2001: El Salvador adopts the dollar, hoping to inspire lowe

1
El Salvador Why you should care
1838 El Salvador becomes and independent republ
ic. 1931 Military coup seizes power. 1932 Comm
unist peasant named Agust?n Farabundo Mart? leads
an indigenous guerrilla revolt against the
government. The movement is suppressed and Mart?
is executed. 1933 An institutionalized repressio
n known as La Matanza occurs during which 30,000
peasants and indigenous people are slaughtered at
the hands of the armed forces.
Early 1970s A coalition is formed to oppose the
militarys political control. 1972 1977 The opp
osition wins the presidential elections, but both
times the military refuses to step down.
1977 200 peaceful protesters in the capital are
murdered by national armed forces.
1980 Civil war between the Salvadoran government
and the FMLN (Frente Farabundo Mart? para la
Liberaci?n Nacional) erupts. March 24, 1980 Army
Personnel murder Monse?or Romero while he is
delivering a Catholic Mass. December 2, 1980 Thr
ee American nuns and one female layperson are
abducted, raped and killed by U.S. trained
military personnel. 1981 At least 800 Salvadoran
civilians are massacred in the village of El
Mozote by the armed forces. 1989 Six Jesuit prie
sts are tortured and executed at their residence
in San Salvador by U.S. trained Salvadoran armed
forces. 1992 Peace accords are signed ending the
12-year civil war. More that 75,000 civilians
were murdered by the U.S. backed and funded
military government. 1994 Presidential elections
held. 2001 El Salvador adopts the dollar, hopin
g to inspire lower interest rates and investor
confidence. 2004 El Salvador become the 1st cou
ntry to ratify CAFTA, along with the U.S. and the
Dominican Republic. 2004 U.S. intervenes in Salv
ador presidential elections by threatening to cut
off remittances should the FMLN win.

• Points of interest
• El Salvador has a Population of 5.7
• million and an area of 20,742 sq. km.
• (Approximately the size of
• Massachusetts) The most densely
• populated country with the smallest
• piece of land in Central America
• Today approximately 2.5 million
• Salvadorans live in the U.S. It is
• estimated that between 400 and 750
• men, women and children leave El
• Salvador every day
• 2.5 billion, or roughly 17of GDP,
• was sent by immigrants to El Salvador,
• in so called Remittances.