Sanchez Hernandez, Fidel

▪ 2004

      El Salvadoran politician and military man (b. July 7, 1917, El Divisadero, El Salvador—d. Feb. 28, 2003, San Salvador, El Salvador), as president of El Salvador (1967–72), led the country into the so-called Soccer War in 1969. After a career in the military that included stints as a military attaché in Paris and in Washington, D.C., Sánchez Hernández became minister of the interior in 1962. As the candidate of the conservative National Conciliation Party, Sánchez Hernández easily won election as president in 1967. He steered a mildly reformist course. In 1969 El Salvador and Honduras were experiencing tension over a border dispute and a plan by Honduras to forcibly repatriate hundreds of thousands of El Salvadorans. In this climate a disputed World Cup association football (soccer) qualifying match touched off rioting, and El Salvador invaded Honduras on July 14. Less than two weeks later, the Organization of American States stepped in to halt the war. Sánchez Hernández's term of office ended in 1972.

* * *