U.S. Department of State information for the Republic of El Salvador

Nationality: Noun and adjective--Salvadoran(s).
Population (1999): 6.2 million.
Annual growth rate (1999): 2%.
Ethnic groups: Mestizo 90%, indigenous 1%, Caucasian 9%.
Religion: Largely Roman Catholic, with growing Protestant groups throughout the country.
Language: Spanish.
Education: Free through ninth grade. Attendance (grades 1-9)--82%. Literacy--72% among adults.
Health: Infant mortality rate (1999)--28/1,000. Life expectancy (1999)--males 67 yrs., females 74 yrs.
Work force (approximately 2.4 million): Agriculture--25%; services--21%; commerce--22%; manufacturing--19%; construction--7%; transportation and communication--4% other--2%.

El Salvador's population numbers about 6.2 million; almost 90% is of mixed Indian and Spanish extraction. About 1% is indigenous; very few Indians have retained their customs and traditions.

The country's people are largely Roman Catholic -- though Protestant groups are growing -- and Spanish is the language spoken by virtually all inhabitants. The capital city of San Salvador has about 1.7 million people; an estimated 42% of El Salvador's population live in rural areas.

Before the Spanish conquest, the area that is now El Salvador was made up of two large Indian states and several principalities. The indigenous inhabitants were the Pipils, a tribe of nomadic Nahua people long established in Central Mexico. Early in their history, they became one of the few Mesoamerican Indian groups to abolish human sacrifice. Otherwise, their culture was similar to that of their Aztec neighbors. Remains of Nahua culture are still found at ruins such as Tazumal (near Chalchuapa), San Andres (northeast of Armenia), and Joya De Ceren (north of Colon). The first Spanish attempt to subjugate this area failed in 1524, when Pedro de Alvarado was forced to retreat by Pipil warriors. In 1525, he returned and succeeded in bringing the district under control of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, which retained its authority until 1821, despite an abortive revolution in 1811.

Independence

In 1821, El Salvador and the other Central American provinces declared their independence from Spain. When these provinces were joined with Mexico in early 1822, El Salvador resisted, insisting on autonomy for the Central American countries. Guatemalan troops sent to enforce the union were driven out of El Salvador in June 1822. El Salvador, fearing incorporation into Mexico, petitioned the U.S. Government for statehood. But in 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor Augustin Iturbide, and a new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American provinces to decide their own fate. That year, the United Provinces of Central America was formed of the five Central American states under Gen. Manuel Jose Arce. When this federation was dissolved in 1838, El Salvador became an independent republic. El Salvador's early history as an independent state -- as with others in Central America -- was marked by frequent revolutions; not until the period 1900-30 was relative stability achieved. The economic elite ruled the country in conjunction with the military, and the power structure was controlled by a relatively small number of wealthy landowners, known as the 14 Families. The economy, based on coffee-growing, prospered or suffered as the world coffee price fluctuated. From 1932 -- the year of General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez's coup following his brutal suppression of rural resistance -- until 1980, all but one Salvadoran temporary president was an army officer. Periodic presidential elections were seldom free or fair.

From Military to Civilian Rule

From the 1930s-70s, authoritarian governments employed political repression and limited reform to maintain power, despite the trappings of democracy. During the 1970s, the political situation began to unravel. In the 1972 presidential election, the opponents of military rule united under Jose Napoleon Duarte, leader of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). Amid widespread fraud, Duarte's broad-based reform movement was defeated. Subsequent protests and an attempted coup were crushed, and Duarte exiled. These events eroded hope of reform through democratic means and persuaded those opposed to the government that armed insurrection was the only way to achieve change. As a consequence, leftist groups capitalizing upon social discontent gained strength. By 1979, leftist guerrilla warfare had broken out in the cities and the countryside, launching what became a 12-year civil war. A cycle of violence took hold as rightist vigilante death squads in turn killed thousands. The poorly trained Salvadoran Armed Forces (ESAF) also engaged in repression and indiscriminate killings.

After the collapse of the Somoza regime in Nicaragua that year, the new Sandinista Government provided large amounts of arms and munitions to five Salvadoran guerrilla groups. On October 15, 1979, reform-minded military officers and civilian leaders ousted the right-wing government of Gen. Carlos Humberto Romero (1977-79) and formed a revolutionary junta. PDC leader Duarte joined the junta in March 1980, leading the provisional government until the elections of March 1982. The junta initiated a land reform program and nationalized the banks and the marketing of coffee and sugar. Political parties were allowed to function again, and on March 28, 1982, Salvadorans elected a new constituent assembly. Following that election, authority was peacefully transferred to Alvaro Magana, the provisional president selected by the assembly.

The 1983 constitution, drafted by the assembly, strengthened individual rights, established safeguards against excessive provisional detention and unreasonable searches, established a republican, pluralistic form of government, strengthened the legislative branch, and enhanced judicial independence. It also codified labor rights, particularly for agricultural workers. The newly initiated reforms, though, did not satisfy the guerrilla movements, which had unified under Cuban auspices -- while each retained their autonomous status -- as the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). Duarte won the 1984 presidential election against rightist Roberto D'Aubuisson of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) with 54% of the vote and became the first freely elected president of El Salvador in more than 50 years. In 1989, ARENA's Alfredo Cristiani won the presidential election with 54% of the vote. His inauguration on June 1, 1989, marked the first time that power had passed peacefully from one freely elected civilian leader to another.

Ending the Civil War

Upon his inauguration in June 1989, President Cristiani called for direct dialogue to end the decade of conflict between the government and guerrillas. An unmediated dialogue process involving monthly meetings between the two sides was initiated in September 1989, lasting until the FMLN launched a bloody, nationwide offensive in November of that year. In early 1990, following a request from the Central American presidents, the United Nations became involved in an effort to mediate direct talks between the two sides. After a year of little progress, the government and the FMLN accepted an invitation from the UN Secretary-General to meet in New York City. On September 25, 1991, the two sides signed the New York City Accord. It concentrated the negotiating process into one phase and created the Committee for the Consolidation of the Peace (COPAZ), made up of representatives of the government, FMLN, and political parties, with Catholic Church and UN observers. On December 31, 1991, the government and the FMLN initialed a peace agreement under the auspices of then Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar. The final agreement, called the Accords of Chapultepec, was signed in Mexico City on January 16, 1992. A 9-month cease-fire took effect February 1, 1992, and was never broken. A ceremony held on December 15, 1992, marked the official end of the conflict, concurrent with the demobilization of the last elements of the FMLN military structure and the FMLN's inception as a political party.

Type: Republic.
Constitution: December 20, 1983.
Independence: September 15, 1821.
Branches: Executive--president and vice president.
Legislative--84-member Legislative Assembly. Judicial--independent (Supreme Court).
Administrative subdivisions: 14 departments.
Political parties (represented in the Legislature): Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), National Conciliation Party (PCN), Christian Democratic Party (PDC), and the National Action Party (PAN).
Suffrage: Universal at 18.

President--Francisco Guillermo FLORES Perez
Vice President--Carlos QUINTINILLA Schmidt
Minister of Foreign Relations--Maria Eugenia Brizuela de AVILA
Ambassador to the United States--Rene LEON
Representative to the OAS--Margarita ESCOBAR Lopez
Representative to the UN--Roberto ANDINO Salazar

El Salvador is a democratic republic governed by a president and an 84-member unicameral Legislative Assembly. The president is elected by universal suffrage and serves for a 5-year term by absolute majority vote. A second round runoff is required in the event that no candidate receives more than 50% of the first round vote. Members of the assembly, also elected by universal suffrage, serve for 3-year terms. The country has an independent judiciary and Supreme Court.

The most recent presidential election, in March 1999, was free and fair but voter turnout was low (39%). ARENA presidential candidate Francisco Guillermo Flores Perez faced Facundo Guardado of the CC party and won with 52% of the votes. Since Flores received just over 50% of the votes, a runoff was not required. Francisco Guillermo Flores Perez of the ARENA party began his 5-year term as President in June 1999, and cannot succeed himself. In the March 2000 legislative races, FMLN won 31 seats in the Legislative Assembly, the ARENA won 29, the National Conciliation Party (PCN) 14, the PDC five, and the Coalition Democratic United Center (CDU) and National Action Party (PAN) winning 3 and 2 seats, respectively.

Although the FMLN is now the majority seat holder in the Legislative Assembly in El Salvador, ARENA's 31 seats and the PCN's 14 seats guarantee the right-wing block a bare majority (43 out of 84) in the Legislative Assembly. A post-electoral controversy over the Fifth District in La Libertad -- which the PDC claimed to have won -- was ultimately decided in favor of the PCN. The FMLN retained the capital city of San Salvador as incumbent Hector Silva was re-elected. Unfortunately voter turnout was low. Only 35% of eligible voters cast ballots.

GDP: $12.4 billion.
Annual growth rate: 2.6%.
Per capita income: $2,013.
Agriculture (12% of GDP): Products--coffee, sugar, livestock, corn, poultry, sorghum. Arable, cultivated, or pasture land--64%.
Industry (22% of GDP): Types--food and beverage processing, textiles, footwear and clothing, chemical products, petroleum products, electronics.
Trade: Exports--$2.5 billion: coffee, sugar, textiles, shrimp. Major markets--U.S. 64%, Central American Common Market (CACM) 25%, European Union (EU) 4%. Imports--$4.1 billion: consumer goods, foodstuffs, capital goods, raw industrial materials, petroleum. Major suppliers--U.S. 51.7%, CACM 16%, Mexico 5%, EU 2%, Japan 3%.

In March 1999, then President Calderon Sol met with President Clinton and his counterparts from Central America at the Antigua summit to discuss Hurricane Mitch reconstruction and to reaffirm support for strengthening democracy, good governance, and promoting prosperity through economic integration, free trade, and investment. The leaders also expressed their commitment to the continued development of just and equitable societies and responsible environmental policies as integral elements of sustainable development. El Salvador is a member of the United Nations and several of its specialized agencies, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Central American Common Market (CACM), the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), and the Central American Integration System (SICA). It actively participates in the Central American Security Commission (CASC), which seeks to promote regional arms control. El Salvador also is a member of the World Trade Organization and is pursuing regional free trade agreements. An active participant in the Summit of the Americas process, El Salvador chairs a working group on market access under the Free Trade Area of the Americas initiative. El Salvador has joined its six Central American neighbors in signing the Alliance for Sustainable Development, known as the Conjunta Centroamerica-USA or CONCAUSA to promote sustainable economic development in the region. In July 1969, El Salvador and Honduras fought the 100-hour Soccer War over disputed border areas and friction resulting from the 300,000 Salvadorans who had emigrated to Honduras in search of land and employment. The catalyst was nationalistic feelings aroused by a series of soccer matches between the two countries. The two countries formally signed a peace treaty on October 30, 1980, which put the border dispute before the International Court of Justice. In September 1992, the court issued a 400-page ruling, awarding much of the disputed land to Honduras. Although there have been tensions between citizens on both sides of the border, the two countries have worked to maintain stability, and signed an agreement in November 1996 to establish a framework for negotiating the final disposition of citizens and property in the affected areas. El Salvador and Honduras share normal diplomatic and trade relations.

U.S.-Salvadoran relations remain close and cordial. U.S. policy toward El Salvador seeks to promote:


The strengthening of El Salvador's democratic institutions, rule of law, judicial reform, and civilian police; and,

National reconciliation and reconstruction, economic opportunity, and growth.
Bilateral aid in general has declined since the end of the war with FY 1999 total economic assistance projected at $38 million. The Salvadoran Government relies increasingly on loans from international lending institutions to finance special projects.

Private Sector

U.S. ties to El Salvador are dynamic and growing. Over 9,000 American citizens live and work full-time in El Salvador. Most are private business persons and their families, but a small number of American citizen retirees have been drawn to El Salvador by favorable tax conditions. The embassy's consular section provides the full range of visa, passport, federal benefit, absentee voting, and related citizenship services to this community. The American Chamber of Commerce in El Salvador is located at 87 Avenida Norte No. 720, Apto. A, Colonia Escalon, San Salvador, El Salvador (tel: 011-503-223-3292; fax: 011-503-224-6856).

Ambassador--Rose M. Likins
Deputy Chief of Mission--Mark Boulware
USAID Mission Chief--Kenneth Ellis
Political Counselor--Kevin M. Johnson
Economic Counselor--Bruce Williamson
Public Affairs Officer--Majorie Coffin

The U.S. embassy in El Salvador is located at Final Blvd. Santa Elena, Antiguo Cuscatlan, La Libertad (tel: 011-503-278-4444; fax: 011-503-278-6011).