Summary: | The crisis that transformed, in the late Seventies and early Eighties, Central America in one of the strategic areas of the tension of the "Cold War", produced an international mobilization of political, social and religious actors. In particular, after the tragic death of Archbishop Oscar Romero on March 24, 1980, an historically marginal theater as the small El Salvador became the center of a complex network of diplomatic activities, policy initiatives and forms of unpublished mobilization. The Salvadoran case represents a powerful model for reading the relationships between endogenous processes and the impact of the Cold War, and its interpretation from Europe and Italy. In Italy the Salvadoran crisis held important places in the national public discourse, gaining a presence in major newspapers, mobilizing action of NGOs, political parties, social groups and especially in the Catholic world; ecclesiastical and secular actors promoted a large number of initiatives, books, reports, events. This research is based on documents preserved in historical archives (Lelio and Lisli Basso Foundation, Pax Christi, Foundation Balducci, Sturzo Institute) and private collections (Turoldo, Bassetti, Cardinal Casaroli) without the addition of brochures, magazines and literature.
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