Essay On The Conflict Of El Salvador

The root cause of the conflicts that occurred before, during and after the civil war in El Salvador is the disparity between the rich and the poor. Built upon the backs of the colonial system introduced by the Spaniards during the colonial period, the hacienda system, sustaining unequal distribution of wealth and land, polarized the country. While the Spaniards acquired labor through the economienda system in which the Spanish crown gave a set number of natives to Spanish elites, the elites acquired land through haciendas. Attempting to exploit the production of cash crops and monopolize agriculture, the Spanish elites made haciendas, large landowning estates. (Kraft)

When El Salvador was declared independent the landowning elites fought against each other eventually resulting in the creation of a government under the power of the oligarchy of the “Fourteen Families” whose wealth came from growing, processing, exporting and financing coffee. Two encounters demonstrate how the elites heavily relied upon the government to keep the campesinos the indigenous workers in check. One in 1881...