El Salvador

Geography

El Salvador is the smallest Spanish-speaking nation in the Western Hemisphere. El Salvador is about the size of the U.S. State of Massachusetts, with about 6.5 million inhabitants. It has an area of 8,123 square miles (21,041 square kilometers). With 644 people per square mile, El Salvador’s population is three and a half times denser than Guatemala’s and up to ten times denser than that of other Central American nations. The country is boarded by Guatemala to the west, Honduras to the north and east, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and the Gulf of Fonseca separates El Salvador from Nicaragua on the southeast.

El Salvador has suffered from a tremendous resource drain caused by the country’s civil war, natural disasters, and a lack of economic development. El Salvador’s primary export and cash crop, coffee, was seriously affected by the Civil War and by the drop in world coffee prices. On the bright side, in recent years inflation has fallen to single-digit levels, and total exports have grown substantially. The substantial trade deficit has been offset by remittances from external aid and from the large number of Salvadorans living abroad.

Civil War

Between 1978 and 1991, El Salvador was engulfed in a violent civil war that pit communist guerillas against the elected government. Over 75,000 people lost their lives, and those who lived were exposed to appalling crimes. Finally, the day arrived (January 16, 1992) when the parties signed a peace agreement, which brought back the light and the chance to turn madness to hope.

The most enduring short-term impact of the war was the destruction of much of the country’s infrastructure. By mid-1987, observers estimated that the total cost to the economy due to lost agricultural production, damaged infrastructure, and funds which were diverted from economic to military purposes totaled approximately US$1.5 billion.

Long-term, the impact of the war may have more far-reaching effects on the basic survival of traditional family values, and of the traditional extended family unit. The civil war was a fire that swept over the fields of El Salvador. It burst into villages, cut off roads, and destroyed highways and bridges, energy sources and transmission lines.

The war reached cities and families, sacred areas and educational centers. It struck at the very heart of any sense of justice, and it singled out as an enemy anyone who was not on a list of friends. The victims were Salvadorans of all backgrounds and all social and economic classes. No one won the 15-year war, but many lost.

While the peace agreement brought an end to the formal, structural violence, the post-war era of El Salvador contains a disease that is predicted to spread. El Salvador currently suffers from a deadly disease of violence, which takes the form of kidnappings, gang violence, domestic violence, and high rates of juvenile delinquency.

Furthermore, El Salvador has been classified as "the most violent country in Latin America."[1] The loss of family and societal values during the civil war, along with on-going unemployment and continued poverty [2], has fueled this rise in violence.

The small governmental budget increase in social spending does not reflect a preventive strategy. Today's crime and violence affects Salvadoran children as much as the 15-year armed conflict did.

Eathquakes

El Salvador has a long history of destructive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. San Salvador , the capital, was destroyed by earthquakes in 1756 and 1854, and it suffered heavy damage from earthquakes occurring in 1919, 1982, 1986, and twice in 2001. On the morning of Saturday, January 13,2001, at exactly 11:35 a.m., an earthquake shook El Salvador with a destructive force 50,000 times more powerful than the Oklahoma City Bombing. It was 80 times more devastating than Hiroshima , and had the force of 20,000 of the fiercest tornados. In a matter of seconds, much of El Salvador was devastated, including entire families. Again in February of 2001, earthquakes again struck. As of February 20, 2001, it was reported that there was a total of 278,456 destroyed homes and 1,329,806 homeless people. The impact the earthquakes of January and February, 2001, had on the children and families of El Salvador has been wide-ranging and severe. Many children died or were severely injured. Survivors faced water shortages and disease as landslides cut off many communities or made access to the families extremely difficult. Delivering food and clean drinking water was challenging.

• [ 1] The International Secretariat of Social Watch based in Montevideo - Uruguay
• [ 2] El Salvador, El Proceso No 817, 12-8-98. Delinquency in Salvadoran society