El Salvador
El Salvador is a country in
Central America with a population of approximately 6.9 million people. It is bordered to the west by
Guatemala, to the north and east by
Honduras, and to the south by the
Pacific Ocean. El Salvador is the most densely populated nation on the
American mainland (especially in its capital,
San Salvador) and also the most
industrialized country in
Central America. The official name is
Republic of El Salvador (
Spanish:
República de El Salvador,
IPA: ). The country was named after the Spanish word for "The Savior" in honor of
Jesus and its territory was known
prehispanically as
Cuscatlán.
In June, 1524, Portuguese Captain Pedro Alvares Cabral attacked Cuscatlán (land of beautiful jewels), which was populated by the native tribes of the land. After 17 days of bloody battles many natives and Spaniards died.
Pedro de Alvarado, defeated and hurt in his left hip, abandoned the fight and ran to
Guatemala, telling his brother,
Gonzalo de Alvarado, to continue with the conquest of Cuscatlán. Later, his cousin
Diego de Alvarado established the villa of San Salvador on April, 1525. King
Carlos I of Spain granted San Salvador the title of city in the year 1546. During the following years, El Salvador developed under Spanish dominion within the Kingdom of Guatemala. Towards the end of 1810 a combination of external and internal factors allowed Central American elites to attempt independence from the Spanish crown. The internal factors were mainly the interest the elites had in controlling the territories they owned as they pleased, without so much involvement from Spanish authorities. The external factors that enabled such independence movement were the success of the French and American revolutions in the 18th Century and the weakening of the military power of the Spanish crown because of its wars against Napoleonic France. The independence movement was consolidated on November 5th, 1811, when the Salvadoran priest,
Jose MatÃas Delgado, sounded the bells of the Iglesia La Merced in San Salvador, making a call for the insurrection. After many years of internal fights, the Acta de Independencia (Act of Independence) of Central America was signed in Guatemala on September 15th, 1821.
On
September 15,
1821, El Salvador and the other
Central American provinces declared their independence from
Spain. In
1823, the
United Provinces of Central America was formed by the five
Central American states under General
Manuel José Arce. When this federation was dissolved in
1838, El Salvador became an independent republic. El Salvador's early history as an independent state was marked by frequent revolutions.
From
1872 to
1898 El Salvador was a prime mover in attempts to reestablish an isthmian
federation. The governments of El Salvador,
Honduras, and
Nicaragua formed the
Greater Republic of Central America via the
Pact of Amapala in
1895. Although
Guatemala and
Costa Rica considered joining the Greater Republic (which was rechristened the
United States of Central America when its constitution went into effect in 1898), neither country joined. This union, which had planned to establish its capital city at Amapala on the Golfo de Fonseca, did not survive a seizure of power in El Salvador in 1898.
The enormous profits that
coffee yielded as a monoculture export served as an impetus for the process whereby land became concentrated in the hands of an
oligarchy of several hundred families. A succession of
presidents from the ranks of the Salvadoran oligarchy, nominally both
conservative and
liberal, throughout the last half of the
19th century generally agreed on the promotion of coffee as the predominant
cash crop, on the development of
infrastructure (
railroads and
port facilities) primarily in support of the coffee trade, on the elimination of communal landholdings to facilitate further coffee production, on the passage of anti-
vagrancy laws to ensure that displaced
campesinos and other rural residents provided sufficient
labor for the coffee fincas (
plantations), and on the suppression of rural discontent.
The coffee industry grew inexorably in El Salvador. As a result the elite provided the bulk of the government's financial support through
import duties on goods imported with the foreign
currencies that coffee sales earned. This support, coupled with the humbler and more mundane mechanisms of
corruption, ensured the coffee growers of overwhelming influence within the
government and the
military which they used to create the Guardia Nacional (GN) in
1912. The duties of the GN differed from those of the Policia Nacional (PN), mainly in that GN personnel were specifically responsible for providing security on the coffee fincas and effectively
suppressing rural dissent.
A bloodless
coup led by General
Tomás Regalado took El Salvador into the
20th century. Regalado's peaceful transfer of power in
1903 to his handpicked successor,
Pedro José Escalón, ushered in a period of comparative stability that extended until the
Depression-provoked upheaval of
1931–
32.
In
1930, General
Maximiliano Hernández MartÃnez, the country's
Minister of Defense, took power in a
coup d'état. Soon after, MartÃnez, now
President, suppressed a 1932 revolt consisting of farmers and Indians in the western part of the country. The revolt was conducted by the newly formed
Communist Party and its leader
AgustÃn Farabundo MartÃ. The military conflict left more than 20,000 people dead in retaliatory massacres, which came to be known as "La Matanza;" this marked the beginning of a series of
de facto military dictatorships that would rule El Salvador until
1979, when General
Humberto Romero of the
Party of National Conciliation (PCN) would be overthrown in a reformist coup.
Under the authoritarian rule of Maj.
Ã"scar Osorio (
1950–
56) and Lt. Col. José MarÃa Lemus (1956–
60) considerable economic progress was made. Lemus was overthrown by a coup, and after a confused period, a junta composed of leaders of the National Conciliation party came to power in June
1961. The junta's candidate, Lt. Col. Julio Adalberto Rivera, was elected president in
1962. He was succeeded in
1967 by Col.
Fidel Sánchez Hernández. Relations with Honduras deteriorated in the late 1960s. There was a border clash in 1967, and a four-day so-called
Football war broke out in July
1969. The Salvadoran forces that had invaded Honduras were withdrawn, but not until
1992 was an agreement settling the border controversy with Honduras signed.
Following increasing clashes between the Marxist group Farabundo Martà National Liberation Front (
FMLN), El Salvadoran Armed Forces (ESAF) and
rightist vigilantes known as
death squads, a civil war errupted that would last for twelve years (1980-1992) and claim the lives of approximately 75,000 people. Among the victims of the war included Archbishop
Oscar Arnulfo Romero, who is believed to be the greatest apostle of the poor in Latin America for delivering his message of peace and equality for all Salvadorans. He was assassinated while delivering his homily on Sunday, March 24, 1980. Throughout this civil war the USA intervened heavily on the side of the right-wing.
The assassination was carried out by Alvaro Saravia, who in 1979 left the Salvadoran military, and from that time worked closely with
Roberto D'Aubuisson. D'Aubuisson, in conjunction with elements of the Salvadoran armed forces and far right Salvadoran civilians in El Salvador, Guatemala and the United States, founded the far right political party Alianza Republicana Nacionalista ("ARENA"),which is now in power in El Salvador. D'Aubuisson organized death squads composed of civilians and military figures that systematically carried out politically-motivated assassinations and other human rights abuses in El Salvador.
According to the 1993 United Nations' Truth Commission report, over 96% of the human rights violations carried out during the war were committed by the Salvadoran military or the paramilitary death squads, while 3.5% were committed by the FMLN. During the war, a small group of 55 military advisers from the U.S. Military Group (MILGRP)
[William R. Meara, Contras Cross: Insurgency and Tyranny in Central America, 1979-1989, 2006, ISBN 159114518X, pp. 38, 52.] helped to train government forces, which were heavily funded by the U.S. as well. In the meantime, the guerrillas of the FMLN were trained and funded by the communist government of Cuba and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, as well as supported by several eastern European countries and the USSR itself, creating one of the last scenarios of the Cold War. After the fall of Communism in Europe, the conditions for peace negotiations were finally set. A ceasefire was established in 1992 when the rebels of the FMLN and the government of President
Alfredo Cristiani of the
Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), signed "Peace accords" on
January 16, 1992 that assured political and military reforms and punishment for some human rights abuses during the civil war; death squad activity was virtually eliminated (though pockets of death squad participants are still believed to exist) and several of the military participants responsible for ordering the assassinations of Salvadoran and U.S. citizens were granted pardons with the signing of the Peace Accords.
In
1998,
Hurricane Mitch devastated the country, leaving 200 dead and over 30,000 homeless, damaging about 20% of the nation's housing.
El Salvador is known for the many
earthquakes that occur within its borders. It has been popularly known as the "Valley of the Hammocks" since colonial times. On
January 13,
2001 an earthquake that measured 7.6 on the
Richter scale caused a
landslide that killed more than 800 people. On
February 13, 2001, a second earthquake killed 255 people and damaging about 20% of the nation's housing. An even worse disaster beset the country in the summer of 2001 when a severe
drought destroyed 80% of the country's crops, causing
famine in the countryside.
|
Scenic Jiboa Valley and San Vicente Volcano |
|
Survey Marker at summit of Cerro El Pital |
El Salvador is located in
Central America. It has a total area of 8,123
square miles (21,040
km²), making it comparable in size, although slightly smaller than the state of
Massachusetts. El Salvador is the smallest country in continental America. Due to its size it is affectionately called the "Tom Thumb of the Americas". It has 123.6 square miles (320 km²) of water within its borders. Several small rivers flow through El Salvador into the
Pacific Ocean, including the Goascorán, Jiboa, Torola, Paz and the RÃo Grande de San Miguel. Only the largest river, the
Lempa River, flowing from Honduras across El Salvador to the ocean, is navigable for commercial traffic. Volcanic craters enclose lakes, the most important of which are Ilopango (70 km²/27 sq mi) and Coatepeque (26 km²/10 sq mi). Lake Güija is El Salvador's largest natural lake (44 km²/17 sq mi). Several artificial lakes were created by the damming of the Lempa, the largest of which is Embalse Cerrón Grande (350 km²/135 sq mi).
El Salvador shares borders with Guatemala—126
miles (203
km) and Honduras—212.5 miles (342 km), and is the only Central American country that does not have a Caribbean coastline. The highest point in the country is
Cerro El Pital at 8,957
feet (2,730
m).
See also
List of cities in El SalvadorPolitics of El Salvador takes place in a framework of a
presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the
President of El Salvador (Antonio Saca) is both
head of state and
head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system.
Executive power is exercised by the government.
Legislative power is vested in both the
government and the
Legislative Assembly. The
Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
El Salvador is divided into 14
departments (
departamentos), and subdivided into municipalities (
municipios).
The
departments include:
Main article: Economy of El Salvador
The Salvadoran economy has experienced mixed results from the
ARENA government's commitment to
free market initiatives and conservative fiscal management that include the
privatization of the
banking system,
telecommunications, public pensions, electrical distribution, and some
electrical generation, reduction of
import duties, elimination of
price controls, and an improved enforcement of
intellectual property rights. The
GDP variable has been growing at a steady and moderate pace since the signing of peace accords in 1992, in an environment of
macroeconomic stability. A problem that the Salvadoran economy faces is the inequality in the distribution of income. In
1999, the richest fifth of the
population received 45% of the country's income, while the poorest fifth received only 5.6%.
As of December 1999, net international reserves equaled US$1.8 billion or roughly five months of imports. Having this hard currency buffer to work with, the Salvadoran Government undertook a monetary integration plan beginning
January 1,
2001, by which the
U.S. dollar became legal tender alongside the
colón, and all formal accounting was undertaken in U.S. dollars. This way, the government has formally limited its possibility of implementing open market monetary policies to influence short term variables in the economy. Since 2004, the colón stopped circulating and is now never used in the country for any type of transaction; however some stores still have prices in both colones and U.S. dollars. In general, people were unhappy with the shift from the colón to the U.S. dollar, because wages are still the same but the price of everything increased. Some economists claim this rise in prices would have been caused by inflation regardless even had the shift not been made. Some economists also contend that now, according to
Gresham's Law, a reversion to the colón would be disastrous to the economy.
Some banks however claim that they still do some transactions
en colones, keeping this change from being unconstitutional.
The change to the dollar also precipitated a trend toward lower interest rates in El Salvador, helping many to secure credit in order to buy a house or a car; over time, displeasure with the change has largely disappeared, though the issue resurfaces as a political tool when elections are on the horizon.
A challenge in El Salvador has been developing new growth sectors for a more diversified economy. As many other former colonies, for many years El Salvador was considered a monoexporter economy. This means, an economy that depended heavily on one type of export. During colonial times, the Spanish decided that El Salvador would produce and export
indigo, but after the invention of synthetic dyes in the 19th century, Salvadoran authorities and the newly created modern state turned to
coffee as the main export of the economy. Since the cultivation of coffee required the highest lands in the country, many of these lands were expropriated from
indigenous reserves and given or sold cheaply to those that could cultivate coffee. The government provided little or no compensation to the indigenous peoples. On occassions this compensation implied merely the right to work for seasons in the newly created coffee farms and to be allowed to grow their own food. Such policies provided the basis of conflicts that would shape the political situation of El Salvador in the years to come.
For a many decades, coffee was one of the only sources of foreign currency in the Salvadoran economy. The civil war in the 80's and the fall of international coffee prices in the 90's, pressured the Salvadoran government to diversify the economy. ARENA governments have followed policies that intend to develop other exporting industries in the country as textiles and sea products. Tourism is another industry Salvadoran authorities regard as a possibility for the country. But rampant crime rates, lack of infrastructure and inadequate social capital have prevented these possibilities from being properly exploited. The government is also developing ports and infrastructure in
La Union in the east of the country, in order to use the area as a "dry canal" for transporting goods from
Fonseca Gulf in the
Pacific Ocean to
Honduras and the
Atlantic Ocean in the
north. Currently there are fifteen
free trade zones in El Salvador. The largest beneficiary has been the
maquila industry, which provides 88,700 jobs directly, and consists primarily of cutting and assembling clothes for
export to the
United States.
El Salvador signed the
Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), negotiated by the five countries of
Central America and the
Dominican Republic, with the United States in
2004. In order to take advantage of CAFTA, the Salvadoran government is challenged to conduct policies that guarantee better conditions for entrepreneurs and workers to transfer from declining to growing sectors in the economy. El Salvador has already signed free trade agreements with
Mexico,
Chile, the Dominican Republic, and
Panama, and increased its
exports to those countries. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua also are negotiating a free trade agreement with
Canada, and negotiations started on 2006 for a free trade agreement with
Colombia.
Fiscal policy has been the biggest challenge for the Salvadoran government. The 1992 peace accords committed the government to heavy expenditures for transition programs and
social services. The Stability Adjustment Programs (PAE, for the initials in Spanish) initiated by President Cristiani's administration committed the government to the privatization of banks, the pension system, electric and telephone companies. The total privatization of the pension system has implied a serious burden for the public finances, because the newly created private Pension Asociation Funds did not absorb coverage of retired pensionists covered in the old system. The government lost the revenues from contributors and absorbed completely the costs of coverage of retired pensionists. This has been the main source of fiscal imbalance. ARENA governments have financed this deficit with the emission of bonds, something the leftist party FMLN has opposed. Debates surrounding the emition of bonds have stalled the approval of the national budget for many months on several occasions, reason for which in 2006 the government will finance the deficit by reducing expenditure in other posts. The emission of bonds and the approval of a loans need a qualified majority (3/4 of the votes) in the parliament. If the deficit is not financed through a loan it is enough with a simple majority to approve the budget (50 % of the votes plus 1). This would agilize an otherwise long process in Salvadoran politics.
Despite such challenges to keep public finances in balance, El Salvador still has one of the lowest tax burdens in the American continent (around 11 % of GDP). Many specialists claim that it is impossible to advance significant development programs with such an little public sector (the tax burden in the United States is around 25 % of the GDP and in other developed countries of the EU it can reach around 50 %, like in Sweden). The government has focused on improving the collection of its current
revenues with a focus on indirect taxes. Leftist politicians criticize such a structure since indirect taxes (like the value added tax) affect everyone alike, whereas direct taxes can be weighed according to levels of income and are therefore fairer taxes. A 10%
value-added tax (VAT), implemented in September 1992, was raised to 13% in July
1995. The VAT is the biggest source of revenue, accounting for about 52.3% of total
tax revenues in
2004.
Remittances from Salvadorans working in the United States sent to family members are a major source of foreign income and offset the substantial
trade deficit of around $2.9 billion. Remittances have increased steadily in the last decade and reached an all-time high of $2.9 billion in 2005—approximately 17.1% of
gross domestic product (GDP). As of April 2004, net
international reserves stood at $1.9 billion.
In recent years
inflation has fallen to single digit levels, and total exports have grown substantially.
A small part of the population speaks
Nahuat, a dialect of
Nahuatl. The
Roman Catholic religion played an important role in the Salvadoran culture. Important foreign personalities in El Salvador were the
Jesuit priests and professors
Ignacio Ellacuria,
Ignacio MartÃn-Baró and
Segundo Montes. Painting, ceramics and textile goods are the main manual
artistic expressions. Writers
Francisco Gavidia (
1863–
1955),
Salarrué (Salvador Salazar Arrué),
Claudia Lars,
Alfredo Espino,
Pedro Geoffroy,
Manlio Argueta, and poet
Roque Dalton are among the most important artists to stem from El Salvador. Notable 20th century personages include the late filmmaker
Baltasar Polio, artist
Fernando Llort, and
caricaturist Toño Salazar.
The local flavour of Spanish, its slang, is called
Caliche.
Holidays| Date | English Name | Local Name | Remarks |
|---|
| March/April | Easter | Semana Santa | Celebrated with carnival-like events in different cities by the large Catholic population |
| May 1 | Labor Day | DÃa de los trabajadores | International Labour Day |
| May 10 | Mother's Day | DÃa de la Madre | |
| August 1–7 | August Festivals | Fiestas de Agosto | Week long festival in Celebration for the El Salvador del Mundo, patron saint of El Salvador. |
| September 15 | Independence Day | DÃa de la Independencia | Celebrates independence from Spain, achieved in 1821 |
| October 12 | Columbus Day | DÃa de la Raza | This day commemorates the discovery of the Americas |
| November 2 | Day of the Dead | DÃa de los Difuntos | |
| December 25 | Christmas Day | Navidad |
|
Main article: Demographics of El Salvador
El Salvador's population numbers about 6.7 million people. Around 90% are
mestizo (mixed Amerindian and Spanish/European), some 9% white, and only 1% indigenous. Very few
Amerindians have retained their native customs, traditions, or languages, especially in the wake of the deliberate government-inspired 1932 massacres. El Salvador is the only Central American country that has no visible native African population because of its relative inaccesibility to the Atlantic slave trade. In addition, General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez instituted race laws in 1930 that prohibited blacks from entering the country. Among the few immigrant groups that reached El Salvador, Palestinian Christians stand out. Though few in number, their descendants have attained great economic and political power in the country, as evidenced by President Antonio Saca and the flourishing commercial, industrial, and construction firms owned by them.
Spanish is the language spoken by virtually all inhabitants, although English is spoken by a small number of people in the capital. English is primarily spoken by professionals or those in the tourist industry. The country's people are largely Roman
Catholic (83% of the population), though
Protestant groups are growing (15%).
The capital city of
San Salvador has about 2.1 million people; an estimated 42% of El Salvador's population live in rural areas.
According to the most recent
United Nations survey, life expectancy for men was 68 years and 74 years for women.
Education in El Salvador is free through 9th grade. The national
literacy rate is 84.1%.
At the beginning of 2004, there were approximately 3.1 million Salvadorans living outside El Salvador, many of whom are immigrants in the
United States. The USA has traditionally been the destination of choice for Salvadorans looking for greater economic opportunity than their current position can provide. Other countries with notable Salvadoran communities include Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Australia. The majority of the expatriates emigrated during the civil war of the decade of the 1980s and from adverse economic and social conditions. Pursuant to peace accords signed in January of 1992 between the
FMLN and the ARENA-party-dominated government, the government made a series of economic reforms in the mold of the free market model supported by the USA. This model has given good results on all economic levels, although politicians of the opposition parties argue that this is not the case. In 2001 El Salvador adopted, by legislative decree, the U.S. dollar as its official currency, replacing the previous currency called the Colon (Spanish for 'Columbus', as in Christopher Columbus).
*
List of Salvadorans*
Communications in El Salvador*
Transportation in El Salvador*
Rail transport in El Salvador*
Central American Spanish*
Spanish of El Salvador (Caliche)*
Cuisine of El Salvador*
El Salvador: Gangs*
Military of El Salvador
*
The Council on Hemispheric Affairs An Independent Source of Latin American News and Opinion
*
Worldwide press freedom index Rank 33 out of 139 countries (2 way tie)
*
Directorio de Sitios Web Salvadoreños - Salvadoran Website Directory
*
Blogs El Salvador*
Encyclopaedia Britannica, El Salvador - Country Page*
Economic and demographic data*
Poetry El Salvador*
Forums & Salvadorian Community *
TuningSV Community *
Picture galleries of El Salvador*
Doctors in El Salvador - Médicos de El Salvador
*
Business Directory of El Salvador Empresas en EL Salvador
National Anthem* [
1] (National Anthem of El Salvador in Mp3 form)
* [
2] National Anthem, Midi format
Government sites*
Casa Presidencial (Website of the President)
*
Asamblea Legislativa (Website of the Legislative Assembly)
*
Ministerio de Defensa Nacional (Ministry of Defense)
*
Fuerza Aerea Salvadoreña (Air Force of El Salvador)
*
Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Ministry of the Environment and Natural resources)
*
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
*
Ministerio de EconomÃa (Ministry of the Economy)
*
Ministerio de Turismo (Ministry of Tourism)
*
Corte Suprema de Justicia (Supreme Court of Justice)
*
ProcuradurÃa para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (Office of the judge advocate general for the Defense of Human rights)
Salvadoran media* News sites
**
Diario Colatino**
Asociación de Periodistas de El Salvador**
La Prensa Grafica**
El Mundo**
El Diario de Hoy**
El Faro**
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales* Television sites
**
Canal 12**
TCS**
Canal 21Charities and Volunteer Organisations*
ASAPROSAR - Salvadoran Association for Rural Health*
Lifeline El Salvador - Volunteer, Work and Teach English Abroad*
Foundation for Self-Sufficiency in Central America*
CISPES - Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador* [http://www.projectsalvador.org/ Project Salvador and People of Hope Crafts
