"We need the closest possible cooperation with the Church": Catholic Activists, Central America, and the Reagan Administration, 1981–1982

Catholic activists and clergy wielded significant influence on U.S. policy-making decisions regarding Central America during the 1980s. Throughout that decade, Catholics in both Central America and the United States criticized the Reagan Administration's policies toward the region in the Catholic and secular press, held prominent roles in transnational and grassroots human rights NGOs, and pressured U.S. legislators and policymakers to halt arms sales to Central America's dictatorships. This article argues that Catholics' activism was especially influential in 1981–1982 when their advocacy and public visibility prompted key administration and State Department officials to consider implementing changes to the United States' Central American policies. Policy changes sought to address Catholics' concerns about the region's violence and poverty, forestall mounting criticism of the administration's desire to intervene in civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, and to improve the administration's relationship with members of the U.S. Catholic Left, who were some of the most vocal opponents to the Reagan Administration's foreign policy goals in its earliest days. The article concludes that while Catholics' success in altering the trajectory of U.S.-Central American relations was, at best, limited, it was nevertheless a significant moment in the regions' shared diplomatic history.