In early 1969, Honduras had a problem with land. Landless Honduran peasants pressed their government for farms, and President Oswaldo López Arellano answered by enforcing a law that gave land rights only to people born in Honduras. About 300,000 Salvadorans had settled there to farm, some for decades. Now the government began seizing their plots, legal owners and squatters alike. Thousands of refugees streamed back across the border into El Salvador, a country already too crowded to support them. Newspapers on both sides made it worse, calling the neighbors thieves or aggressors. The spark came in June, in a three-match football series for a place in the World Cup. How did a sports tournament turn into an invasion?
The Football War
A 1969 World Cup qualifier between Honduras and El Salvador ended in a 100-hour war that killed 2,000 to 3,000 people.
Chapter 1
A Law About Land
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the conflict between El Salvador and Honduras called the Football War?
Fighting began weeks after three World Cup qualifying matches between the two nations in June 1969. The deeper cause was Honduras enforcing a land law that expelled Salvadoran farmers. The matches inflamed anger that already existed.
How long did the Football War last and how did it end?
The fighting lasted about 100 hours, so it is also called the 100-Hour War. The Organization of American States negotiated a ceasefire that took effect on the night of July 18, 1969. Salvadoran troops left Honduras by August 2 after the OAS threatened an economic blockade.
What was unusual about the air fighting in the Football War?
The war produced the last recorded air-to-air dogfights between piston-engined, propeller-driven fighters. Both sides flew surplus American planes from World War II. Honduran Captain Fernando Soto shot down three Salvadoran aircraft in a single day.
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