• El Salvador is a country of 8,260 square miles (21,040 square kilometers) in Central America, between Guatemala and Honduras. 

• In 1999 the population was estimated to be 5,839,079, making El Salvador one of the most densely populated countries in the Western Hemisphere.

• The civil war in the 1980s led to a huge population upheaval, with up to 40 percent of the population relocating and close to 20 percent leaving the country. 

• Estimates of deaths in the twelve years of civil war have reached 80,000, including twelve thousand civilians killed in 1981. In 1982, mutilation killings, particularly decapitations, of adults and children were used as mechanisms of social terror.

• Much of that repression was in response to the political organization of the people in the 1960s and 1970s as workers, peasants, women, students, and shanty town dwellers developed organizations to demand political and economic rights. 

• Many political activists felt that "legal" political organizing would not lead to political change and began organizing the clandestine guerrilla units that formed the nucleus of the FMLN in 1980. By 1979 the FMLN was perceived as a threat by the military dictatorship.

• On 31 December 1991, the government and the FMLN signed an agreement under the auspices of the United Nations, and a cease-fire took effect in 1992. The peace accords called for military reforms including a reduction in the size of the military, a new armed forces doctrine stressing democratic values and prohibiting an internal security role, and the banning of paramilitary groups. 

• Ideological polarization between the two sides in the conflict has made reconciliation difficult, and the government has failed to prosecute human rights abusers, or address the social injustices. Many Salvadorans, especially rural peasants, do not trust the nation's political leaders.

Culture and Society

• Almost all residents speak Spanish, which was brought in by the conquistadors. Before the Spanish conquest, the area was inhabited by the Pipil Indians.

• Very few Salvadorans now speak the indigenous language, which virtually disappeared after 1932, when General Maximilio Hernández Martínez suppressed rural resistance by massacring 30,000 mostly Indian rural peasants. Those who survived la Matanza ("the massacre") hid their Indian identity by changing their dress and speaking only Spanish. 

• Indians were at the bottom of the social hierarchy in colonial times and subject to massacre and exploitation well into the twentieth century.

• Corn is the staple of the diet and is most often made into thick tortillas that are eaten at every meal and also are served as tamales and in a thick corn drink calledatol. Small red beans are the other staple. A variety of fruits and vegetables are eaten, Salvadorans also eat rice, eggs, chicken, pork, beef, fish and seafood, and some game. Coffee is the most common drink, along with highly sugared fruit drinks.

• The land reform started in the early 1980s transferred land to former combatants who were mostly the rural poor. However, many people find it difficult to sustain their families on small plots of infertile land.

• Cubans have a strong sense of “Cubanidad,” or cultural identity.

• El Salvador is a large exporter of agricultural products, but exports of sugarcane, cotton, and coffee have declined. The nation exports only half the quantity of goods it imports. 

• About half the population lives below the national poverty line, able to buy food but not clothing and medicine. Over half of these families live in a situation of extreme poverty. 47 percent of the population does not have access to clean water.

• Many crime victims do not report crimes to the authorities because of continuing mistrust of the courts and police. 

• During the civil war, many women began to take leadership positions outside the traditional domestic sphere, becoming leaders in popular organizations and base Christian communities. Although women often work outside the home generating income, they are exclusively responsible for housework and child care.

• The extended family is very important in the national culture. A woman can count on her cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents on both sides for support. 

• Basic education is compulsory until age thirteen, but half the children ages six to sixteen in the poorest families do not attend school.

• Respect is due to older persons from younger person, and to higher-status persons from lower-status individuals. 

Adjusting to Life in America

• Some of the younger refugees have adapted well, according to counselors, but others have continued to struggle with language barriers, emotional trauma from the past, and conflicts with new or estranged relatives.

• There is often little motivation to learn English and move to areas with better jobs, because refugees fit so well into the Spanish-speaking, Salvadorian-American society.

• Many Salvadorians ages 25 and older had no high school diploma or the equivalent general education diploma making it much more difficult to find employment.