There were fewer than 50,000 Central American immigrants in the United States in 1960. In the two decades that followed, that number would multiply by seven. By 1990, the number would top one million.1 Natural disaster, civil war, and political violence were driving most of these migrants north from countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Their arrival in the United States was complicated by U.S. involvement with repressive regimes in their home countries and Cold War policies.
Cacahuate, amendments by Joelf, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Guatemala
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the CIA to carry out “Operation PBSuccess,” as part of an armed overthrow of democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz. Arbenz was planning to nationalize the U.S. United Fruit Company. In addition to lobbying by United Fruit that Arbenz would “jeopardize economic interests in the region,” the move was viewed as a Cold War threat. Read more about the Cold War influences here. The CIA led Guatemalan militants and provided planes to force Arbenz’s resignation and install General Castillo Armas as president. “Castillo Armas helped execute the last component of PBSuccess, which called for state kidnappings and executions of many Guatemalan citizens suspected of opposing the new regime,” according to a case study by the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College. 2
Armas was assassinated in 1957 and was replaced by Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes. It would be against Fuentes’ regime that left-wing military academy students and defecting soldiers launched a civil war that would last for thirty-six years. “In 1982, the rebel groups formed a coalition, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (or URNG). The URNG continued to clash with the successive military governments and their affiliated right-wing death squads.”3
In addition to political violence, a devastating 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the country on February 4, 1976. With thousands killed and even more injured, and homes and infrastructure destroyed, this natural disaster pushed more people to leave. By the time the civil war ended, 400,000 Guatemalans had fled north to countries such as Mexico, Canada, and the United States.4
The Hotel Terminal in Guatemala City collapsed in the 1976 earthquake.
U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey/Photographer not identified, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
El Salvador
In El Salvador, the United States provided support to El Salvador’s unelected government in fighting the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, a left-wing guerrilla army, in a 13-year-long civil war that lasted from 1979-1992.
“The root causes of the conflict were economic,” according to a case study by the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College. From the country’s colonial history “a small group of economic elites held political power based on agricultural exports. This political monopoly resulted in exclusive politics, and when limited elections were held in the 1960s, the elections were influenced and controlled by the elite. The Communist Party of El Salvador won the elections with a platform of land reform, redistribution of wealth, and an end to human rights abuses. The military-backed incumbent government refused to accept the results.”5
The U.S. backed the unelected military government because of the Cold War. Read more about the Cold War influences here. In its fight to remain in power, the Salvadoran government murdered noncombatants, including teachers and students, and engaged in human rights violations.6 More than a quarter of El Salvadorians fled during the civil war.7
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Above, attendees at Archbishop Óscar Romero's funeral flee after hearing gunshots. Romero, left image, spoke out against violence in the escalating civil war in his role as archbishop of San Salvador. While celebrating Mass in 1980, he was assassinated. A UN commission investigation found that military officer Roberto D'Aubuisson had ordered Romero's murder. D'Aubuisson is described as "the most notorious leader of Salvadoran death squads" and "author of the assassination of Archbishop Romero" in Charles D. Brockett's book Political Movements and Violence in Central America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 240.
Top Image: LaNicoya, CC BY 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons | Image at Left: Arzobispado de San Salvador; Congregatio de Causis Sanctorum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Nicaragua
In Nicaragua, the United States backed the dictatorship of President Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The Sandinista Front for National Liberation, a leftist, revolutionary, guerrilla organization of the 1960s opposed Debayle and popular support for the Sandinistas grew within Nicaragua. On July 17, 1979, Debayle resigned and fled to Paraguay, where he was later assassinated. Two days after Debayle’s resignation, a coalition that would create the Government Junta of National Reconstruction came to power, promising reform. 8
According to Migration Policy Institute, migration from Nicaragua began with the wealthy elites, military leaders, and members of the deposed government fleeing to the United States and Costa Rica after Debayle’s overthrow. “Second and third waves of emigration began in 1982 and 1985, as President Ronald Reagan increased U.S. support for anti-Sandinista rebels known as the Contra. As the war increased and economic crisis deepened, many poorer and middle-class citizens fled.”9
The Contras, right-wing, counterrevolutionary militias, were formed by former National Guard members to thwart the new provisional government.10 The U.S. viewed events happening in Nicaragua as Cold War threats. Read more about the Cold War influences here. The CIA soon met with contra leaders, and U.S. military and financial support followed.11
As of 1990, the census found 169,000 Nicaraguans living in the United States.12
A sign in Bluefields, Nicaragua, warns passersby not to enter the military zone. The warning is displayed in English, Spanish, and Miskito, an Indigenous language.
LaNicoya, CC BY 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons
1. Sierra Stoney and Jeanne Batalova, “Central American Immigrants in the United States.” Migration Policy Institute, March 18, 2013, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/central-american-immigrants-united-states-2011.
2. Ryan Oster, “Guatemalan Civil War 1960-96," Study of Internal Conflict (SOIC) Case Studies, Study Sequence No. 36, March 2024, Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College, http://media.defense.gov/2024/Mar/20/2003416572/-1/-1/0/20240306_GUATEMALANCIVILWAR_1960-96.PDF.
3. Ryan Oster.
4. James Smith, “Guatemala: Economic Migrants Replace Political Refugees,” Migration Policy Institute, April 1, 2006, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/guatemala-economic-migrants-replace-political-refugees.
5. Seth Cain, “El Salvador 1979-92,” Study of Internal Conflict (SOIC) Case Studies, Study Sequence No. 9, April 2024, Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College, https://media.defense.gov/2025/Apr/07/2003683788/-1/-1/0/20250407_ELSALVADOR_1979-92_FINAL.PDF.
6. Seth Cain.
7. Sarah Gammage, “El Salvador: Despite End to Civil War, Emigration Continues” Migration Policy Institute, July 26, 2007, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/el-salvador-despite-end-civil-war-emigration-continues.
8. Maria Luiza Takahashi, “Nicaragua (Contras) 1978-90," Study of Internal Conflict (SOIC) Case Studies, Study Sequence No. 19, August 2024, Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College, https://media.defense.gov/2024/Oct/02/2003557339/-1/-1/0/20241001_NICARAGUA%20(CONTRAS)_1978-90.PDF.
9. Charles G. Ripley III, “Crisis Prompts Record Emigration from Nicaragua, Surpassing Cold War Era,” Migration Policy Institute, March 7, 2023, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/record-emigration-nicaragua-crisis.
10. Maria Luiza Takahashi.
11. Maria Luiza Takahashi.
12. Charles G. Ripley III.