I | INTRODUCTION |
, republic on the Pacific Coast of Central America. The smallest
country in the region, El Salvador is second only to Guatemala in population,
and is the most densely populated republic on the mainland of the Americas.
Although traditionally a rural country, it experienced extensive migration to
urban areas in the 20th century, and nearly one-third of its population lives
within the metropolitan area of San Salvador, the capital and largest city. The
country was named El Salvador, which is Spanish for “the savior,” in honor of
Jesus Christ.
A volcanic mountain chain dominates the
country’s landscape and provides ideal conditions for coffee cultivation, which
has been the mainstay of the Salvadoran economy for more than a century. The
coffee-based economy helped to create a society divided between a small, wealthy
ruling class and a large, impoverished laboring class. Throughout the 1980s the
nation was torn by civil war, but in the 1990s it began to recover from the
social, political, and economic damage caused by a decade of violent struggle.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
El Salvador is 140 km (90 mi) wide at its
widest point and 260 km (160 mi) long, with an area of 21,041 sq km (8,124 sq
mi). The only Central American state without a Caribbean shoreline, El Salvador
is bounded on the west by Guatemala, on the north and east by Honduras, on the
south by the Pacific Ocean, and on the extreme southeast by the Gulf of Fonseca,
which it shares with Honduras and Nicaragua. The country’s geography is defined
by its volcanic mountains, separated by the plateaus and valleys of the central
region. The mountains descend to a narrow, fertile coastal plain, which drops
steeply into the Pacific.
A | Natural Regions |
Volcanic ranges occupy most of El Salvador’s
area. More than 25 extinct volcanic cones punctuate its horizons, with many
small and large craters showing past lava flows. The San Miguel, Santa Ana, San
Salvador, and Izalco volcanoes have all been active in modern times. The highest
mountains are in the sparsely populated, northwestern part of the country and
include the Santa Ana volcano, the highest point in the country, at 2,385 m
(7,825 ft) above sea level.
Most of El Salvador’s population and
agricultural land are located in the central plateaus and valleys, at elevations
from 600 m (2,000 ft) to 1,200 m (4,000 ft), where volcanic ash contributes to
rich soil. The Pacific coastal plain also offers rich agricultural lands.
However, much of it is sandy and marshy, except for areas near the Gulf of
Fonseca, where the land is higher and is marked by cliffs and ridges. Small
bays, coves, capes, estuaries, and islands dot the 300-km (200-mi) Pacific
coastline. El Salvador claims territorial waters to 200 nautical miles (370
km/230 mi) offshore. Earthquakes are frequent in El Salvador.
B | Rivers and Lakes |
Several small rivers flow through El
Salvador into the Pacific, including the Goascorán, Jiboa, Torola, Paz and the
Río Grande de San Miguel. Only the largest river, the Lempa, flowing from
Honduras across El Salvador to the ocean, is navigable for commercial traffic.
Volcanic craters enclose scenic lakes, the most important of which are Ilopango
(70 sq km/27 sq mi) and Coatepeque (26 sq km/10 sq mi). The largest natural lake
is Lake Güija (44 sq km/17 sq mi). Several artificial lakes were created by the
damming of the Lempa River, the largest of which is Embalse Cerrón Grande (350
sq km/135 sq mi).
C | Climate |
El Salvador’s tropical climate varies
between regions. The coastal plains along the Pacific are very hot, although the
humidity is relatively low. Much of the country enjoys mountain elevation: A
semitropical, springlike climate prevails from about 600 to 1,200 m (about 2,000
to 4,000 ft), and a temperate climate occurs above 1,200 m (4,000 ft). A rainy
season from May through October brings the annual average rainfall for most of
the country to about 2,030 mm (about 80 in). Dry and often dusty conditions
prevail from November through April. The average annual temperature of San
Salvador is 24°C (75°F).
D | Plant and Animal Life |
El Salvador contains fewer species of plants
than the other Central American states, but still has much of the luxuriant and
colorful vegetation characteristic of the tropics, including more than 200
different species of orchids. The mountains of El Salvador have temperate
grasslands and sparse forests of oak and pine. The natural vegetation of the
rest of the country consists of deciduous trees and subtropical grasslands.
Tropical fruit and medicinal plants are abundant.
Because of its high population density and
fairly extensive farming, only 14 percent of El Salvador’s land remains as
forest. This has limited the survival of animal life to a greater extent than in
other Central American states. Habitat destruction and logging have caused many
animal species to become rare or to disappear altogether, notably the crested
eagle and the jaguar. Among the mammals still found wild in El Salvador are the
monkey, coyote, puma, and ocelot, along with a great variety of small animals.
Reptiles include the iguana and boa constrictor, and there are 251 different
bird species, including 17 varieties of hummingbirds. The Salvadoran government
has established natural reserves and parks to preserve natural habitats, the
most important of which are at Montecristo National Park, El Imposible National
Park, Cerro Verde, Deininger Park, and El Jocotal Lagoon.
E | Natural Resources |
El Salvador lacks significant mineral
resources, although it has small amounts of gold and silver, as well as
limestone and gypsum. Most of its forests have been depleted, but some
commercially valuable trees remain, including oak, cedar, mahogany, balsam, and
rubber. Its fertile valleys and coastal plain, however, remain its principal
natural resources, providing rich soil to grow substantial crops for export and
subsistence.
F | Environmental Issues |
El Salvador has one of the highest annual
rates of deforestation in the world. Less than 1 percent of the nation’s total
land area is designated as protected. The high percentage of primary forest that
has disappeared over the years has produced problems such as poor water quality
and soil erosion, especially in areas of steep terrain and thin soils. Water
pollution and soil contamination from pesticides and disposal of toxic wastes
have also become serious problems. The country’s high population density,
especially in the metropolitan area of San Salvador, contributes to urban
environmental problems, including air and water pollution. In urban areas, most
people have access to safe water, but less than half the people in rural areas
do.
III | PEOPLE |
The Spanish subjugated the native
population of El Salvador in the 16th century. Few Spanish women came to the
country, however, so many Spanish men took Native American women as their mates.
Today nearly 90 percent of the population is mestizo, of mixed European
and Native American descent. People of purely Native American descent represent
about 5 to 10 percent of the population, while people of European descent
represent only about 1 percent.
El Salvador’s population, 5.2 million
according to the 1992 census, was estimated at 7,066,403 in 2008. It grew
rapidly during the 20th century, at times increasing more than 3 percent a year.
According to a 2008 estimate, El Salvador is the most densely populated country
on the mainland of the Americas, with 341 persons per sq km (883 per sq mi).
This compares with only 12 inhabitants per sq km (31 per sq mi) in 1821 and 38
per sq km (98 per sq mi) in 1900.
Population growth in 2008 has slowed to 1.7
percent. This is due to a declining birth rate, attributed to the use of birth
control, and to the large number of people leaving the country to escape both
the civil war and widespread poverty. More than 1 million Salvadorans live
abroad, and an estimated 6 of every 1,000 people left the country in 1995.
Still, the nation’s birth rate remains far
greater than the death rate (26 births and only 6 deaths for every 1,000
people). El Salvador has a young population, with 38 percent under age 15 and
only 5 percent over age 65. Current life expectancy at birth for Salvadorans
averages 72 years (69 for males and 76 for females), but 22 of every 1,000
infants born die in their first year. In life expectancy and infant mortality,
El Salvador ranks in the middle of Central American nations, but still far
behind Costa Rica and Panama, which have the best conditions in the region.
Steady migration from the countryside has
raised the urban population to 60 percent of the total in this traditionally
rural country. By far the greatest concentration of people is around the capital
city of San Salvador. Although the city itself has only 510,367 residents
(2006), the metropolitan area has about 1.4 million, nearly one-quarter of the
Salvadoran population. Other important Salvadoran cities include Santa Ana
(population 274,830), center of a rich agricultural region; San Miguel
(population 282,367), a trade center at the foot of the San Miguel volcano; and
Mejicanos (population 209,708), a suburb of San Salvador.
A | Ethnic Groups |
El Salvador was home to Native Americans
3,000 years before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in 1524. Inhabited by early
Maya peoples, it was later settled by Nahuatl people from Mexico. The country’s
mestizo majority has its roots in these ethnic groups, but the tiny elite class
that arose with the development of the coffee industry in the 19th century
became increasingly more Caucasian because of immigration and marriage with
Europeans and North Americans. This Europeanization of the elite class over the
past century sets it apart somewhat from the dominant mestizo character of the
middle and lower classes.
Cultural characteristics—language, dress,
and customs—have been more important than ethnic background in differentiating
mestizo from indigenous populations in El Salvador. Although some Native
American communities have survived in the country, most of them have adopted
European ways as a result of the systematic repression of native people,
especially after an uprising in 1932. Estimates of the Native American
population range from the official 1992 government census figure of 5 percent to
a figure of 10 percent, suggested by anthropological research.
B | Language |
The official language of El Salvador is
Spanish, although a few Native Americans continue to speak indigenous languages
(Lenca, Pipil, or Kekchí). Salvadorans in business, government, and academic
positions often know English.
C | Religion |
The country is traditionally Roman
Catholic, and 91 percent of the population is Catholic. Evangelical Protestant
groups have grown rapidly in recent years, and Protestants now number an
estimated 8 percent of the population.
The Catholic clergy traditionally played
important roles in political and economic affairs until liberal reforms in the
late 19th century led to separation of church and state and to a reduced role
for the church. During the past 25 years, however, the “theology of liberation,”
which emphasizes social and economic justice for the poor, became a major force
in Salvadoran Catholicism. Both foreign and native clergy worked to involve the
urban and rural poor in political efforts to protect their rights and improve
their lives. Catholic archbishops often were mediators between the state and
guerrilla forces in the recent civil war. The newer, Protestant sects, on the
other hand, have been more conservative politically and less involved directly
in the political turmoil. However, there is a small Unity Movement political
party based among the Evangelicals.
D | Education |
Salvadoran law mandates free, compulsory
elementary public schools through the 9th grade. Education through the 12th
grade is available, and students completing 12 grades receive the
bachillerato degree (high school diploma). However, enforcement is often
lax, especially in rural areas and in urban slums, and the civil war of the
1980s damaged educational programs. El Salvador has about 3,200 primary and
secondary schools with a total enrollment of 1.3 million students. But only
slightly more than half of the school-age children actually attend school, and
only a third finish the 9th grade. According to a 2005 estimate for people over
age 15, the literacy rate was 81 percent—84 percent for men and 78.9 percent for
women.
The national university is the University
of El Salvador (1841), and the second-largest university is the Jesuit-run
Central American University of José Simeón Cañas (1965). Both suffered from the
political turmoil of the 1980s, and the government closed the national
university for much of that decade because it was a center of leftist activity.
The Central American University also closed for brief periods. The University of
Don Bosco is located in Soyapango, a suburb of San Salvador, and run by the
Salesians, a Catholic religious society. Because of closures at the major
universities, many small, private colleges and universities opened during the
civil war, and more have opened since. Some 115,000 students are enrolled in
institutions of higher education, with more than two-thirds attending private
schools. Education in public schools is free.
E | Way of Life |
There is a substantial contrast between
urban and rural life in El Salvador. San Salvador is a modern city, influenced
by the culture of the United States and Western Europe, while rural areas and
provincial towns practice more traditional Hispanic customs, including folk
music and dancing. Family life is important in both areas, however, and extended
family relationships play an important role in economic and political affairs;
distant relatives and in-laws often use influence to help Salvadorans gain jobs,
favors, and opportunities. Life was severely disrupted during the past two
decades by political turmoil and civil war, which forced many families to flee
from their homes to other parts of the country or to foreign nations.
Soccer is the most popular sport in El
Salvador, where thousands of fans watch competitions by schools, amateur
leagues, and professional teams. In the capital, Cuscatlán Stadium and the Flor
Blanca National Stadium hold 80,000 and 35,000 spectators, respectively. Other
large soccer stadiums are in Santa Ana, San Miguel, Zacatecoluca, and San
Vicente. Many other sports, including basketball, baseball, boxing, volleyball,
tennis, swimming, and surfing, also are popular in the country, as is automobile
racing. The modern Formula One auto racecourse at El Jabalí, 30 km (20 mi) from
San Salvador, accommodates 100,000 spectators.
F | Social Issues |
Social class remains an important reality
of modern El Salvador despite the growth of a significant middle class in San
Salvador, the rise of important labor organizations, and increased democratic
political participation. The wealthy upper class, which emerged in the late 19th
century with the growth of the coffee industry, has traditionally dominated the
government and economy, controlling most of the land and political offices. In
the mid- to late 20th century the elite class expanded its interests into other
agricultural exports, finance, manufacturing, and other economic activities.
This class often has been referred to as the Fourteen Families, although the
prominent families always exceeded that number and in the 1980s increased to
more than 200. According to 1990 figures, the wealthiest 20 percent of
Salvadorans received 66 percent of the national income, while the poorest 20
percent received only 4 percent. Some 48 percent of Salvadorans lived in poverty
in 1992.
Millions of poor Salvadorans, in rural
and urban areas, suffer from inadequate housing, health care, and basic
services. Malnutrition is a major problem in much of the country, which depends
heavily on imported food. Urban poverty is especially noticeable around San
Salvador, where thousands live crowded into miles of shantytowns without
electricity, running water, or adequate sanitation. These extensive slums
contrast starkly with the walled-in and well-guarded palaces of the wealthy in
San Salvador’s elegant Escalón neighborhood.
G | Culture |
Salvadoran culture reflects the native
and European roots of the society, although following indigenous ways has been
discouraged by the government since the 1930s. Archaeological ruins, including
ancient Maya pyramids and dwellings at Tazumal and Cihuatán, highlight the
heritage of indigenous peoples, while much of the colonial art and architecture
reflects the Spanish influence. Religious and folk festivals are popular
diversions for both large and small communities throughout the country, often
featuring colorful folk dancing, more European than Native American.
Salvadoran authors have produced examples
of fine poetry, literature, theater, and historical writing. Important
20th-century authors include Francisco Gavidia; novelist Salvador Salazar Arrué,
whose work focused on rural life, Native American mythology and customs, and the
clash of cultures in Salvadoran society; and poet and novelist Claribel Alegría,
who has written on women’s struggles and the upheaval of the 1980s. In recent
years the destructive civil war has limited cultural development, while North
American culture has been a strong influence in music, cinema, and
television.
IV | ECONOMY |
Traditionally, the Salvadoran economy
depended heavily on agriculture. For much of the colonial period in the 16th and
17th centuries, subsistence farming and ranching occupied most of the
population. In the 18th century Spanish economic policy promoted new
agricultural products for export, and Salvadoran indigo became Central America’s
leading crop. In the 19th century indigo lost importance after the discovery of
chemical dyes, and coffee replaced it as the principal Salvadoran export. A
small group of coffee planters gained economic and political power, leading El
Salvador to depend on international coffee markets. Coffee brought El Salvador
enough wealth to build impressive new ports, railways, and paved highways, and
to modernize San Salvador.
In the 1940s the planter class took over
more land along the Pacific Coast and expanded into other export crops, such as
cotton, sugar, rice, and beef. Peasants were forced off their land, and domestic
food production lagged behind rapid population growth. While the small group of
landowners became richer, most Salvadorans faced hunger and malnutrition that
was among the worst in the world. This economic condition led to serious social
and political problems and eventually to the civil war of the 1980s. The war
devastated the economy, causing an estimated $2 billion in economic damage.
Investment and production declined sharply at the beginning of the war, then
grew slowly. In the 1980s El Salvador relied on more than $5 billion in foreign
aid, mostly from the United States.
Since the war, El Salvador has made notable
progress in restoring production and investment. Recent reforms have eliminated
many price controls, broken up government monopolies over agricultural exports,
reduced trade barriers, maintained interest rates, and reduced the deficit. The
postwar governments have worked to privatize government-owned activities and
expand the nation’s roads, communication services and other facilities.
Agriculture in 2006 accounted for 11 percent
of El Salvador’s $18.7 billion gross domestic product (GDP). Coffee remains the
major export, accounting for one-third of export revenues, but is a declining
percentage of total economic activity, as investment has widened the base of
both the domestic and export economy. Manufacturing now accounts for 22 percent
of the GDP. Annual growth in the GDP averaged 4.2 percent in the period 2006.
The per capita GDP for 2006 was $2,758.50, but when inflation was taken into
account, wages declined in the 1990s.
A | Labor |
The labor force is estimated at 2.7
million, with 19 percent of workers in agriculture, forestry, or fishing; 24
percent in industry, including manufacturing, construction, and mining; and 57
percent in services, including trade, finance, and government. Unemployment in
2006 stood at 6.6 percent, but underemployment remains a serious problem.
The total of industrial, rural, and
government workers belonging to unions is about 300,000, or less than 20 percent
of the labor force. Union organization among rural workers was banned until the
1980s by the government, which was controlled by large landowners, and
industrial unions were suppressed from the 1930s until 1950. Antiunion violence
connected with the civil war also limited membership. The largest labor
organizations are the National Peasants Union for rural workers and the urban
National Federation of Salvadoran Workers.
B | Agriculture |
Some 32 percent of El Salvador’s land is
cultivated, and 12.1 percent more is used for plantation agriculture.
Agriculture accounts for only 11 percent of the GDP but 34 percent of the
country’s exports. Coffee is the most important export crop, as it has been for
more than a century, but other crops include sugarcane, corn, rice, beans,
oilseeds, cereals, vegetables, fruits, beef, and dairy products.
Most of the country’s valuable farmland is
controlled by a few wealthy Salvadorans; about 1 percent of the landowners
control more than 40 percent of the arable land. A reform program in the 1980s
redistributed some land to peasants, but large-scale export agriculture still
prevails. With this emphasis on growing crops for export, and El Salvador’s
dense population, the country is not able to grow enough to feed its people and
must import food.
C | Forestry and Fishing |
Because of early deforestation and high
population density, the forest resources of El Salvador occupy only 14 percent
of the area and offer little actual or potential lumber production. Most lumber
is imported. El Salvador, however, is the world’s leading producer of balsam, a
resin from the balsam tree that is used in making medicines and cosmetics.
Commercial fishing along El Salvador’s
Pacific shore has become a growing industry. Frozen shrimp is a leading export,
and some tuna, mullet, mackerel, and swordfish are also marketed domestically
and for export.
D | Manufacturing and Mining |
Since the 1940s, El Salvador has been the
most industrialized nation in Central America. The country’s first steel-rolling
mill opened in 1966. Although the civil war of the 1980s damaged its industries,
by 2006 manufacturing accounted for 22 percent of the GDP. El Salvador’s
factories supply mostly domestic and Central American markets, although new
assembly plants (maquiladoras) have begun to export beyond the region.
Textiles, leather goods, clothing, processed food, tobacco, furniture, wood and
metal products, and chemicals are the principal manufactures.
The civil war disrupted the small gold and
silver mining operations in the country. Mineral extraction is limited to
limestone, gypsum, sea salt, and other construction materials.
E | Energy |
El Salvador depends heavily on electric
energy, which it produces with four hydroelectric plants and with one of the
world’s first geothermal plants. Petroleum imports, however, still provide half
of El Salvador’s energy requirements. Electrical service began in El Salvador in
November 1890.
F | Foreign Trade |
El Salvador has been working to diversify
its economy, which depends heavily on exports, and to increase nontraditional
agricultural exports, but it still imports goods worth more than twice what it
exports. This serious trade deficit remains a weak point in its economy.
Salvadoran exports totaled $1,255 million
in 2003, while imports totaled $4.4 billion. These figures were up from 1993
exports of $731.7 million and imports of $1.9 billion. Principal exports were
coffee, sugar, and frozen shrimp, sold primarily in the United States,
Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Germany. Nearly half of El Salvador’s
exports now go to the nations of the Central American Common Market (CACM). El
Salvador’s imports consist mainly of petroleum and other raw materials, consumer
goods, and capital goods from the United States, Guatemala, Mexico, Japan,
Venezuela, and Germany.
El Salvador’s trade deficit was partially
offset by substantial amounts of economic assistance and credit from the United
States and other Western countries and by about $800 million in payments sent
from Salvadorans living abroad to their families. El Salvador had an external
debt of $2.2 billion at the end of 1994, equal to about one-fifth of its
GDP.
El Salvador is a member of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and is participating in talks with the United States, Canada,
and Mexico on creating a free-trade association in the Western Hemisphere. El
Salvador was a founding member of the Central American Common Market in 1960 and
in the 1990s has been a leader in rebuilding the Central American Economic
Integration Movement (SIECA). In 1995 El Salvador joined in the formation of the
Association of Caribbean States (ACS), which works to create a free-trade zone
among member countries in the region.
G | Currency and Banking |
El Salvador adopted the United States
dollar as its official currency in January 2001.
In the early 1990s, El Salvador had one of
the higher inflation rates in Central America; it reached nearly 20 percent in
1992. But the rate dropped to 12 percent in 1993 and 10 percent in 1994. The
Central Reserve Bank has been effective in regulating interest rates, and the
downward trend continued through 1996.
H | Transportation |
El Salvador has a well-developed highway
system, with paved roads accounting for 20 percent of its 10,029-km (6,232-mi)
system. The civil war prompted new road building, contributing to the rapid
growth of the transportation network. Railroads, on the other hand, are in
declining use. The country has 603 km (377 mi) of narrow-gauge tracks, but some
sections are abandoned or in ill repair. The major ports are Acajutla, La
Libertad, La Unión, Puerto Cutuco, and Puerto El Triunfo. El Salvador has 106
airports used mainly for private or military aviation and crop dusting. It has
one international airport, near San Salvador, which is served by Transportes
Aéreos Centro Americanos (TACA), a privately owned airline chartered in El
Salvador, and several foreign airlines.
I | Communications |
By 2005 El Salvador had 141 telephone
mainlines for every 1,000 people. Private companies provide cellular telephones
and beeper service. The government’s Administration of Telecommunications
(ANTEL) has installed advanced technology for modern communications development
in the country, including Internet connections, microwave-radio relay systems,
and international satellite communication.
There are 103 commercial radio stations
plus 1 government station. The government also maintains 2 shortwave stations.
There are eight commercial television channels, one government channel, and one
religious channel. Television now reaches all areas of the country. In 1999
there were 504 radio receivers and 213 televisions for every 1,000 residents.
Three companies now provide pay-television service, made up largely of U.S.
programming.
Five national newspapers with modest
circulations are published daily in San Salvador: La Prensa Gráfica
(120,000), El Diario de Hoy (107,000), El Mundo (45,000), La
Noticia (30,000), and Diario Latino (20,000). There are also several
weekly newspapers. Foreign magazines are popular in the country, but there are
few Salvadoran magazines. One notable Salvadoran monthly is ECA, which
provides commentary on Salvadoran politics, society, and economy. It is
published by the Jesuit-run Central American University.
V | GOVERNMENT |
El Salvador’s 1983 constitution—the 23rd in
its history—provides for a representative government with three independent
branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. It mandates universal suffrage
for all citizens over the age of 18. Despite the republican and democratic
provisions of its constitutions, a small, elite group of landowners and military
officers has historically dominated government in El Salvador. Since the civil
war of the 1980s, however, more-democratic procedures have been adopted,
including reforms of the electoral system and inclusion of former leftist
guerrillas in the political system. More people in other social classes have
participated in government.
A | Executive |
The president is popularly elected and must
receive a majority of the votes. Although limited to a single five-year term,
the president in El Salvador has great authority, and the executive branch has
historically dominated the government. The president appoints his ministerial
cabinet with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly.
B | Legislature |
The Legislative Assembly has one chamber of
84 popularly elected deputies who serve three-year terms and may be reelected.
This legislature enacts laws, advises and consents on major executive
appointments, and elects the members of the Supreme Court.
C | Judiciary |
The Supreme Court is the nation’s highest
court of appeals. Other civil and criminal courts are provided in each of El
Salvador’s 14 departments (geographic regions). The Salvadoran legal
system is based on civil and Roman law, with traces of common law. The Supreme
Court provides judicial review of legislative acts and also recognizes, with
reservations, the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in matters
of international law.
D | Local Government |
Local town councils and officials are
popularly elected, but in practice the national president and the military have
exercised great authority in local government. The country is divided into 14
departments (with 1992 populations): Ahuachapán (260,563), Cabañas (136,293),
Chalatenango (180,627), Cuscatlán (167,290), La Libertad (522,071), La Paz
(246,147), La Unión (251,143), Morazán (166,772), San Miguel (380,482), San
Salvador (1,477,766), San Vicente (135,471), Santa Ana (451,620), Sonsonate
(354,641), and Usulután (317,079).
E | Political Parties |
El Salvador was dominated from the 1860s to
1944 by the Liberal Party, which represented the elite class of coffee planters.
More modern parties representing middle- and working-class interests then began
to emerge. But from 1944 to 1979 two ruling parties—first the Party of
Democratic Revolutionary Unification (PRUD), then the Party of National
Conciliation (PCN)—continued to represent the powerful landowners and military
elite.
Beginning in the 1960s, the Christian
Democratic Party (PDC) and the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) challenged
the governing PCN, drawing support from workers, students, and Catholic clergy.
But when the two parties formed a coalition and appeared to win the presidential
election of 1972, they were suppressed by the PCN government, and their leaders
were exiled. A left-wing guerrilla movement, the Farabundo Martí National
Liberation Front (FMLN), then emerged to oppose the government. The clash of
these political factions, representing a broad spectrum of the Salvadoran
people, culminated in the civil war of the 1980s. With support from the U.S.
government, the PDC became a major force in the government. Right-wing interests
then formed the National Republican Alliance (ARENA) in 1982, and by 1989 it
gained control of the government.
With the end of the civil war, the FMLN
became a political party in 1992, serving as the leading group in a leftist
coalition. Many other political parties also formed, and the splintering of
political parties has become characteristic of modern Salvadoran politics. ARENA
maintained control of the government in the 1990s. It lacked a majority in the
legislature but was able to govern through an alliance with the PCN, which was
still an active party. In the legislative elections in 2000 and 2003, the FMLN
won a plurality, but in both cases ARENA was able to maintain control of the
legislature with the support of the PCN. ARENA easily won the presidential
elections in 2004.
F | Social Services |
The Salvadoran Social Security Institute
was created in 1949 to provide national health, accident, unemployment, old-age,
and life insurance. Compulsory contributions from workers, employers, and the
government support the program, which in theory covers most industrial workers
and employees. The system is far from comprehensive, however, and El Salvador’s
millions of poor lack adequate medical care, housing, education, and other basic
services. The deterioration of social services during the civil war of the 1980s
left much of the Salvadoran population in desperate straits. Although economic
recovery has been expected to ease this situation, by the mid-1990s there was
little evidence of significant improvement in health or welfare for the
majority. Such hardships continue to encourage poor Salvadorans to leave the
country.
G | Defense |
El Salvador in 2004 maintained a military
with 15,500 personnel. Branches consisted of an army (13,850 members), navy
(700), and air force (950). These forces are relatively small, especially since
the conclusion of the civil war, and defense expenditures in 2003 were 0.7
percent of the GDP. Two years of military service is compulsory for men between
the ages of 18 and 30, but with more than 75,000 males reaching military age
annually, the government calls relatively few to service.
The army, along with other security forces,
has historically played an important role in Salvadoran politics, and during the
civil war the armed forces aided the government in repressing dissidents. The
peace agreements implemented in 1992 called for decreasing the armed forces from
the wartime high of 63,000 to 32,000, a goal that had been surpassed by 1995.
The Treasury Police, National Police, and National Guard were abolished, and the
intelligence service was transferred to civilian control. A new civilian police
force replaced the discredited National Police, including former guerrillas from
the FMLN among its members.
H | International Organizations |
El Salvador is a member of the United
Nations and its many subsidiary organizations. It is also in the Organization of
American States (OAS), the Organization of Central American States (ODECA), and
other Central American cooperative organizations within the Central American
Economic Integration Movement (SIECA). El Salvador has also ratified the
OAS-sponsored San Salvador Protocol, signed in San Salvador in 1988, which
guarantees the exercise of economic, social, and cultural rights without
discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, or economic
status.
VI | HISTORY |
A | Early Inhabitants and Colonial Period |
Native American peoples related to the
Maya inhabited present-day El Salvador from an early date. Several notable
archaeological sites contain dwellings and other evidence of daily life 1,400
years ago; these were found preserved beneath 6 m (20 ft) of volcanic ash. The
sites include Tazumal, San Andrés, Cihuatán, Quelepa, Cara Sucia, and Joya de
Cerén. Maya groups, including the Pokomam, Lenca, and Chortí, remained in the
area, but in the 11th century ad,
Nahuatl-speaking people related to the Aztec, including the Pipil and Ulua,
migrated along the Pacific coast from Mexico to El Salvador (see Aztec
Empire).
Spaniards first appeared in the area in
1522, when an expedition headed by Andrés Niño entered the Bay of Fonseca. The
Spanish conquest of Cuzcatlán, the Land of Precious Things, as the native
peoples called it, began in 1524. It was led by Captain Pedro de Alvarado, a
daring conquistador who had accompanied Hernán Cortés to Mexico and then
directed the conquest of Guatemala in early 1524. Diseases brought from Europe
preceded the arrival of the Spanish forces, decimating the native peoples and
making the conquest easier for the Spaniards. Yet after a month of bloody
combat, Alvarado, wounded, retreated into Guatemala. His brother Gonzalo and
cousin Diego completed the conquest, and Diego established the city of San
Salvador in 1528 near the present town of Suchitoto. The Spaniards moved San
Salvador to its present site in 1540.
Under the Spanish colonial empire, El
Salvador was part of the Kingdom of Guatemala, which governed most of Central
America. The kingdom was a division of the huge administrative region known as
the Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City, but officials in the
Guatemalan capital made most decisions for the kingdom. El Salvador was part of
the province of Guatemala until the late 1700s, divided into administrative
areas known as alcaldías mayores around the towns of San Salvador, San
Miguel, San Vicente, Santa Ana, and Sonsonate.
The region produced little for export
until the 18th century, when the Spanish government encouraged it to increase
its production of indigo, needed by European textile manufacturers. Salvadoran
indigo became the leading export of the Kingdom of Guatemala, and in 1786 Spain
established San Salvador as a separate political unit within the kingdom. With
this increased economic and political status, Salvadoran Creoles (colonists born
in the Americas but of Spanish descent) resented the continued dominance of
Guatemala’s merchants, colonial administrators, and church officials, and began
to feel a sense of Salvadoran nationalism.
B | Independence |
Salvadorans’ resentment of Guatemala
strengthened when European wars restricted trans-Atlantic trade after 1793 and
contributed to a downturn in Salvadoran indigo exports. By the time Spain’s
control over its colonies weakened as a result of these wars, San Salvador had
become a center of liberal opinion, where Creoles advocated greater political
and economic freedom from Spanish rule. In 1811 a Salvadoran priest, José Matías
Delgado, led a rebellion of Creoles, the first open expression of Salvadoran
sympathy for independence from Spain. Conservative forces from Guatemala, which
remained loyal to Spain, ruthlessly crushed this uprising, increasing Salvadoran
hostility.
Central American independence from Spain
came suddenly and without a struggle. In September 1821 a council of leaders in
Guatemala decided to accept the Plan of Iguala, which created an independent
Mexican Empire under the Creole General Agustín de Iturbide. That month Creoles
in San Salvador issued their own declaration of independence from Spain. They
did not want to remain dominated by Guatemala or to join Iturbide’s empire.
Civil war resulted. Led by Manuel José
Arce, Salvadoran forces defeated a Guatemalan army and consolidated control over
El Salvador. Then, in 1823, a Guatemalan-Mexican army under Mexican General
Vicente Filísola captured San Salvador. Arce fled to the United States. In the
meantime, however, Iturbide’s government in Mexico fell, and Filísola allowed
the Central Americans to convene a congress.
The congress declared absolute Central
American independence on July 1, 1823, and formed the United Provinces of
Central America, a loose federation of the five Central American states that
promised each a high degree of sovereignty. But upper-class Central Americans
were divided by regional rivalries and split between liberal and conservative
factions, which disagreed over political, economic, and religious policies.
Liberals generally sought to limit the role of the Catholic clergy and promote
capitalism, while conservatives favored the traditional power structure,
controlled by large landowners and a powerful church.
Under the federation’s liberal republican
constitution of 1824, Arce won a hotly contested and disputed election to become
the first Central American president in 1825. But Arce alienated his Salvadoran
supporters when he failed to separate El Salvador from the Catholic diocese of
Guatemala, another symbol of El Salvador’s subordinate status to the capital of
Guatemala City. Arce increasingly found himself forced into alliance with
Guatemalan conservatives against both Salvadoran and Guatemalan liberals, and he
finally resigned. Guatemalan conservatives then took over the federal
government, leading to renewed civil war from 1827 to 1829. Although all the
states became involved to some degree, the fighting occurred mainly between
Guatemala and El Salvador. Liberal forces won the war in 1829, and their leader,
Honduran General Francisco Morazán, became the new federal president in 1830. El
Salvador regained a prominent role in the Central American federation, whose
capital was moved in 1834 to Sonsonate, in western El Salvador, and in 1835 to
San Salvador.
However, the federation’s liberal
government faced continued challenges. As part of Morazán’s economic policies,
the government took land from Native Americans, other rural groups, and the
church and turned it over to private landowners. When some of these projects
threatened the Pipil way of life, these native people rebelled in 1833. Morazán
defeated them, but his weakened forces then faced a rural uprising in Guatemala,
led by Rafael Carrera, who overthrew the liberal Guatemalan government. Carrera
then routed Morazán in battle at Guatemala City in March 1840, and the
federation collapsed.
Although El Salvador became nominally
independent after 1840, it was dominated by the conservative Carrera, who ruled
Guatemala until 1865. Military leaders installed by Carrera often controlled El
Salvador, which did not formally declare itself a sovereign republic until
1856.
In 1856 and 1857 Salvadoran troops joined
other Central American forces to drive a U.S. adventurer, William Walker, out of
Nicaragua, where he had taken power. The commander of the Salvadoran forces in
that struggle, General Gerardo Barrios, served as provisional president of El
Salvador in 1858 and again in 1859 and 1860. After becoming president in 1861,
Barrios launched liberal economic reforms, encouraging coffee production through
land grants and tax cuts, and tried to limit the role of the Catholic clergy by
requiring priests to pledge obedience to the state. This brought him into
conflict with Carrera, who invaded El Salvador and eventually defeated Barrios,
installing a more conservative president, Francisco Dueñas.
C | The Coffee Revolution |
After Dueñas, however, liberal presidents
were elected who continued the reforms Barrios had begun. This began a long
period of liberal rule, from 1871 to 1944, that saw the transformation of El
Salvador’s economy, political structure, and society. The major factor behind
this change was the development of a coffee industry as the economic mainstay of
the nation. This produced a new, wealthy ruling class and deepened the gulf
between rich and poor Salvadorans.
After 1885 Salvadorans were finally free
from Guatemalan control. The governments that followed concentrated on economic
growth and improving the country’s basic facilities, such as roads and ports.
Indigo exports, which had provided much of El Salvador’s income, declined after
chemical dyes were developed in 1856. But coffee rapidly replaced indigo as an
export crop, bringing El Salvador such prosperity that by the early 20th century
it was considered the most progressive of the Central American states. New ports
and railways were built, and El Salvador became the first nation in Central
America with paved highways. In San Salvador, impressive public buildings were
constructed, including a new national palace, national library, and military
school. Upper-class residents built lavish private homes, and the city’s streets
were paved and lighted. The population increased, and a small but growing middle
class emerged to staff the government bureaucracy and to work in other
businesses that grew up around the coffee boom.
However, this progress benefited only a
small group; most Salvadorans remained poor. Land was taken from rural residents
and Native Americans and devoted to coffee growing, decreasing the amount of
food that could be grown. Prices for food, much of it imported, rose, but wages
remained low and the population increased rapidly. The elite group of coffee
planters, often called the Fourteen Families, dominated the government as well
as the economy. Between 1885 and 1931, members of these families presided over
the government, while the armed forces maintained order.
Criticism of the governing elite grew
during the 1920s. Alberto Masferrer, a Salvadoran intellectual whose ideas led
to the founding of the Labor Party in 1930, called on the elite to take
responsibility for the welfare of El Salvador’s poor. He advocated moderate
social-welfare programs and the right of workers to form unions and strike. More
radical opposition came from Agustín Farabundo Martí, who began to organize
rural workers into Communist Party cells. Martí sought a revolution that would
overthrow the government and give peasants control over the land.
The worldwide depression that began in
1929 paved the way for the election in 1930 of the Labor Party candidate Arturo
Araújo as president. Araújo was a member of the planter elite, but the upper
class would not permit him to enact the social reforms he and Masferrer had
proposed. After a year of strikes and disorder, on December 2, 1931, the
military removed Araújo from office and replaced him with his vice president,
General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez.
D | Military Rule, 1931-1979 |
Almost immediately, Martí led a revolt of
farm workers, Native Americans, and other rural Salvadorans, armed mostly with
machetes. Hernández Martínez directed the army to put down this insurrection,
which was defeated within days. The military then executed between 10,000 and
30,000 rural Salvadorans. This event, known as La Matanza (the massacre),
became a turning point in El Salvador’s history. Before the uprising, the
governing elite had tolerated some dissent and allowed labor organizations to
form. But after the rebellion, the terrified elite turned to the military to
maintain their power. The 1932 revolt also destroyed indigenous culture in most
parts of El Salvador, for Native Americans had been especially targeted during
the massacre. To survive, the remaining native people adopted mestizo dress and
customs.
Hernández Martínez ruled El Salvador as a
military dictator, suppressing dissent, until he was overthrown in 1944 by
students, workers, and progressive military officers. In the years that
followed, military officers continued to control the government, but new
political parties and labor unions were allowed to form, giving the urban middle
class an opportunity to participate in politics.
After World War II ended in 1945, the
economy became more diversified as new crops were grown for export, which helped
increase the size of both the elite and the middle class. But poverty grew more
widespread among the lower classes, especially rural Salvadorans who were forced
off their land by the expansion of export agriculture. More export crops meant
less land available for growing food, and Salvadorans became among the most
malnourished people in the world.
The Central American Common Market (CACM),
established in 1960, increased trade among the Central American states and
helped Salvadoran industry to expand. Much of the industrial development
resulted from investments by the same powerful families who had developed the
agricultural exports, but for the first time foreign investment also became
important to the Salvadoran economy.
The Liberal Party that had dominated
Salvadoran politics since the 1860s disappeared during this period, but new
parties that were also controlled by the coffee-growing upper class and the
military continued to hold power. The Party of Democratic Revolutionary
Unification (PRUD) governed until 1961, when it was replaced by the similar
Party of National Conciliation (PCN). Led by General Julio Rivera, PCN ruled
until 1979. However, other parties became important, drawing support from a
wider segment of the population. The most effective were the National
Revolutionary Movement (MNR), led by Guillermo Ungo, and the Christian
Democratic Party (PDC), headed by José Napoleón Duarte. Backed by students,
workers, and many Catholic clergy, Duarte was elected mayor of San Salvador in
1964.
In 1969 El Salvador’s economic and social
problems contributed to the outbreak of war with neighboring Honduras. The
so-called Soccer War began as rioting among fans during World Cup soccer playoff
matches between teams from the two nations. But the fundamental underlying cause
was the condition of the poor in overpopulated El Salvador. About 300,000
Salvadorans had migrated into more sparsely populated Honduras, taking over land
and jobs. Large Honduran landowners and workers who felt threatened by the
Salvadorans campaigned to have them expelled, and in 1968 the Honduran
government enacted an agrarian reform law that forced thousands of Salvadorans
back to their country.
These tensions, along with long-standing
border disputes between the two nations and conflicts over trade, flared into
military action after riots at the June 1969 soccer match. On July 14 Salvadoran
troops launched an invasion, driving about 120 km (about 75 mi) into Honduras.
Honduras responded by launching damaging air strikes against Salvadoran ports.
The Organization of American States quickly negotiated a cease-fire, and
Salvadoran troops withdrew on August 3. (A peace treaty was not signed until
1980, however, and it took until 1992 for the International Court Of Justice to
resolve most of the border disputes between the two countries. The final border
questions were settled in 1999.)
El Salvador’s troubled economy worsened as
refugees from Honduras poured back into the country, where land and food were
already scarce. Opposition to the military-led government increased, while
Duarte’s popularity rose. In 1972 Duarte ran for president at the head of a
coalition of the PDC and MNR, with Ungo as his vice-presidential candidate.
Duarte’s coalition appeared to win the election, but the government declared its
candidate, Colonel Arturo Molina, the winner. Duarte and Ungo were arrested,
then exiled. During the next seven years, the repressive military government
clung to power against rising public defiance, and El Salvador became known for
human-rights abuses. Protests by students, workers, and peasants were often met
with violence by the police or army. Government security forces and right-wing
terrorist groups known as death squads were held responsible for the
disappearance of union activists, priests, and others who opposed the
government. Left-wing guerrilla movements formed, aiming to overthrow the
government.
The nation’s serious social and economic
inequities continued to worsen, as rapid population growth exceeded economic
growth. Even as San Salvador became a modern, urban center, poverty and
malnutrition continued to rise.
E | Civil War |
While these problems haunted El Salvador,
a revolution in neighboring Nicaragua, led by the Sandinista guerrilla movement,
overthrew the Somoza dynasty in July 1979. El Salvador’s military feared a
similar uprising, as public protests continued to grow against the government,
and in October 1979 military officers took over the government in a coup. The
officers wanted primarily to maintain the power and reputation of the military,
but they offered concessions to moderate and leftist groups, giving them seats
on the ruling junta. The junta ordered the feared paramilitary death squad,
ORDEN, to disband, but other death squads soon appeared to continue the
political assassinations and torture. Nearly all the civilians on the junta soon
resigned in protest over the continued repression. This crisis ended in January
1980 when the Christian Democratic Party agreed to collaborate with the military
to form a new junta. Duarte returned from exile and became leader of the new
junta, with the support of the United States.
Duarte’s government initiated social and
economic reforms, including a plan for land reform, and tried to control abuses
by the armed forces. But the military chiefs still controlled the nation.
Right-wing death squads carried out political assassinations to intimidate their
opponents. In 1980 San Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, a critic of
the military government, was murdered during a religious service, several
Christian Democratic leaders were assassinated, and three U.S. Catholic nuns and
another church worker were raped and killed. Five members of the Salvadoran
National Guard were later convicted of murdering the churchwomen.
On the left the Farabundo Martí National
Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of guerrilla organizations, declared war
against the government. These revolutionary organizations conducted military
campaigns, but also carried out assassinations, kidnappings, bombings, and
sabotage. In regions they controlled, the guerrillas demanded payments from
landholders and business owners. As violence escalated on both sides, many
innocent civilians were caught in the middle.
Major Roberto d’Aubuisson, who was accused
of taking part in the assassination of Archbishop Romero, organized a new
right-wing political party, the National Republican Alliance (ARENA), to
challenge Duarte. In the election of 1982, the leftist parties refused to
participate, and Duarte’s Christian Democrats won a plurality of the seats in
the National Assembly. However, a coalition of ARENA and the PCN won the
majority of the seats. D’Aubuisson became head of the Salvadoran Constitutional
Convention, which wrote the constitution of 1983. This constitution returned the
government to an elected, civilian presidency and enlarged the assembly to 84
members.
Duarte won the presidency in the 1984
election, but he was unable to end the destructive civil war. To add to his
problems, a massive earthquake destroyed much of San Salvador in 1986, while he
himself was dying of cancer. However, by signing the 1987 Central American Peace
Accord (known as the Arias Plan), Duarte began a process that would eventually
end the civil war and restore peace to the war-torn country. His party,
meanwhile, was accused of corruption, and the nation’s economy suffered from low
prices for its exports. With the population exhausted by years of warfare, ARENA
won broader support and took control of the legislature in 1988. In 1989 ARENA’s
presidential candidate, Alfredo Cristiani, won the election to succeed
Duarte.
A major FMLN offensive in 1989 succeeded
in capturing large areas of San Salvador before the guerrillas retreated again.
The following year, peace talks began between the government and the FMLN,
mediated by the United Nations (UN). After long, difficult negotiations, the two
sides reached an agreement, known as the Chapultepec Accord, in January 1992.
Under the agreement, much of the FMLN forces and the government army was
disbanded; the old security forces and the National Police were abolished; and a
new civilian police force was formed that included both former National Police
and FMLN members. A UN commission assisted the Salvadorans in implementing the
agreements in the areas of human rights, military, police, and elections.
The civil war took a terrible toll on the
country’s people and property. At least 75,000 people died in the conflict.
Thousands more were wounded, and an estimated 550,000 were displaced from their
homes. Hundreds of thousands more fled the country. A United Nations Truth
Commission investigated the most flagrant cases of human-rights abuses committed
during the civil war and reported its findings on March 15, 1993. It recommended
reforms of the armed forces and the judiciary and urged that individuals guilty
of human-rights violations be removed from office and from the military. The
Legislative Assembly gave amnesty from criminal prosecution to all those
implicated in this report, including officers suspected of murdering six Jesuit
priests at the Central American University in 1989. However, the legislature
implemented the reforms, purging many officials from office and retiring
hundreds of officers from active military duty. The Legislative Assembly elected
a completely new Supreme Court in July 1994, complying with the Truth
Commission’s recommendation that none of its justices be allowed to continue in
office.
F | El Salvador After the Civil War |
Recovery from the ravages of the war
began slowly, but after 1992 the Salvadoran economy improved significantly. The
new civilian police force was deployed in all departments by mid-1994 and
reached its full strength early in 1996. The first postwar elections took place
in March 1994. The FMLN, which became a legal political party in December 1992,
joined with other leftist parties in a coalition supporting Rubén Zamora for
president. ARENA’s candidate, Armando Calderón Sol, benefited from Cristiani’s
successful peace negotiations and improvement in the economy, and in a runoff in
April 1994 defeated Zamora with 68 percent of the vote. The FMLN established
itself as the leader among the leftist opposition parties. In elections in March
1997, the FMLN gained significant political influence, winning 27 seats in the
Legislative Assembly, just one fewer than ARENA. FMLN candidates also won
mayoral races in many Salvadoran cities, including the capital, San
Salvador.
The government, in collaboration with
international organizations, has resettled many of those displaced by the war
and also provided land, jobs, and credit for many former members of the military
and the guerrilla forces. These efforts have gone more slowly than planned,
however, and many difficulties remain. Despite reform efforts, poor land
distribution continues to be a serious problem. Poverty is widespread in the
cities and rural areas, and both poverty and lagging food production cause
continued malnutrition. Despite improvements in El Salvador’s export economy and
balance of payments, most of the serious social and economic problems that
existed before the civil war remain.
In late 1997 business leaders in El
Salvador and Honduras agreed to a proposal to construct a highway that would be
an alternative to the Panama Canal. It would connect a Honduran port on the
Caribbean Sea with a Salvadoran port on the Pacific Ocean. The Panama Canal has
begun to experience problems with congestion, and these problems are expected to
grow. Presidents of both countries have agreed to support the project.
In March 1999 ARENA candidate Francisco
Flores, a former speaker in the Legislative Assembly and a former philosophy
professor, was elected president. ARENA lost to the FMLN for the first time in
the 2000 legislative elections, with the FMLN winning 31 seats to ARENA’s 29.
ARENA was able to maintain control of the legislature with the help of its ally,
the Party of National Conciliation (PCN), which came in third place. The same
pattern occurred in the 2003 legislative elections.
A major earthquake struck the coast of El
Salvador in January 2001, killing more than 800 people and devastating tens of
thousands of homes. Thousands of aftershocks rattled El Salvador after the
initial quake, including a large tremor in February that killed several hundred
more people.
In the presidential elections in 2004,
the ARENA candidate Antonio Saca easily defeated FMLN candidate Schafik Handal,
a former guerrilla leader. Saca, a former sports broadcaster, became a wealthy
businessman after developing a chain of radio stations. He promised to continue
the policies adopted by Flores, including the pursuit of free trade agreements
and close cooperation with the United States.
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