In the Chapultepec Castle located in the capital of Mexico, a peace agreement was signed in 1992 between the government army of El Salvador and a Marxist-oriented guerrilla group, the FMLN (Frente Farabundo Martí para la LIberación Nacional). Both parties had been the main actors in an armed conflict that began in 1980 and ended in 1992. Apart from these two military forces, far-right armed groups, the well-known Death Squads, also intervened.
Causes and consequences of the civil war
The civil war in El Salvador had two main causes: deep social inequalities and land ownership in the hands of an oligarchy. At the international level, El Salvador had a strategic value for Soviet and American interests.
The war in the Central American country had effects on the whole of society. It is estimated that 75,000 people died (the vast majority belonging to the civilian population ), antipersonnel mines left thousands of injured and there was a massive displacement of the rural population towards the capital. To appease the climate of conflict, the army and the guerrillas accepted the UN measurement:
Main contents of the Chapultepec Peace Accords
Two years before its final signature, the representatives of the Salvadoran government and the guerrillas agreed to respect human rights, since all kinds of atrocities had been committed for years (selective assassinations, disappearances, kidnappings ...).
The signing of the peace had to overcome an important obstacle: the problem of land distribution (this initial obstacle was overcome by introducing a series of changes in the Constitution regarding the forms of agrarian property).
The signatories of the peace agreement were the representatives of the conservative party "Alianza Republicana Nacionalista" and the top leaders of the FMLN
Among the main agreements reached, the following stand out: the creation of a national civilian police, the opening of a body to ensure compliance with human rights, and the formation of a Supreme Court of Justice.
From the social and economic sphere, a new redistribution of farmland was launched . Likewise, programs were promoted so that the guerrillas could reintegrate into civil society .
Finally, two years after the Chapultepec Peace Accords, the FMLN was integrated into Salvadoran political life . Since then this formation has governed the nation in various legislatures. Despite national reconciliation, 25 years after the end of the conflict, financial compensation for the thousands of people affected, as well as reparation for the victims, is still pending.