El Salvador Civil War

Salvadoran Civil War
Part of the Central American crisis and Cold War
A billboard serving as a reminder of one of many massacres that occurred during the Civil War in El Salvador. The Spanish inscription to the left reads in English: "They tore out the flower, but the roots are returning among us."
Date October 15, 1979 – January 16, 1992 (12 years, 3 months and 1 day) Location El Salvador Result Chapultepec Peace Accords of 1992; Dissolving of the Salvadoran military government by negotiated settlement Restructuring of Salvadoran Armed Forces National Guard, National Police and Treasury Police are dissolved (new civilian-overseen police created) FMLN becomes a political party, its combatants are exonerated
Belligerents
Salvadoran military government Paramilitary death squads Foreign mercenaries (unknown number, possibly hundreds) Supported by  United States  Chile  Argentina (1979-82)  Israel  Taiwan	FMLN (CRM) FDR FPL RN (FAPU) PRTC (MLP) PCS Supported by  Soviet Union  Cuba Nicaragua (1979-90)  China  Bulgaria
Commanders and leaders
Roberto D'Aubuisson Álvaro Magaña José Guillermo García José Napoleón Duarte Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova Alfredo Cristiani	Schafik Handal Joaquín Villalobos Cayetano Carpio Salvador Sánchez Cerén
Strength
9.850 (1980) 39.000-51.150(1985) 63.000-70.000 Some 55,000 Regulars and 15,000 paramilitary (1992)	12.000-15.000 (1984) 6.000-15.000 (1985) (probably 10.000) 8.000-10.000 (1992)
Casualties and losses
7,000 dead	20,000 dead
70,000–80,000 (total dead); 8,000 disappeared; 550,000 internally displaced and 500,000 refugees in other countries

Chapultepec Peace Accords of 1992;

Salvadoran military government

Supported by

FMLN (CRM)

Supported by

9.850 (1980)
39.000-51.150(1985)

12.000-15.000 (1984)

The Salvadoran Civil War was a conflict between the military-led government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or "umbrella organization" of five left-wing guerrilla groups. A coup on October 15, 1979, led to the killings of anti-coup protesters by the government as well as anti-disorder protesters by the guerrillas, and is widely seen as the tipping point toward civil war.

By January 1980, the left-wing political organizations united to form the Coordinated Revolutionaries of the Masses (CRM). A few months later, the left-wing armed groups united to form the Unified Revolutionary Directorate (DRU). It was renamed the FMLN following its merger with the Communist Party in October 1980.

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Wikipedia