El Salvador

The Republic of El Salvador (República de El Salvador) forms part of the region claimed as Spanish territory during the 16th century, formerly called the General Captaincy of Guatemala. Major uprisings in 1811 and 1814 initiated a movement towards independence from Spain, finally achieved by all the nations of Central America in 1821. Following a brief period as part of the Mexican Empire, El Salvador joined the five other nations of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) in forming the United Provinces of Central America, which lasted from 1838 to 1841.

In an attempt to quell a rising revolutionary movement, a military junta siezed power in 1979, but was dissolved shortly thereafter due to popular pressure. With the aid of the United States, a second junta under Napoleon Duarte was then installed in 1980, but the government was unable to stifle the insurrectionist movement in time, and so the nation degenerated into civil war.

The Salvadoran Civil War raged from 1980 to 1992, fought between the military government of El Salvador (supported by the United States) and a coalition of leftist groups known as the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). Under US direction, the Salvadoran government invoked a "scorched earth" policy using airstrikes and deployed counter-insurgency techniques learned from their American advisors. The government was also known to deploy "death squads" that kidnapped, tortured and executed suspected FMLN members and their supporters. Following the revolutionary principles of Che Guevara, Mao Zedong and the Viet Cong, the FMLN were proponents of economic sabotage, intimidation of the rural population, and using civilians as human shields. After twelve years of war, in which the FMLN made some territorial gains, a truce was finally reached in January of 1992.

Camouflage Patterns of El Salvador