The fully-fledged civil war lasted for more than 12 years and included the

deliberate terrorizing and targeting of civilians by US-trained government death

squads including prominent clergy from the Catholic Church, the recruitment of
child soldiers and other human rights violations, mostly by the military.[23] An
unknown number of people disappeared while the UN reports that the war killed more
than 75,000 people between 1979 and 1992.[24][25][26] The war ended with the
Chapultepec Peace Accords, but in 2016 the El Salvador Supreme Court ruled that the
1993 amnesty law was unconstitutional and that the El Salvador government could
prosecute war criminals.[27]

The United States contributed to the conflict by providing military aid of $1�2
million per day to the government of El Salvador during the Carter[28] and Reagan
administrations and provided significant training. The Salvadoran government was
considered "friendly" and allies by the U.S. in the context of the Cold War.[29] By
May 1983, US officers started to take over positions in the top levels of the
Salvadoran military and were making critical decisions and running the war.[30]

Counterinsurgency tactics implemented often targeted civilians with the United

Nations estimating that the FMLN guerrillas were responsible for 5% of the murders
of civilians during the civil war, while 85% were committed by the Salvadoran armed
forces and death squads.[31]

In 1990 the UN began peace negotiations and on January 16, 1992, a final agreement,
The Chapultepec Peace Accords,[32] was signed by the combatants in Mexico City,
formally ending the conflict.
El Salvador has historically been characterized by marked socioeconomic inequality.
[7] In the late 19th century coffee became a major cash crop for El Salvador,
bringing in about 95% of the country's income. However, this income was restricted
to only 2% of the population, exacerbating a divide between a small but powerful
land owning elite and an impoverished majority.[33] This divide grew through the
1920s and was compounded by a drop in coffee prices following the stock-market
crash of 1929.[34][35] In 1932 the Central American Socialist Party was formed and
led an uprising of peasants and indigenous people against the government. The
rebellion was brutally suppressed in the 1932 Salvadoran peasant massacre.[36] La
Matanza, 'the slaughter' in Spanish, as it came to be known, allowed a military-led
government to maintain power and reinforced the animosity of many Salvadorans
towards the government, military, and landed elite.[36] That tension grew
throughout the 20th century.[36] The Farabundo Mart� National Liberation Front
(FMLN), a leftist group that formed in the 1970s, took its name from one of the
rebellion's communist leaders.[37]

On July 14, 1969, an armed conflict erupted between El Salvador and Honduras over
immigration disputes caused by Honduran land reform laws. The conflict (known as
the Football War) lasted only four days but had major long-term effects for
Salvadoran society. Trade was disrupted between El Salvador and Honduras, causing
tremendous economic damage to both nations. An estimated 300,000 Salvadorans were
displaced due to battle, many of whom were exiled from Honduras; in many cases, the
Salvadoran government could not meet their needs. The Football War also
strengthened the power of the military in El Salvador, leading to heightened
corruption. In the years following the war, the government expanded its purchases
of arms from sources such as Israel, Brazil, West Germany and the United States.
[38]