History of El Salvador
[1][2][3] In the 20th century, El Salvador endured chronic political and economic instability characterized by coups, revolts, and a succession of authoritarian rulers caused by the intervention of the United States.
El Salvador's economy was historically dominated by agriculture, beginning with the indigo plant (añil in Spanish), the most important crop during the colonial period,[4][5] and followed thereafter by coffee, which by the early 20th century accounted for 90 percent of export earnings.
[9] The first Spanish attempt to control El Señorío of Cuzcatlán failed in 1524, when Pedro de Alvarado was forced to retreat by Pipil warriors led by King Atlácatl and Prince Atonal in the Battle of Acajutla.
Land- Environmental Impact was dry and cold around this time After the Spanish conquest, the region became part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala.
After the viceroy was defeated in Mexico City in 1821, news of the independence was sent to all the territories of New Spain including the intendancies of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala.
But in 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor Agustín de Iturbide and a new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American intendancies to decide their own fate.
In 1832, Anastasio Aquino led an indigenous revolt against criollos and mestizos in Santiago Nonualco, a small town in the province of La Paz.
[14] Historian Héctor Lindo-Fuentes asserts that "the parallel process of state-building and expansion of the coffee industry resulted in the formation of an oligarchy that was to rule El Salvador during the twentieth century.
"[15] The coffee industry gave birth to an oligarchy in the late 19th century, which has controlled most of the land and wealth of El Salvador since that time.
The Fourteen Families ("las catorce familias")—with names including de Sola, Llach, Hill, Meza-Ayau, Duenas, Dalton, Regalado, Quiñonez, Flores, and Salaverria—is a reference to this oligarchy.
[16] At that time, the oligarchy consisted of some 20 families which controlled more than 70 percent of El Salvador's coffee production and exports, sugar mills, banks, television and newspapers.
[16] Since the end of that war in 1992, the oligarchic families of El Salvador have shifted their focus from agricultural exports to capital investment.
[citation needed] Between 1931, the year of General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez's coup, and 1944, when he was deposed, there was brutal suppression of rural resistance.
In the 1972 presidential election, opponents of military rule united under José Napoleón Duarte, leader of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC).
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.
In accordance with the peace agreements, the constitution was amended to prohibit the military from playing an internal security role except under extraordinary circumstances.
A purge of military officers accused of human rights abuses and corruption was completed in 1993 in compliance with the Ad Hoc Commission's recommendations.
The new doctrine, professionalism, and complete withdrawal from political and economic affairs leave the ESAF as one of the most respected institutions in El Salvador.
[18] The democratic process in El Salvador is delicately balanced, since the Legislative Assembly decreed an amnesty after the Chapultepec Peace Accords.
In the presidential elections of March 21, 2004, ARENA was victorious again, this time with the candidate Antonio Saca, securing the party's third consecutive term.
In the postwar period, El Salvador experienced problems with organized crime in the form of “maras” or gangs, mainly due to the deportation of Salvadorans from the United States.
Currently, El Salvador's largest source of foreign currency is remittances sent by Salvadorans from abroad; these have been estimated at over $2 billion US dollars.
There are over 2 million Salvadorans living abroad in countries including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Australia, and Sweden.
[20][21] Under his leadership, El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban the mining of metal on its territory, for environmental and public health reasons.
[30] In 2018, former President Antonio Saca was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to diverting more than US$300 million in state funds to his own businesses and third parties.
[30] In February, 2019, Nayib Bukele, a Millennial who was not aligned with either of the major parties that had dominated the country since the Civil War, was elected president of El Salvador.
[32] According to a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) 2020, the homicide rate in El Salvador declined by as much as 60 percent since Bukele became president in June 2019.
In January 2022, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged El Salvador to reverse its decision to make cryptocurrency Bitcoin legal tender.
