country. It also has an open online edition. The director of ''El Diario de Hoy'' is Enrique Altamirano Madriz, its executive ...

'' cited by former Dartmouth researcher John W. Lamperti, their bodies were discovered outside the capital on 28 November. Enrique himself had "sustained twelve bullet wounds: ten in the back, one in the head and one in the arm, plus three other wounds in the back."https://math.dartmouth.edu/~lamperti/centralamerica_presente.html Enrique Alvarez: ¡ Presente !

Aftermath

The right-wing extremist group Maximiliano Hernández Martínez Anti-Communist Brigade (''Brígada Anticomunista Maximiliano Hernández Martínez'') claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and subsequent murders. Given the volatile situation present at the time, the crime sparked public outcry, curtailing hopes for a political solution to the

Salvadoran Civil War The Salvadoran Civil War () was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guer ...

, which began that same year. Despite denying any involvement, in 1993 the post-

United Nations Truth Commission reported a strong connection between high level government security forces and Enrique's murder, however it was unable to identify the perpetrators. Enrique was later described by San Salvador

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

member Monsignor Ricardo Urioste as "the first rich man who gave his life for the poor of El Salvador."Lamperti, ibid., quoting Msgr. Ricardo Urioste.
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Sources

Daily Latin Co.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez Cordova, Enrique 1930 births 1980 deaths People from San Salvador Agriculture ministers of El Salvador Rutgers University alumni Assassinated Salvadoran politicians People murdered in El Salvador 1980 crimes in El Salvador 1980 murders in North America 1980s murders in El Salvador North American politicians assassinated in the 1980s Politicians assassinated in 1980