Salvadoran Civil War | |||||||
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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." |
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Belligerents | |||||||
Salvadoran military government
Supported by Chile Argentina (1979-82) Israel Taiwan |
Supported by Cuba Nicaragua (1979-90) China Bulgaria |
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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 |
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Strength | |||||||
9.850 (1980) |
12.000-15.000 (1984) (probably 10.000) 8.000-10.000 (1992) |
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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
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.