El Salvador

C

Judiciary

The Supreme Court is the nation’s highest court of appeals. Other civil and criminal courts are provided in each of El Salvador’s 14 departments (geographic regions). The Salvadoran legal system is based on civil and Roman law, with traces of common law. The Supreme Court provides judicial review of legislative acts and also recognizes, with reservations, the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in matters of international law.

D

Local Government

Local town councils and officials are popularly elected, but in practice the national president and the military have exercised great authority in local government. The country is divided into 14 departments (with 1992 populations): Ahuachapán (260,563), Cabañas (136,293), Chalatenango (180,627), Cuscatlán (167,290), La Libertad (522,071), La Paz (246,147), La Unión (251,143), Morazán (166,772), San Miguel (380,482), San Salvador (1,477,766), San Vicente (135,471), Santa Ana (451,620), Sonsonate (354,641), and Usulután (317,079).

E

Political Parties

El Salvador was dominated from the 1860s to 1944 by the Liberal Party, which represented the elite class of coffee planters. More modern parties representing middle- and working-class interests then began to emerge. But from 1944 to 1979 two ruling parties—first the Party of Democratic Revolutionary Unification (PRUD), then the Party of National Conciliation (PCN)—continued to represent the powerful landowners and military elite.

Beginning in the 1960s, the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) and the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) challenged the governing PCN, drawing support from workers, students, and Catholic clergy. But when the two parties formed a coalition and appeared to win the presidential election of 1972, they were suppressed by the PCN government, and their leaders were exiled. A left-wing guerrilla movement, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), then emerged to oppose the government. The clash of these political factions, representing a broad spectrum of the Salvadoran people, culminated in the civil war of the 1980s. With support from the U.S. government, the PDC became a major force in the government. Right-wing interests then formed the National Republican Alliance (ARENA) in 1982, and by 1989 it gained control of the government.

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With the end of the civil war, the FMLN became a political party in 1992, serving as the leading group in a leftist coalition. Many other political parties also formed, and the splintering of political parties has become characteristic of modern Salvadoran politics. ARENA maintained control of the government in the 1990s. It lacked a majority in the legislature but was able to govern through an alliance with the PCN, which was still an active party. In the legislative elections in 2000 and 2003, the FMLN won a plurality, but in both cases ARENA was able to maintain control of the legislature with the support of the PCN. ARENA easily won the presidential elections in 2004.

F

Social Services

The Salvadoran Social Security Institute was created in 1949 to provide national health, accident, unemployment, old-age, and life insurance. Compulsory contributions from workers, employers, and the government support the program, which in theory covers most industrial workers and employees. The system is far from comprehensive, however, and El Salvador’s millions of poor lack adequate medical care, housing, education, and other basic services. The deterioration of social services during the civil war of the 1980s left much of the Salvadoran population in desperate straits. Although economic recovery has been expected to ease this situation, by the mid-1990s there was little evidence of significant improvement in health or welfare for the majority. Such hardships continue to encourage poor Salvadorans to leave the country.

G

Defense

El Salvador in 2004 maintained a military with 15,500 personnel. Branches consisted of an army (13,850 members), navy (700), and air force (950). These forces are relatively small, especially since the conclusion of the civil war, and defense expenditures in 2003 were 0.7 percent of the GDP. Two years of military service is compulsory for men between the ages of 18 and 30, but with more than 75,000 males reaching military age annually, the government calls relatively few to service.

The army, along with other security forces, has historically played an important role in Salvadoran politics, and during the civil war the armed forces aided the government in repressing dissidents. The peace agreements implemented in 1992 called for decreasing the armed forces from the wartime high of 63,000 to 32,000, a goal that had been surpassed by 1995. The Treasury Police, National Police, and National Guard were abolished, and the intelligence service was transferred to civilian control. A new civilian police force replaced the discredited National Police, including former guerrillas from the FMLN among its members.

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