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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
BACKGROUND NOTES:  EL SALVADOR
PUBLISHED BY THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER 1994

Official Name:  Republic of El Salvador

PROFILE

Geography
Area:  21,476 sq. km. (8,260 sq. mi.); about the size of Massachusetts.
Cities:  Capital--San Salvador (pop. 1.4 million).  Other cities--Santa
Ana, San Miguel.
Terrain:  Mountains separate country into three distinct regions--
southern coastal belt; central valleys and plateaus; and northern
mountains.
Climate:  Semitropical, distinct wet and dry seasons.

People
Nationality:  Noun and adjective--Salvadoran(s).
Population:  5 million.
Annual growth rate (1993): 2.2%.
Ethnic groups:  Mestizo 89%, indigenous 10%, Caucasian 1%.
Religion:  Largely Roman Catholic, with growing Protestant groups
throughout the country.
Language:  Spanish.
Education:  Years compulsory--6.   Attendance--82%.  Literacy--65% among
adults.
Health:  Infant mortality rate (1993)--47/1,000.  Life expectancy
(1993)--males 64 yrs., females 65 yrs.
Work force (2.5 million):  Agriculture--40%.  Services--25%.  Industry--
19%.  Other--16%.

Government
Type:  Republic.
Constitution:  December 20, 1983.
Independence:  September 15, 1821.
Branches:  Executive--president and vice president.  Legislative--84-
member Legislative Assembly.  Judicial--independent (Supreme Court).
Administrative subdivisions:  14 departments.
Political parties:  Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), Farabundo
Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), Christian Democratic Party
(PDC), National Conciliation Party (PCN), Democratic Convergence (CD),
Unity Movement (MU).
Suffrage:  Universal at 18.

Economy (1993)
GDP:  $7.6 billion.
Annual growth rate:  5%.
Per capita income:  $1,494.
Agriculture (9% of GDP):  Products--coffee (30% of agricultural output),
sugar, livestock, corn, poultry, sorghum.  Arable, cultivated, or
pasture land--67%.
Industry (19% of GDP):  Types--food and beverage processing, textiles,
footwear and clothing, chemical products, petroleum products.
Trade:  Exports--$732 million:  coffee, sugar, textiles and shrimp.
Partners--U.S. 29%, Central American Common Market (CACM) 42%, European
Union (EU) 16%, Japan 2%.  Imports--$1.9 billion:  consumer goods,
foodstuffs, capital goods, raw industrial materials, petroleum.
Partners--U.S. 44%, CACM 17%, EU 10%, Mexico 5.8%, Venezuela 5%.
Exchange rate (1994 avg.):  8.7 colones=U.S. $1.


PEOPLE AND HISTORY

El Salvador's population numbers about 5 million; almost 90% is of mixed
Indian and Spanish extraction.  About 10% is indigenous; very few
Indians have retained their customs and traditions.  The country's
people are largely Roman Catholic--though Protestant groups are growing-
-and Spanish is the language spoken.  The capital city of San Salvador
has about 1.4 million people; an estimated 58% of El Salvador's
population lives in rural areas.

Before the Spanish conquest, the area that is now El Salvador was made
up of two large Indian states and several principalities.  The
indigenous inhabitants were the Pipils, a tribe of nomadic Nahua people
long established in Mexico.  Early in their history, they became one of
the few Mesoamerican Indian groups to abolish human sacrifice.
Otherwise, their culture was similar to that of their Aztec neighbors.
Remains of Nahua culture are still found at ruins such as Tazumal (near
Chalchuapa), San Andres (northeast of Armenia), and Joya De Ceren (north
of Colon).

The first Spanish attempt to subjugate this area failed in 1524, when
Pedro de Alvarado was forced to retreat by Pipil forces.  In 1525, he
returned and succeeded in bringing the district under control of the
Captaincy General of Guatemala, which retained its authority until 1821
despite an abortive revolution in 1811.

Independence

In 1821, El Salvador and the other Central American provinces declared
their independence from Spain.  When these provinces were joined with
Mexico in early 1822, El Salvador resisted, insisting on autonomy for
the Central American countries.  Guatemalan troops sent to enforce the
union were driven out of El Salvador in June 1822.  El Salvador, fearing
incorporation into Mexico, petitioned the U.S. Government for statehood.

But in 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor Augustin Iturbide,
and a new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American provinces
to decide their own fate.  That year, the United Provinces of Central
America was formed of the five Central American states under Gen. Manuel
Jose Arce.  When this federation was dissolved in 1838, El Salvador
became an independent republic.

El Salvador's history as an independent state--as with others in Central
America--was marked by frequent revolutions; not until the period 1900-
30 was relative stability achieved.  The economic elite ruled the
country in conjunction with the military, and the power structure was
controlled by a relatively small number of wealthy landowners, known as
"the 14 Families."  The economy, based on coffee-growing, prospered or
suffered as the world coffee price fluctuated.

From 1932--the year of Gen. Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez's coup
following his brutal suppression of rural resistance--until 1980, every
Salvadoran President  was an army officer.  The one exception was a
provisional executive who served for four months.  Periodic presidential
elections were seldom free or fair.

From Military to Civilian Rule

During the 1970s, the political, social, and economic situation began to
deteriorate.  The military leadership created its own party, the
National Conciliation Party (PCN), which nominated Col. Arturo Molina in
the 1972 presidential election.  The opposition united under Jose
Napoleon Duarte, leader of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC).  Amid
widespread fraud, Duarte's broad-based reform movement was defeated.
Subsequent protests and an attempted coup were crushed, and Duarte was
exiled.  These events eroded hope of reform through democratic means and
persuaded many opponents of military rule that armed insurrection was
the only way to achieve change.  Leftist groups capitalizing upon social
discontent gained strength.  By 1979, guerrilla warfare had broken out
in the cities and the countryside, launching what became a 12-year civil
war.

The cycle of violence accelerated as rightist vigilante "death squads"
killed thousands.  The poorly trained Salvadoran Armed Forces (ESAF)
also engaged in repression and indiscriminate killings.  The country's
antiquated judicial system was unable to cope with the lawlessness.
Opposition to the government's agrarian reform program fed rural
conflict.  After the 1979 collapse of the Somoza regime in Nicaragua,
the new Sandinista government provided large amounts of arms and
munitions to five Salvadoran guerrilla groups, and a military victory by
the guerrillas appeared possible.

On October 15, 1979, reform-minded military officers and civilian
leaders ousted the right-wing government of Gen. Carlos Humberto Romero
(1977-79) and formed a revolutionary junta.  PDC leader Duarte joined
the junta in March 1980, leading the provisional government until the
elections of March 1982.  The junta initiated a land reform program and
nationalized the banks and the marketing of coffee and sugar.  Political
parties were allowed to function again, and on March 28, 1982,
Salvadorans elected a new constituent assembly.  Following that
election, authority was peacefully transferred to Alvaro Magana, the
provisional president selected by the assembly.

The 1983 constitution, drafted by the assembly, strengthened individual
rights; established safeguards against excessive provisional detention
and unreasonable searches; established a republican, pluralistic form of
government; strengthened the legislative branch; and enhanced judicial
independence.  It also codified labor rights, particularly for
agricultural workers.  The newly initiated reforms, though, did not
satisfy the guerrilla movements, which had unified under Cuban auspices
as the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).

Duarte won the 1984 presidential election against Roberto D'Aubuisson of
the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) with 54% of the vote and
became the first freely elected president of El Salvador in more than 50
years.  Legislative and municipal elections were held in 1985 and 1988.

In 1989, ARENA's Alfredo Cristiani won the presidential election with
54% of the vote.  His inauguration on June 1, 1989, marked the first
time in decades that power had passed peacefully from one freely elected
civilian leader to another.

In 1990, reform of the electoral system expanded the assembly from 60 to
84 deputies in order to broaden the base of representation from the
smaller parties and increase the opportunity for the parties of the left
to win office.  In the March 1991 assembly election, ARENA lost its
majority in the Legislative Assembly, winning only 39 seats.  The PDC
took 26 seats, the PCN nine, the Democratic Convergence (CD) eight, and
two small parties one each.

Ending the Civil War

Upon his inauguration in June 1989, President Cristiani called for
direct dialogue to end the decade of conflict between the government and
guerrillas.  An unmediated dialogue process involving monthly meetings
between the two sides was initiated in September 1989, lasting until the
FMLN launched a bloody, nationwide offensive in November that year.

In early 1990, following a request from the Central American presidents,
the UN became involved in an effort to mediate direct talks between the
two sides.  After a year of little progress, the government and the FMLN
accepted an invitation from the UN Secretary General to meet in New York
City.  On September 25, 1991, the two sides signed the New York City
Accord.  It concentrated the negotiating process into one phase and
created the Committee for the Consolidation of the Peace (COPAZ), made
up of representatives of the government, FMLN, and political parties,
with Catholic Church and UN observers.

On December 31, 1991, the government and the FMLN initialed a peace
agreement under the auspices of Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar.  The
final agreement, called the Accords of Chapultepec, was signed in Mexico
City on January 16, 1992.  A nine-month cease-fire took effect February
1, 1992, and was never broken.  On December 15, 1992, world dignitaries-
-including UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and then-Vice
President Quayle--attended a ceremony marking the official end of the
conflict, concurrent with the demobilization of the last elements of the
FMLN military structure and the FMLN's inception as a political party.


GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS

El Salvador is a democratic republic governed by a president and an 84-
member Legislative Assembly.  The president is elected by universal
suffrage and serves for a five-year term.  Members of the assembly, also
elected by universal suffrage, serve for three-year terms.  The country
has an independent judiciary and Supreme Court.

In March 1994, the first post-civil war elections were held, featuring
simultaneous presidential, legislative, and municipal races.  The FMLN
participated in those elections and emerged as the second-largest
political party in El Salvador.  ARENA won 39 seats in the Legislative
Assembly, the FMLN won 21 seats, the PDC 18, the PCN four, and the CD
and Unity Movement (MU) one each.  ARENA presidential candidate Armando
Calderon Sol faced FMLN-CD coalition candidate Ruben Zamora in a runoff
in April and won with 68% of the vote.  UN observers declared the
elections free and fair.  Armando Calderon Sol of the ARENA party began
his five-year term as President on June 1, 1994, and cannot succeed
himself.

Political Parties and Other Groups

ARENA is El Salvador's leading political party.  It was created in 1982
by Roberto D'Aubuisson and other ultra-rightists, including some from
the military.  His electoral fortunes were diminished by credible
reports that he was involved in organized political violence.  Following
D'Aubuisson's defeat by Jose Napoleon Duarte in the 1984 presidential
election, ARENA began reaching out to more moderate individuals and
groups, particularly in the private sector.

By 1989, ARENA had attracted the support of business groups and
nominated Alfredo Cristiani--a moderate businessman and coffee grower--
as its presidential candidate.  ARENA was thus well positioned to
benefit from popular discontent with the 1984-89 Duarte administration.
Despite sincere efforts at reform by Duarte's PDC administration,
failure to either end the insurgency or improve the economy, allegations
of corruption, poor relations with the private sector, and historically
low prices for the nation's main agricultural exports contributed to
ARENA victories in the 1988 legislative elections and the 1989
presidential elections.

In 1994, ARENA put well-known businessman Enrique Borgo Bustamante on
the ticket as Calderon Sol's running mate in an effort to further
bolster its moderate, pro-business image.  The 1989-94 Cristiani
administration's successes in achieving a peace agreement to end the
civil war and in improving the nation's economy helped ARENA keep both
the presidency and a working majority in the Legislative Assembly in the
1994 elections.  ARENA has benefited from having been the governing
party when peace came to El Salvador, and Calderon Sol has emphasized
his commitment to carrying out the remaining elements of the peace
accords.

The FMLN became a political party in December 1992 and immediately
supplanted the CD as El Salvador's leading party of the political left.
It is composed of five factions that do not always agree, sometimes
leading to very public ruptures.  Nevertheless, the FMLN maintained a
united front during the 1994 electoral campaign and joined with the CD
and National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) to support CD Secretary
General Ruben Zamora for president.

This coalition succeeded in keeping Calderon Sol from winning 50% in the
first round and thus established itself as the sole alternative to ARENA
in the second round.  The FMLN also came in second in the assembly
races.  As the main opposition party, the FMLN now faces the challenge
of resolving its internal political differences or eventually seeing
some of its factions reposition themselves as Social Democrats, perhaps
in alliance with other left-of-ARENA parties.

Besides ARENA and the FMLN, other political parties in El Salvador also
play important roles:  the PDC, which still has broad support throughout
the country, winning more municipal elections in 1994 than did the FMLN;
the PCN, created by the Salvadoran military and in decline but allied
with ARENA in the assembly; the CD, allied with the FMLN in the
assembly; and the MU, a party based in the Salvadoran evangelical
movement.

Labor unions, the universities, and the Catholic Church play major roles
in the Salvadoran political system.  Two main labor umbrella groups
represent most of El Salvador's 300,000 organized workers. The
Democratic National Union of Peasants and Workers (UNOC) represents some
250,000 workers, and its leadership is closely linked to the PDC.  The
National Union of Salvadoran Workers (UNTS) represents about 55,000
workers and other supporters.  Four members of the UNTS executive
committee were among the official founders of the FMLN political party,
and the UNTS usually hews to the FMLN line in political matters.

The national University of El Salvador (UES) has also been heavily
influenced by the FMLN.  UES was closed by the military from 1980 until
1984, when it was reopened by President Duarte; it also was closed for
several months in the aftermath of the November 1989 offensive.  A
number of private universities, including the Jesuit-run University of
Central America, also operate in El Salvador.

Since the late 1970s, when Archbishop Romero (assassinated in 1980)
called for an end to repression and for social justice, the Catholic
Church has been a vocal and aggressive advocate of peace.  The Church
mediated a 1984 dialogue between the government and the guerrillas and
the release of then-President Duarte's daughter, whom the guerrillas had
abducted.

Compliance With the Peace Accords

The peace process set up under the Chapultepec Accords has been
monitored by the UN Mission to El Salvador, known by its Spanish acronym
ONUSAL.  The mission's observers were divided into four contingents--
monitoring human rights, military, police, and electoral issues.  At its
peak, ONUSAL had close to 1,000 observers in the country.  A reduced
ONUSAL presence has been authorized through November 1994.

The peace accords included a two-year timetable to complete different
aspects of the agreement (see box for some key provisions of the
accords); progress has been made in carrying out most aspects of the
peace accords.

Human Rights.  During the 12-year civil war, human rights violations by
both left- and right-wing forces were rampant.  There were incidents of
political killings, torture of detainees, arbitrary arrest, and forced
recruitment by the ESAF.  There were also cases of killings, kidnapings,
abuse of non-combatants, intimidation of civilians, and forced
recruitment by the FMLN.  Right-wing death squads took advantage of this
chaotic environment to engage in political assassinations.  Many
individuals and institutions acted with virtual impunity from a judicial
system burdened with corruption and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the
bloodshed.

The 1992 peace accords established a Truth Commission under UN auspices
to investigate the most serious cases of human rights abuses committed
during the civil war.  The commission reported its findings on prominent
human rights cases on March 15, 1993.  It recommended removal from all
government and military posts of those identified as human rights
violators and recommended reforms of the Salvadoran judiciary.  On March
20, the Legislative Assembly approved amnesty from criminal prosecution
for all those implicated in the Truth Commission report.  Among those
freed from jail as a result were the ESAF officers convicted in the 1989
Jesuit murders and the FMLN ex-combatants who were being held for the
1991 killings of two U.S. servicemen.

The peace accords also required the establishment of an Ad Hoc
Commission to evaluate the human rights record, professional competence,
and commitment to democracy of the ESAF officer corps.  On June 30,
1993, the last of 103 officers identified by this commission as
responsible for human rights violations were removed from active duty in
the ESAF, and they were formally retired at the end of December.  ONUSAL
declared the government in compliance with the Ad Hoc Commission
recommendations.

There has been a dramatic decline in political killings since the
signing of the peace accords in January 1992, but common crime presents
a growing problem.  The frequent inability of the police and judicial
authorities to resolve criminal cases has often left unanswered whether
some killings may have been politically motivated.  In December 1993, a
United Nations-Government of El Salvador Joint Group was established to
investigate whether illegal, armed, politically motivated groups
continued to exist in El Salvador after January 1992.

The Joint Group reported its findings on July 28, 1994.  It found that
some groups and persons in El Salvador continue to resort to the use of
violence in order to obtain political results.  It did not, however,
find that war-era death squads were still functioning, instead
suggesting that there had been an evolution from politically motivated
death squads to organized crime groups.  The Joint Group recommended
that a special unit be created in the National Civilian Police (PNC) to
investigate political and organized crime and that further reforms be
made in the judicial system and the ESAF.  The Calderon Sol
administration has promised to carry out the Joint Group's
recommendations.

The peace accords also established the autonomous Human Rights
Ombudsman's Office, which had established regional offices in most of El
Salvador's departments by September 1994.  The ombudsman's office is
scheduled to assume all of the responsibilities of ONUSAL's human rights
division by late 1994.

Military Reform.  Demobilization of Salvadoran military forces generally
proceeded on schedule throughout the process.  The Treasury Police and
National Guard were abolished, and the intelligence service was
transferred to civilian control.  By February 1993, the military had
lowered force levels from a wartime high of 63,000 to the level of
32,000 required in the peace accords; this was achieved nine months
ahead of schedule.  As noted, the required purge of military officers
accused of human rights abuses and corruption was completed at the end
of 1993 in compliance with the Ad Hoc Commission's recommendations.

National Civilian Police.  The new civilian police force, created to
replace the several discredited former public security forces, was
deployed in all departments by the end of 1994, but it is not expected
to reach its required force levels until late 1995.  The old National
Police, the only former police force still in existence, is scheduled to
be completely demobilized by the end of 1994.

Judiciary.  In July 1994, a new Supreme Court was unanimously elected by
the assembly after protracted negotiations.  No members of the old court
were returned to office, belatedly fulfilling the recommendation of the
Truth Commission that the entire Supreme Court leave office.

Land Transfers.  Land transfers have taken place more slowly than
expected.  There have been difficulties in a number of areas, such as
getting enough funding to purchase from private owners the lands to be
used in the transfer program and securing enough funding for
agricultural credits for the land recipients.  Despite this, significant
progress has been made.  Thousands of families have received land and
agricultural credits.  The international community, the Salvadoran
Government, the former rebels, and the various financial institutions
involved in the process continue to work closely together to bring the
process to a successful conclusion.

Principal Government Officials
President--Armando Calderon Sol
Vice President--Enrique Borgo Bustamante
Minister of Foreign Relations--Oscar Alfredo Santamaria
Ambassador to the United States--Ana Cristina Sol
Representative to the OAS--Jose Roberto Andino Salazar
Representative to the UN--Ricardo Guillermo Castaneda Cornejo

El Salvador maintains an embassy in the United States at 2308 California
Street NW, Washington, DC  20008 (tel. [phone]).  There are
consulates in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New
York, and San Francisco.


ECONOMY

The Salvadoran economy continues to reap the benefits of sound economic
programs, a commitment to a free economy, and careful fiscal management.
The impact of the civil war on El Salvador's economy was devastating;
from 1979 to 1990, losses from damage to infrastructure and means of
production due to guerrilla sabotage as well as from reduced export
earnings totaled about $2.2 billion.  But since attacks on economic
targets ended in 1992, improved investor confidence has led to increased
private investment.  Rich soil, moderate climate, and a hard-working and
enterprising labor pool comprise El Salvador's greatest assets.

Much of the improvement in El Salvador's economy is due to free market
policy initiatives launched by the Cristiani government in July 1989.
Reforms included:

--  Elimination of price controls on 240 consumer products;

--  Breakup of government and government-sanctioned monopolies over the
export of coffee, sugar, and cotton;

--  Reduction of import duties;

--  Elimination of non-tariff barriers;

--  Adoption of a free-market exchange rate system;

--  Maintenance of positive real interest rates; and

--  Reduction of the fiscal deficit.

In July 1992, after a long political struggle, the Legislative Assembly
passed a law establishing a 10% value added tax.  This year, the
government essentially has completed its privatization of the banking
system and passed a law detailing the operations of the already
functioning stock market; it soon will establish a commodities market.
The Calderon Sol administration also is committed to privatizing
telecommunications and port services and to expanding transportation
infrastructure.

In 1993, the service and construction sectors led El Salvador's economy
to a real GDP growth rate of 5%, and GDP ended at $7.62 billion for the
year.  Disappointing agricultural performance, however, slightly
dampened the overall recovery; the contribution of coffee to the
economy--30% of agricultural output--fell in 1993 because of decreased
yields.  Inflation was 12% in 1993, down from 20% the year before.  The
economic outlook for 1994 is for growth of 5.5%, with inflation dropping
to 10%.  Income from coffee is expected to recover in 1994 due to six-
year highs in international prices.

In mid-1994, the nation had net international reserves of $840 million,
equal to roughly four months of imports.  This compares to $650 million
at the end of 1993.  The exchange rate--officially described as free-
floating and determined by the market--has remained at about 8.7 colones
per U.S. dollar since early 1993.

Foreign Debt and Assistance

During the civil war, international lending institutions were reluctant
to make loans to El Salvador, so the country never acquired a large
international debt.  Since the war, El Salvador has continued to pursue
a conservative debt posture.  Most of its roughly $1.8 billion debt is
to multilateral lending institutions.

Since 1990, the Salvadoran Government's economic program has received
strong support from international financial institutions and other
lenders.  In 1993, the International Monetary Fund approved a 12-month
standby agreement which paved the way for a rescheduling of $135 million
of El Salvador's Paris Club debt to official creditors.  The World Bank
approved a $75-million structural adjustment loan.  In December 1992,
the U.S. Government reduced bilateral debt with El Salvador by 75%--from
$617 million to $151 million--under provisions of the Enterprise for the
Americas Initiative.

Foreign assistance plays an important role in the Salvadoran economy,
helping to finance the balance-of-payments gap and providing funds to
the capital budget for public sector infrastructure-development
projects.  At a March 1993 meeting held in Paris, the international
community pledged $800 million in loans and donations for reconstruction
in El Salvador.

Manufacturing

El Salvador historically has been the most industrialized nation in
Central America, though a decade of war eroded this position.  In 1993,
manufacturing accounted for 19% of GDP and employed 19% of the work
force.  Based primarily in the capital city of San Salvador, the
industrial sector is oriented largely toward domestic and Central
American markets.  Textiles, footwear and clothing, beverages, processed
food, tobacco, wood and metal products, and chemical products are the
principal manufactured goods.

Trade

In 1993, El Salvador's total exports were $732 million, while imports
were $1.9 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of more then $1 billion.
This deficit was offset by family remittances of almost $800 million
sent by the more than 1 million Salvadorans living in the U.S., plus
generous amounts of bilateral aid and loans from multilateral lending
organizations.  Twenty-five percent of El Salvador's imports were
machinery and equipment destined to upgrade the nation's private sector.
Recently, El Salvador's development efforts have focused on non-
traditional agricultural exports.

In 1991, El Salvador became a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT).  Also that year, El Salvador and its Central American
neighbors announced their interest in negotiating a regional free-trade
agreement to complement the Central American Common Market (CACM) and
the Central American Integration System (SICA).  As a result, steps have
been made toward Central American economic integration.  In March 1992,
El Salvador and Guatemala signed a free trade agreement calling for
common external tariff and export tax systems; negotiations on similar
agreements with Honduras have been conducted.  Talks to negotiate a
free-trade agreement between Mexico and El Salvador, Guatemala, and
Honduras are scheduled to begin in late 1994.

Agriculture and Land Reform

Before 1980, a small economic elite owned most of the land in El
Salvador and controlled a highly successful agricultural industry. About
70% of farmers were sharecroppers or laborers on large plantations.
Many farm workers were under- or unemployed and impoverished.

The civilian-military junta which came to power in 1979 instituted an
ambitious land reform program to redress the inequities of the past,
respond to the legitimate grievances of the rural poor, and promote more
broadly based growth in the agricultural sector.  The ultimate goal was
to develop a rural middle class with a stake in a peaceful and
prosperous future for El Salvador.

At least 525,000 people--more than 12% of El Salvador's population at
the time and perhaps 25% of the rural poor--benefited from agrarian
reform, and more than 22% of El Salvador's total farmland was
transferred to those who previously worked the land but did not own it.
But when agrarian reform ended in 1990, about 150,000 landless families
still had not benefited from the reform actions.

The 1992 peace accords make provisions for land transfers to all
qualified ex-combatants of both the FMLN and ESAF, as well as to
landless peasants living in former conflict areas.  While strongly
opposed to new land expropriations, the Calderon Sol administration is
committed to facilitating the voluntary transfer of land.  To date, more
than 12,000 of these transactions have been financed through the U.S.-
assisted Land Bank and the Salvadoran Institute for Land Transformation.
Up to 37,000 families could benefit from this land transfer program upon
its completion, currently programmed for mid-1995.