El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, has long been an agrarian society marked by deep social inequalities. During the colonial period, it was part of Spain’s dominion in Central America. At that time, a plantation economy based on indigo was established, relying on forced indigenous labor. Land and wealth became concentrated in the hands of a few.
In 1821, El Salvador gained independence from Spain alongside other Central American provinces, and after a brief union with the region, it became a republic in 1841. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the economy became increasingly dependent on coffee cultivation, controlled by a landowning elite known as the “fourteen families.” This oligarchy concentrated both land and power, while the majority of peasants lived in poverty, fueling social tensions. In 1932, a peasant uprising led by Farabundo Martí was brutally suppressed by the dictatorship of General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, resulting in a massacre known as “La Matanza,” which claimed tens of thousands of lives. This marked the beginning of a long era of military regimes in El Salvador.
From 1931 to 1979, the country was governed almost continuously by military dictatorships that maintained order through force and alliances with the coffee elite. Although some governments initiated a degree of industrialization in the mid-20th century, prosperity was not widely shared, and the lack of political openness kept discontent alive.
By the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, popular pressure for change intensified. Movements of teachers, students, peasants, and workers demanded social reforms. Among them was the teachers’ union ANDES 21 de Junio, founded in 1965 after a national teachers’ protest. The regime responded to these demands with anti-communist rhetoric and repression. Security forces and paramilitary squads were created to silence dissent, and many social leaders were imprisoned or murdered under accusations of subversion.
Meanwhile, peaceful political avenues were being closed. Elections were manipulated by those in power; in 1972 and 1977, the opposition came close to winning the presidency, but electoral fraud prevented any change, and protest was violently repressed. These events led many to believe that armed struggle was the only remaining option. Armed opposition groups began to emerge during the 1970s, inspired by social injustice. Over time, these groups consolidated, while the government further militarized and escalated the confrontation.
The crisis reached a critical point in October 1979, when reformist officers carried out a coup d’état that overthrew General Carlos Humberto Romero. A civilian-military junta was installed, promising reforms to quell the violence. However, the conflict only deepened. In 1980, the main guerrilla organizations united under the banner of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), forming a single insurgency. At the same time, Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero had become the country’s most prominent voice denouncing repression. His assassination on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass, shocked the nation and marked a turning point, accelerating the path to civil war.
From 1980 onwards, El Salvador plunged into a brutal civil war that lasted twelve years. The military-led government, supported by the United States, clashed with the FMLN in a high-intensity conflict across the country. The war left around 75,000 dead, thousands disappeared, and a massive wave of refugees. Civilians suffered widespread human rights violations, including massacres such as the one in El Mozote in 1981. Terror became part of daily life, fueled by death squads and open combat. Neither side achieved victory, and over time both recognized that the war could not be resolved militarily.
By the late 1980s, under increasing international pressure, peace negotiations began. With the mediation of the United Nations, the government and the guerrillas signed the Peace Accords in January 1992, officially ending the armed conflict. The FMLN laid down its weapons and became a political party. The state implemented reforms to democratize the country, reducing the army’s size, dissolving repressive forces, and creating a new civilian police force. These agreements marked the beginning of a new era, opening the path to national reconciliation and political integration of former adversaries.
