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HISTORY |
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The first settled peoples of El Salvador were the Maya , who had
arrived in the territory from Guatemala by 1200 BC or earlier. By 500 BC
they had developed several large settlements in the west and the centre,
the most important of which was Chalchuapa - close to present-day Santa
Ana - trading in ceramics and obsidian across Mesoamerica. A
catastrophic eruption of Volcán Ilopango around 250 AD spread ash over
ten thousand square kilometres and all but wiped out many of these
settlements, forcing their inhabitants to flee north. Over the next two
hundred years, during the early Classic Period (300-900 AD), the land
began to be repopulated, with important cities developing at San Andrés,
Tazumal, Cara Sucia and, in the east, Quelepa. West of the Río Lempa the
Maya-Quiché predominated, with the Chortís (Chortí being a dialect of
Quiché) settling around Santa Tomas and Tejutla in what is today the
department of Chalatenango. To the east of the river the Lenca - a mix
of the early nomadic tribes and groups of Maya-Quiché, with linguistic
links to the South American Chibchan group - established themselves and
developed in overall isolation from their neighbours.
Around 900 AD, when - for reasons still unclear - the Classic Maya
culture began to crumble, these cities were abandoned. During the early
Postclassic period (900-1200 AD), waves of Nahuat-speaking groups began
to migrate south from Mexico, seeking land and power. These settlers,
who established themselves in west and central El Salvador and in the
northwest around Metapán, came to be known as the Pipils . New seats of
power were built at Cihuatán, Tehuacán and Cuscatlán; unusually, the
deserted Maya city of Tazumal was also reoccupied. The new settlers
planted maize, beans, cocoa and tobacco, lived in highly stratified
societies under a hereditary system of military rule, had highly
developed arts and sciences and worshipped the sun and the idols of
Quetzalcoatl (man), Itzqueye (woman), Tlaloc (rain) and Mictlanteuctli (god
of the underworld). Trade links with the west and north were strong,
based on the exchange of cocoa, which was extensively cultivated.
Final waves of Nahuat speakers arrived in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, threatening and occasionally displacing the already
established communities and disrupting the network of trade, possibly
contributing to the abandonment of Cihuatán and Tehuacán. Chief among
the new immigrants were the Nonualcos , who settled around what is now
the city of Zacatecoluca, and the Pok'omans who moved in around
Chalchuapa.
The conquest of El Salvador
The first conquistador to set foot on El Salvador was Andrés Niño who,
exploring the Pacific coast of the isthmus, landed on the island of
Meanguera in the Golfo de Fonseca on May 31, 1522. The Spanish returned
in June 1524 when Pedro de...
The first conquistador to set foot on El Salvador was Andrés Niño who,
exploring the Pacific coast of the isthmus, landed on the island of
Meanguera in the Golfo de Fonseca on May 31, 1522. The Spanish returned
in June 1524 when Pedro de Alvarado , commanding a force of around 250
Spanish troops and 5000 indigenous people, entered what is now the
department of Ahuachapán from Guatemala. The region was fertile and
densely populated, with two rival city-states, Cuscatlán, more or less
where the city of San Salvador now stands, and Tecpa Izalco, around the
Sonsonate area. The Spanish called all this new territory Cuscatlán , a
name which is still used today in presidential speeches, stirring
newspapers and the like to evoke national pride.
Defeating the Pipils at Acajutla and then at Tacuxcalco, Alvarado
advanced up the Zapotitán valley to the city of Cuscatlán, only to find
it deserted, its army having fled to the mountains. Wounded and forced
to return to Guatemala, Alvarado reported that the region would take
time and effort to conquer. No doubt he exaggerated, but it is thought
that the Pipil forces were up to twice as numerous as those of the
Spanish, with the population of the territory as a whole put variously
at between 130,000 and one million. Not until April 1528 did a third
Spanish force under Diego de Alvarado succeed in subduing the Pipils and
establishing the foothold of Villa San Salvador near present-day
Suchitoto.
Once established, the Spanish almost immediately began to think about
advancing east, motivated both by the persistent belief that the
undiscovered territories would yield riches and by the need to remain
dominant to the rival group of conquistadors advancing up the isthmus
from Panamá under Pedrarias Davila. In 1530 Alvarado dispatched Luis de
Moscosco from Guatemala to finalize the conquest of the east. Ten years
later, despite a number of indigenous uprisings, the Spanish hold upon
the territory was secure
Colonial rule
Though the new territory never yielded the fabled riches of the mythical
El Dorado, the fertile lands provided sufficient wealth for those
Spanish who chose to take advantage. The encomienda system was
established and haciendas developed,...
Though the new territory never yielded the fabled riches of the mythical
El Dorado, the fertile lands provided sufficient wealth for those
Spanish who chose to take advantage. The encomienda system was
established and haciendas developed, producing balsam and cocoa for
export (this latter proved to be a particular source of wealth, with an
ever-increasing demand for the delicacy from Europe). Cattle were also
introduced and flourished - the indigenous farming method of slash and
burn had created fertile pastures for grazing - providing a firm source
of food and income.
As across Latin America, the impact of the Spanish arrival was
catastrophic for the indigenous inhabitants. Susceptible to European
diseases, cut off from food sources as lands were enclosed by the
encomenderos , forced into a different system of beliefs, the indigenous
population of El Salvador went into freefall. By the end of the
sixteenth century at least half had perished. The Lencas and other
groups living east of the Río Lenca - considered by the Spanish to be
more primitive and less malleable than the Pipils in the west - were
particularly badly affected.
The decline in the indigenous population left the Spanish encomenderos
with insufficient labour to work the land. In the early years of the
seventeenth century black slaves were imported, though this came to a
halt in 1625 when two thousand slaves gathered in the centre of San
Salvador during Semana Santa, apparently to foment rebellion. The plans
came to nothing, but the slaves were henceforth considered too dangerous
to use. Thereafter, the encomienda system was gradually abandoned,
largely replaced by the end of the seventeenth century with a system of
peonage . Work on the haciendas was rewarded by payment in vouchers,
redeemable only in the hacienda shop, whose prices were set
significantly higher than in the open market. Money for daily expenses,
however, was advanced by the landowner, creating over time a debt that
the worker, or "peon", was unable to repay and which, moreover, devolved
upon his family and heirs.
Haciendas became enclosed, self-sufficient worlds; the workers found all
their needs provided for, but in return became reliant upon the
landowner for everything and unable to leave. Workers could get ahead by
serving their patron in all areas, legal or illegal, while he in turn
boosted his power by commanding such resources. Such patterns were to
continue in El Salvadorean society in later years - not least in the
private armies, raised by landowners, that developed into the death
squads of the 1970s and 1980s.
From the early eighteenth century, landowners switched from the
production of cocoa to that of añil ( indigo ). Although long cultivated,
it was not until protection measures in the European markets were
removed that it became viable to produce the crop on a large scale.
Growing demand for the superior dye produced in Latin America ensured
that by the mid-1700s indigo had become the primary export crop. The
principal beneficiaries of this were - despite the efforts of the
Spanish Crown to ensure small-scale production - the hacienda owners and
comerciantes , the middle-men handling the sale and shipping of the crop.
By the end of the eighteenth century El Salvador was a rigidly
stratified society, whose European elite consisted of the small number
of Spanish-born Crown functionaries and priests and a few hundred Creole
(Latin American-born) hacienda owners and comerciantes ; these last two
groups were allocated some responsibility in the management of local
affairs on behalf of the Crown. Of available agricultural land, around
half was held in private haciendas. The vast majority of the population,
mestizo and indigenous, existed at subsistence level, cultivating maize.
Independence
Following the deposition of Mexican leader Augustín Iturbide in 1822,
which brought an end to the hopes of a Mexican Empire, the Salvadorean
Manuel José Arce was elected first president of the Federal Republic of
Central America in April 1825....
Following the deposition of Mexican leader Augustín Iturbide in 1822,
which brought an end to the hopes of a Mexican Empire, the Salvadorean
Manuel José Arce was elected first president of the Federal Republic of
Central America in April 1825. Beset by the deep divisions between
Conservatives and Liberals, Arce attempted to unite the rival groups by
force. Though himself a Liberal, he allied with the Conservatives of
Guatemala and almost immediately plunged the federation into civil war,
the first of a series of many to plague the five states during the
short-lived union (it dissolved in 1839) and on into full independence.
Between 1825 and 1876 El Salvador was in an almost perpetual state of
turmoil as rival Liberals and Conservatives battled for power, aided
more often than not by similar groupings in the surrounding states. Not
until the presidency of Rafael Zaldívar - in power between 1876 and 1885
- did the country achieve any measure of stability.
A coffee oligarchy: 1860-1931
Commercial production of coffee became widespread from 1860 onwards,
fuelled by the collapse in demand for indigo following the development
of synthetic dyes - and the growing popularity of coffee in Europe and
North America. Other exports -...
Commercial production of coffee became widespread from 1860 onwards,
fuelled by the collapse in demand for indigo following the development
of synthetic dyes - and the growing popularity of coffee in Europe and
North America. Other exports - sugar cane, beef - also expanded, but it
was coffee which came to dominate and be seen as the best hope for the
Salvadorean economy. Unusually, compared to El Salvador's neighbours,
finance for the boom was provided and controlled domestically.
Government encouragement for and promotion of coffee created a " coffee
elite ". The most significant piece of government policy was the
privatization, in 1882, of lands worked under the ejido system, that is
communally. Growing numbers of small-scale farmers and families
dependent upon subsistence agriculture were displaced, with no access to
land. Over time, as small-scale producers found themselves unable to
compete profitably in the world market, land became concentrated into
fewer and fewer hands, creating a tiny but powerful oligarchy . This
trend became particularly apparent from the early twentieth century
onwards, with three-quarters of all land eventually held by less than
two percent of the population.
Descended mainly from the original colonial European elite, the
oligarchy monopolized coffee production and trade, extending its
interests into other agricultural sectors, industry and finance. As the
interests became more firmly entrenched, so did the oligarchy's
willingness to take action to defend them. The first example of this
came in 1885, when President Zaldívar was forced from office. Over the
next decades, until a military coup in 1898, private interests were the
motivating force behind all changes in government
Anastasio Aquino and the indigenous rebellion
The most serious challenge to the nascent government of El Salvador came
in 1833 with the indigenous uprising led by Anastasio Aquino .
Ostensibly a protest against the practice of forced conscription among
hacienda workers, the month-long...
The most serious challenge to the nascent government of El Salvador came
in 1833 with the indigenous uprising led by Anastasio Aquino .
Ostensibly a protest against the practice of forced conscription among
hacienda workers, the month-long rebellion was also a response to the
instabilities in society generated by the new state of independence. In
particular it focused resistance against a new decree stating that all
land not in use should be converted into private property. The hacienda
owners expanded their estates, while the indigenous and other groups
living on subsistence agriculture found that much of the land needed for
slash and burn cultivation had been transferred into private hands.
A worker on an indigo plantation near Santiago Nonualco, Aquino rebelled
following the arrest and detention - and presumed conscription - of his
brother by the hacienda owner. He and his followers, the so-called "
Army of Liberation ", attacked army posts, releasing and arming the
forced conscripts and sacked haciendas; according to legend the spoils
from these were distributed among the poor. The well-disciplined forces
of the rebellion were successful in early confrontations with government
troops and at one stage looked capable of advancing on, and taking, San
Salvador. Instead, Aquino chose to march on the nearby cities of
Zacatecoluca and San Vicente, giving the government time to marshall its
forces. On February 16 Aquino arrived in San Vicente and had himself
crowned " Emperor of the Nonualcos " with a crown taken from the statue
of San José in the Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Pilar.
He then returned to Santiago Nonualco where, on February 28, he was
defeated by the resurgent government forces. Finally captured on April
23, Aquino was executed in San Vicente in July. His head was put on
public display, a primitive act in accordance with the status of "primitive
rebel" which the government accorded him.
The early twentieth century
On the back of the profits from the coffee boom, the first decades of
the twentieth century were a period of relative economic stability and
development for El Salvador. Transport links, including railways, and a
communications system were...
On the back of the profits from the coffee boom, the first decades of
the twentieth century were a period of relative economic stability and
development for El Salvador. Transport links, including railways, and a
communications system were put into place, education expanded and a
functioning civil judicial system established. It was, however, also a
period of deepening social polarization . The elite dominated business
and the state machine, working alongside a small, mainly urban, middle
class. The vast majority, however, lived in the most basic of conditions,
marginalized both in the countryside and, increasingly, in the urban
centres. Despite regular elections, democracy existed in name only, with
the bulk of the population denied access to both the political process
and the coffee profits. Despair and anger at conditions was reflected in
growing civil and criminal violence , in turn dealt with by increasing
repression - of which the Guardia Nacional (National Guard), formed in
1912, soon became a highly feared instrument.
The surprise election of Liberal president Pío Romero Bosque in 1927 was,
for the majority, a sign that things could change for the better. Vowing
to make El Salvador a truly democratic society, Romero took steps to
restrain the worst excesses of the police and Guardia Nacional and - to
the alarm of the oligarchy -ensure that civil rights were observed for
all. Romero's successor Arturo Arujo, winning what was possibly the
first truly democratic election in 1931, also vowed to continue on the
same course.
1932 and "La Matanza"
Despite some initial success, Romero's and Arujo's plans for democratic
consolidation were brought to an abrupt end by international events. The
Wall Street Crash in November 1929 and the Great Depression that
followed were catastrophic for El...
Despite some initial success, Romero's and Arujo's plans for democratic
consolidation were brought to an abrupt end by international events. The
Wall Street Crash in November 1929 and the Great Depression that
followed were catastrophic for El Salvador. Virtually all - 95 percent -
of her exports were coffee. As the market for this collapsed after 1929,
so did the country's economy. All were affected, in particular the
landless poor, for whom living conditions deteriorated appallingly.
Unrest both amongst the destitute masses and the elite grew, and in
December 1931 Arujo's brief period in office was ended by a military
coup , engineered by the vice-president General Maximiliano Hernández
Martínez.
Social unrest over the deteriorating conditions suffered by campesinos
and the urban poor grew, exacerbated by growing repression meted out by
the new government. On the night of January 22, 1932, thousands of
campesinos - the majority indigenous - led by the Communist Party,
rebelled . Armed mainly with machetes they attacked military
installations and haciendas in the west of the country, assassinating
hundreds of civilians including government functionaries and merchants.
Mainly because plans to rebel had been widely known in the days before
the event, the rebellion itself was rapidly quashed by superior
government forces. The ringleaders were arrested and later executed.
The scale of government repression in the wake of the failed rebellion
was unprecedented in the history of the country. The army, the police,
the Guardia Nacional and the private forces of the hacienda owners
engaged in a week-long orgy of killing. During " La Matanza " ("the
massacre"), as it became known, anyone suspected of connections to the
rebellion, anyone wearing indigenous dress or anyone simply perceived to
be guilty was shot out of hand. In some cases, whole villages
disappeared. Exact figures have never been known, but the death toll is
estimated at up to 30,000 people, although the government itself
insisted that only 2000 were killed. For El Salvador's indigenous
population, the effects of the massacre went far beyond the immediate
death toll. As it became increasingly dangerous to be identified as
indio (indian), traditional dress, language and customs largely
disappeared.
Military government 1932-80
The rebellion and its bloody aftermath ushered in a era of military rule
as the oligarchy, desperate to defend its interests, handed political
power to the army while retaining economic control. For the next fifty
years the two groups worked...
The rebellion and its bloody aftermath ushered in a era of military rule
as the oligarchy, desperate to defend its interests, handed political
power to the army while retaining economic control. For the next fifty
years the two groups worked together in a symbiotic relationship.
Successive groups of tandas - cliques of military officers - assumed
power, felled by coups and counter-coups as factions within the military
itself fought for supremacy. The economic business of state was handled
by the oligarchy, who relied on the army to protect its interests.
Depending on the faction in power, occasional limited social reforms
were made, although leaving the fundamental structures unchanged. A
number of political parties were allowed to operate, but elections were
widely perceived as a sham.
After World War II , economic interests diversified into production of
sugar, cotton and beef for export. During the 1960s and 1970s, some
limited industrialization also occurred. Needless to say, the profits
and benefits deriving from this expansion remained firmly in the hands
of the oligarchy, with social inequalities unchanged. The vast majority
of the population had no access to land and - at best - only tenuous
means of survival. The census of 1971 recorded that 64 percent of
agricultural land was held by 4 percent of landowners, while two-thirds
of rural families had either no land or worked plots that were
insufficient to provide daily needs.
A downturn in export markets in the 1970s again led to a steep
deterioration in conditions, with a subsequent increase in militant
pressure for change. The elections of 1972, won by the Christian
Democratic Party (PDC) led by José Napoleón Duarte , should have
signalled a mandate for democratic change. The PDC advocated a peaceful
road to reform, but following the election the army installed its own
candidate, Colonel Arturo Molina , as president. Duarte and other
opposition leaders were exiled, the National University closed down and
trade union and reform activists persecuted and killed.
The cycle of repression continued throughout the 1970s as Molina's
successor, Carlos Humberto Romero , took power in elections, again
rigged, in 1977. Shortly after Romero took office, news programmes
around the world showed footage of the army firing upon unarmed
civilians during a protest in front of the cathedral in central San
Salvador on February 28 - as many as three hundred people died. In 1979
the ineffectual Romero was himself deposed in a coup, replaced initially
by a civilian military junta and then by a group of hard-line army
officers in January 1980. The army accepted an offer from Duarte to form
a provisional government on condition that certain reforms be introduced,
yet repression continued, culminating in the assassination of Archbishop
Oscar Romero on March 24, 1980 - a murder planned by serving army
officer Roberto D'Aubuisson. Though preliminary reforms were implemented
and agreement secured for a transfer of power from military to civilian
hands, these were insufficient to halt a deepening cycle of
extra-judicial violence.
The developments of the 1970s and continuing military domination had
convinced many that change could only come through violence. Far-right
paramilitary death squads waged campaigns of terror in the countryside
and against those advocating reform. At the opposite end of the spectrum,
left-wing guerrilla groups were mobilizing and advocating radical change.
Archbishop Romero's assassination signalled the point from where descent
into civil war became inevitable
The 1980s
In October 1980 the formal integration of all left-wing guerrilla
organizations led to the foundation of the Frente Faribundo Martí de
Liberación Nacional, or FMLN . Three months later, in January 1981, the
FMLN launched its first general...
In October 1980 the formal integration of all left-wing guerrilla
organizations led to the foundation of the Frente Faribundo Martí de
Liberación Nacional, or FMLN . Three months later, in January 1981, the
FMLN launched its first general offensive, gaining territory in the
eastern and northern departments of the country and forcing the
government into defensive action.
Events within El Salvador were watched closely abroad, particularly in
the White House. The newly installed Reagan administration, paranoid
about communist insurgency in the region, began to pump aid to the
government to expand and equip fighting forces. Between 1980 and 1992
this aid totalled over US$1 billion, while aid channelled through covert
sources is estimated to be at least a further US$500 million. The money
flowed despite concerns over the army's modus operandi and close
connections between government security forces and the death squads. The
El Mazote massacre in December 1981 - when US-trained troops
systematically murdered more than a thousand people - was first denied
then ignored by both Salvadorean and US authorities and only fully
investigated in the early 1990s. Despite US support, the army remained
hampered by insufficient organization, leadership and endemic corruption,
unable to confront with success the guerrillas' organized ambush tactics
and targeted attacks against strategic infrastructure and economic
installations. Army response, tending towards the blanket attack of
large areas of "free fire" zones, rebounded most heavily upon the
civilian population. During the course of the war eighty thousand people
were killed and more than 500,000 fled the country as refugees.
Against a background of continued fighting, the promised transfer of
power from military to civilian hands was completed, with parliamentary
elections in 1982 and a new constitution introduced in 1983. In 1984
presidential elections brought Duarte to power on a mandate for
continuing reform, although the FMLN remained outside the political
process, disrupting ballots in this and subsequent local and national
elections. Sporadic attempts at peace talks foundered upon the seemingly
irresolvable demands for fundamental changes in the role and structure
of the army and for incorporation of the FDR (the political wing of the
FMLN) into political life.
Widely perceived as incompetent and corrupt, Duarte was succeeded in
1989 by Alfredo Cristiani , candidate of the right-wing ARENA (Alianza
Republicana Nacionalista) party founded by Roberto D'Aubuisson. Regarded
internationally as a moderate leader, Cristiani began to unpiece
economic reforms achieved over the previous decade. The response of the
FMLN was to renew offensives against the government, most spectacularly
during its " final offensive " of November 1989, when areas of major
cities, including San Salvador, were occupied. In turn, the death squads
and the military intensified their activities. Suspected FMLN
sympathizers, trade unionists and Church activists were intimidated and
assassinated. Thousands died when San Salvador and other cities were
indiscriminately bombed by the air force and - in an incident that
caused international outrage - six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and
her daughter were massacred in their rooms on the campus of the
Universidad de Centroamérica on November 16, 1989.
Steps towards peace
At the close of 1989, an end to the fighting seemed a remote dream. Yet
in April 1990, representatives of both the FMLN and the government,
under the chairmanship of the UN, met in Geneva for the first of a
series of negotiations that would...
At the close of 1989, an end to the fighting seemed a remote dream. Yet
in April 1990, representatives of both the FMLN and the government,
under the chairmanship of the UN, met in Geneva for the first of a
series of negotiations that would lead to peace. This was achieved
largely due to global changes: the end of the Cold War had reduced
Central America's strategic importance, and both the US and USSR
switched policy to an active encouragement of conflict resolution.
Increasingly isolated and drawn into a military stalemate, both the
government and the FMLN bowed to US and UN pressure to seek a negotiated
solution.
A protracted negotiating process resulted in a UN-brokered agreement,
the Chapultepec Accords , signed on January 16, 1992, followed on
February 1 by a formal ceasefire. The FMLN agreed to disengagement and
demobilization of its forces; the government to a purge of the armed
forces and reduction in its size. In addition, a number of civil
institutions were to be created, including a new civilian police force (the
PNC), a human-rights institution and a "Truth Commission". The UN set in
place a resident observer mission (ONUSAL) to verify compliance within a
set time limit. A land transfer programme, expected to transfer ten
percent of agricultural land to demobilized combatants and refugees, was
inaugurated and a tripartite commission, including the government,
workers and private sector, set up to formulate further social and
economic policies. On December 15, 1992, the day the FMLN registered as
a formal political party, the civil war was formally ended.
EL Salvador at peace
Recovery from the brutalization of civil war was slow. Many disaffected
former combatants remained on the fringes of society, while unemployment
soared and the circulation of firearms went unchecked. Delinquency,
crime and violence ensued. The first...
Recovery from the brutalization of civil war was slow. Many disaffected
former combatants remained on the fringes of society, while unemployment
soared and the circulation of firearms went unchecked. Delinquency,
crime and violence ensued. The first postwar elections , held in March
1994, resulted in Armando Calderón Sol of the ARENA party assuming the
presidency, beating the FMLN's Rubén Zamora. The new government pursued
a neo-liberal, free-market economic policy and privatized large sectors
of the economy, including the controversial sale of Antel, the state
telecommunications company. IMF loans were used to stabilize the
currency and encourage growth in GDP.
On the downside, the cost of living rose, poverty increased and
unemployment reached unprecedented levels, while large-scale
privatization further concentrated wealth in the hands of the elite.
Public dissatisfaction increased with the government's perceived failure
to comply with the Chapultepec Accords and with the amnesties granted to
members of the military accused of committing human-rights atrocities.
The profound divisions in society that had originally led to civil war
grew wider than ever, and civil violence intensified.
Following its failure in the 1994 elections, the FMLN's fortunes were
revived by impressive results across the country in the March 1997
municipal elections , including winning the capital's prized mayoral
seat. However, failure to build on these results allowed ARENA's
Francisco Flores to triumph in the presidential elections of March 1999,
though only 40 percent of the electorate turned out to vote -
highlighting widespread contempt for politicians of both major parties.
Much of the country concentrated on the hardships of daily life.
Hurricane Mitch hit the country in October 1998, killing 374 and making
56,000 people homeless. The government's response was slow, and much of
the international effort was focused on harder-hit Honduras and
Nicaragua. Infrastructure was destroyed, agricultural output badly
damaged and disease spread across the affected areas, primarily the low-lying
flood plain of the Lempa and San Miguel Grande rivers.
A report by the Universidad de Centroamérica (UCA), in March 2000,
listed El Salvador as one of the most violent countries in Latin America,
with widespread gang warfare, narcotrafficking and civil violence. A
spate of kidnappings of business people for ransom has gone largely
unchecked, and the small-talk of the nation is littered with the term
delincuencia . One attempt to combat civil disorder is the highly
controversial US military training base which President Flores has
allowed to be established in El Salvador - avowedly to fight drug
trafficking, though Salvadoreans are still naturally suspicious of US
military intervention in their domestic affairs.
Dollarization and after
On 30 November 2000, the Asamblea Legislativa approved the ARENA
government's plan to dollarize the domestic economy - El Salvador thus
became the third Latin American nation, along with Ecuador and Panamá,
to elect to use the US dollar in all...
On 30 November 2000, the Asamblea Legislativa approved the ARENA
government's plan to dollarize the domestic economy - El Salvador thus
became the third Latin American nation, along with Ecuador and Panamá,
to elect to use the US dollar in all aspects of its domestic economy.
The main thrust of dollarization was to create an attractive economic
environment for the foreign investment El Salvador desperately wants to
attract, and a massive publicity campaign was launched across the
country using the motto "Good for you, good for the country". For many
Salvadoreans, however, the prospect of welcoming the "Yanqui" dollar
reopens still healing wounds, recalling the massive amount of US funding
that flooded into the country during the 1980s to prop up the cruel
right-wing government during the civil war. As veteran FMLN leader
Schafik Hándal put it: "After this, I wouldn't be surprised if they
passed a law so that every 'señor' must now be called 'mister' ". At
about the same time, the government also announced its elaborately
titled Plan de Nación , a public-private investment in public
infrastructure totalling over 900 million dollars. Most of this money
came from the sale of the state telecommunications company Antel, and
will be devoted to building a new road network and developing Cutuco
into the largest Pacific port in Central America.
El Salvador was again brought to the world's attention when a
devastating earthquake ripped through the country on the morning of 13
January 2001. Measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, the earthquake killed
over 1000 people and left more than 5000 injured; some 145,000 homes
were destroyed and a further 120,000 were badly damaged. Two further
earthquakes in the weeks that followed killed another 250 people and
left tens of thousands more homeless. Hardest hit were the coastal areas,
although most of the country was affected in some way. For a country
already struggling, these earthquakes represented a monumental disaster,
while it's estimated that the cost of repairing the widespread damage
and destruction will run into billions of dollars.
The next presidential elections are scheduled for 2004, by which time El
Salvador will have a fully operating dollar economy. In the meantime,
the issues of poverty, unemployment and civil violence will remain at
the forefront of Salvadorean politics and society. National unity will
be sorely tested over the coming years as El Salvador is forced to
recalculate the economic cost of natural disaster.
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