Canton El Tablón

[4] In the early 20th century, a large number of people were transported across the Lempa River on a daily basis.

As a result of this high usage, the departmental governments of Chalatenango and Cuscatlán agreed to build a suspension bridge named Cayetano Bosque that was destroyed by a severe storm in 1934.

[citation needed] These bridges were never rebuilt and so the Barca del Río Lempa continued to be of great use for local residents of the area until 1976 when the Cerrón Grande Hydroelectric Dam was fully built and the lands surround the river in the Paraiso Basin were flooded.

It was a project initiated by the national government of El Salvador to produce hydro electricity for the country.

As a result of the flooding associated with the project, 13,339 people were internally displaced from their family homes and lands in the Paraiso Basin of El Salvador, with around 9,000 people relocating to other communities and the rest receiving a small lump sum of money for their properties.

The project was advertised as the best resource for the country's energy problem, and was to be built 22 kilometers upstream from the dam on the Lempa River, between the municipality of Potonico, Chalatenango and Jutiapa, Cabañas.

In Canton El Tablón, there was a population of an estimated 2000 people at the time of the llena, meaning "filling", as described by former residents of the affected areas.

Many displaced peoples from the cantons in Chalatenango, were relocated by the national government to three newly built reurbanicaciones, or "residential communities".