El Salvador

Country in Central America, bounded north and east by Honduras, south and southwest by the Pacific Ocean, and northwest by Guatemala.

Government

The 1983 constitution, amended in 1985, provides for a president elected by universal suffrage for a five-year term, assisted by an appointed vice- president and a council of ministers. There is a single-chamber national assembly of 84, elected by universal suffrage for a three-year term.

History

The original inhabitants of the area were Indians, who arrived from Mexico around 3000 BC. From the period of the Maya Indians, AD 100-1000, remain huge limestone pyramids built by them in western El Salvador. The Pipil Indians were in control of the area at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1525. El Salvador and other Central American Spanish colonies broke away from Spanish rule in 1821, and became part of the United Provinces of Central America until 1840.

Power held by army and oligarchy

The history of El Salvador has been marked by a succession of military revolts, with periods of tyrannical rule, violence, and political assassinations. In 1932, the indigenous Salvadorean population was virtually wiped out in a military crackdown resulting in 30,000 deaths following peasant unrest. A more orderly form of political succession was established after 1871. Yet governments tended to be dominated by the same economic interests, families, and clans. In general, the army and the planter alike controlled affairs.

Guerrilla movement formed

After a coup in 1961 the conservative National Conciliation Party (PCN) was established, winning all the seats in the national assembly. The PCN stayed in power, with reports of widespread human-rights violations, until challenged in 1979 by a socialist guerrilla movement, the Farabundo Martí Liberation Front (FMLN). A civilian-military junta deposed the president.

Death squads operate

In 1980 the archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, a champion of human rights, was shot dead in his cathedral. The murder of three US nuns and a social worker prompted US president Jimmy Carter to suspend economic and military aid. In 1980 José Napoleón Duarte, leader of a moderately left-of-centre coalition, returned from exile and became president. The conservative US administration of Ronald Reagan supported him, as an anticommunist, and encouraged him to call elections in 1982. The left-wing parties refused to participate, and the elections were held amid great violence, at least 40 people being killed on election day. Although Duarte's Christian Democrats (PDC) won the largest number of assembly seats, a coalition of right-wing parties blocked his continuation as president. A provisional chief executive was selected from a list of candidates acceptable to the military, serving until the 1984 elections, which Duarte won in a run-off against Roberto d'Aubuisson, a rightist suspected of involvement in the death of Archbishop Romero.

Guerrilla war

In 1984 the president's daughter was abducted by guerrillas, forcing him to negotiate with them, in the face of criticism from opposition parties and the military. In 1985 the anti-imperialist PDC won a convincing victory in the assembly, with 33 seats. The right-wing National Republic Alliance (ARENA) and PCN won 13 and 12 seats respectively, fighting the election on a joint platform. The guerrilla war continued; in August 1987 they agreed to meet and discuss the Regional Peace Plan of the Contadora group with Duarte, but the peace initiative collapsed.

Ballot rigging

The election in 1989 of Alfredo Cristiani of D'Aubuisson's ARENA party, amid allegations of ballot-rigging, appeared to herald a return to a hard line against the FMLN rebels. Many activists in trade-union, cooperative, and human-rights organizations were arrested. The guerrillas mounted a surprisingly effective offensive in the wealthy suburbs of San Salvador but subsequently agreed to peace talks. In 1990 a consistently high level of ‘disappearances’ was denounced by the country's Human Rights Commission. In the 1991 general election ARENA claimed 43 assembly seats and continued in power.

Peace accord signed

A peace accord, initiated by the United Nations (UN) and signed by the government and the FMLN in December 1991, came into effect in February 1992. The FMLN subsequently became a political party. Evidence of human-rights violations by senior officials during the civil war was published in a report by a UN-sponsored Truth Commission in 1993. Although a government amnesty cleared those implicated, President Cristiani later carried out a purge of the country's top military leaders. It was estimated that the civil war 1980-90 had claimed some 70,000 lives.

Election results

In the 1994 presidential election Armando Calderón Sol of ARENA won a clear majority, after an inconclusive first round. In the 1999 elections, he was succeeded by Francisco Pérez. In general elections in March 2000, the FMLN displaced the ruling ARENA as the largest party in Congress, but did not win an overall majority.

Trade agreement and protests

In June 2000, El Salvador, together with Guatemala and Honduras, signed a free-trade agreement with Mexico, eliminating duties on 65 % of Mexican exports and on 80% of the exports of the other three countries to Mexico, over 12 years. As from January 2001, El Salvador adopted the dollar as its currency, phasing out the colon.

In October 2000, more than 2,000 protesters, armed with machetes and home-made bombs, held 500 government employees and legislators for several hours in the capital. The demonstrators, who were a mixture of ex-paramilitaries and peasants, demanded that President Flores reform the economy to reduce poverty. Police responded by firing tear gas and the hostages were released after several hours.

Earthquakes

A powerful earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, struck El Salvador on 13 January 2001, triggering landslides across the region. Over 1,000 people were killed. Over 800 aftershocks, some measuring 5 on the Richter scale, followed over the next two days. A second earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale followed exactly one month later, centred on San Vicente, 65 km/40 mi east of San Salvador. A further 300 people were killed, and over 1 million people, a sixth of the population, were now homeless.

El Salvador (redirected from Salvadoran)