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The El Salvador portal
Republic of El Salvador
República de El Salvador (Spanish)
Motto: "Dios, Unión, Libertad" (Spanish)
English: "God, Union, Liberty"
Anthem: Himno Nacional de El Salvador
(English: "National Anthem of El Salvador")
ISO 3166 codeSV

El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is San Salvador. The country's population in 2023 was estimated to be 6.5 million.

Among the Mesoamerican nations that historically controlled the region are the Mayans, and then the Cuzcatlecs. Archaeological monuments also suggest an early Olmec presence around the first millennium BC. In the beginning of the 16th century, the Spanish Empire conquered the Central American territory, incorporating it into the Viceroyalty of New Spain ruled from Mexico City. However the Viceroyalty of New Spain had little to no influence in the daily affairs of the isthmus, which was colonized in 1524. In 1609, the area was declared the Captaincy General of Guatemala by the Spanish, which included the territory that would become El Salvador until its independence from Spain in 1821. It was forcibly incorporated into the First Mexican Empire, then seceded, joining the Federal Republic of Central America in 1823. When the federation dissolved in 1841, El Salvador became a sovereign state, then formed a short-lived union with Honduras and Nicaragua called the Greater Republic of Central America, which lasted from 1895 to 1898. (Full article...)

Clockwise from top right: two Salvadorans carrying a casualty of war, an anti-war protest in Chicago, Salvadoran President José Napoleón Duarte and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, a memorial to the El Mozote massacre, ERP fighters in Perquín

The Salvadoran Civil War (Spanish: guerra civil de El Salvador) was a twelve-year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or "umbrella organization" of left-wing groups backed by the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro as well as the Soviet Union. A coup on 15 October 1979 followed by government killings of anti-coup protesters is widely seen as the start of civil war. The war did not formally end until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when, on 16 January 1992 the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in Mexico City.

The United Nations (UN) reports that the war killed more than 75,000 people between 1979 and 1992, along with approximately 8,000 disappeared persons. Human rights violations, particularly the kidnapping, torture, and murder of suspected FMLN sympathizers by state security forces and paramilitary death squads – were pervasive. (Full article...)

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September 8, 2024 – 2024 Pasaquina Bell UH-1 crash
Nine people, including El Salvador's National Civil Police chief Mauricio Arriaza Chicas and a fraud suspect, are killed during a helicopter crash while being en route to San Salvador. The crash is considered to be intentional. All flags on government buildings will be flown half-mast for three days. (BBC)
July 2, 2024 – 2024 Atlantic hurricane season
One person is killed in a landslide caused by Tropical Storm Chris in San Salvador, El Salvador. (Expreso Mexico)
June 22, 2024 –
The death toll from the storms and heavy rains in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras increases to 30 people, including at least six children. (Reuters)
June 21, 2024 –
The death toll from torrential rains in El Salvador increases to 19 people, including at least two children. (AP)
June 17, 2024 –
Seven people are killed amid heavy rains across El Salvador. (AP)
Did you know...
  • ...that El Salvador is one of the most densely populated countries in Latin America, and also one of the most industrialized?
  • ...that El Salvador uses the U.S. Dollar as its currency?
  • ...that the department of Sonsonate is known for its coconuts?
  • ...that Roque Dalton, one of El Salvador's most beloved writers, was imprisoned and persecuted by the Salvadoran Communist Guerrilla?
  • ...that El Salvador and Honduras fought a war in 1969?
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