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📘 Land inequality and military rule narrowed peaceful choices

By the late twentieth century, El Salvador combined a powerful landed elite with a political system repeatedly protected by the armed forces. Coffee wealth and export growth did not distribute security or land evenly. Rural workers, church

3
lessons
~15 min
to learn
Adults
level
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What you’ll learn

  1. A closed political system breaks openExplain how inequality, military rule, and the FMLN's formation made peaceful political change increasingly difficult.A coercive political system turned social grievances into an organized revolutionary challenge.
  2. Violence destroys the middle groundAssess Romero's assassination, state violence, guerrilla violence, and the civilian consequences of the war.Political violence narrowed the space between government repression and armed opposition.
  3. Stalemate, aid, and negotiated peaceConnect U.S. support, FMLN strategy, UN mediation, the Chapultepec Accords, demobilization, and the unfinished justice agenda.Foreign backing and guerrilla survival produced stalemate until monitored elections offered a political exit.

Questions this course answers

Why did land inequality matter to the conflict?

Inequality created grievances, while coercive institutions made reform harder to pursue safely.

What did the FMLN's formation change?

Unification increased coordination across rural, urban, military, and political work.

Why was Óscar Romero's assassination politically important?

The killing exposed how little safe public space remained for critics of violence.

What did the Truth Commission document?

Its mandate examined grave abuses by state forces, allied groups, and the insurgency.

How did U.S. support affect the war?

External aid mattered materially, but Salvadoran institutions retained their own decisions and abuses continued.

Why did the war become a stalemate?

Both sides could prevent the other's victory without creating a stable political settlement.

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