El Salvador

Republic of 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.

The Armed Forces of El Salvador (Fuerza Armada de El Salvador) consist of the Army, Air Force, and Navy, with approximately 17,000 active duty personnel. Despite its small size, the armed forces have consisted of a number of specialized units, including commandos, paratroopers, marines and counter-terrorist units. Recently, El Salvador has been committed to the Multi-National Force in Iraq, sending small contingents from 2003 until 2009.

Camouflage Patterns of El Salvador

• Long supported by the United States some of the earliest camouflage uniforms worn by Salvadoran troops were made from 2nd generation ERDL pattern fabric, both donated uniforms and bolts of printed fabric. The pattern would later be copied and reproduced locally.

• El Salvador would in the 1980s develop its own industry for the manufacture of military equipment and uniforms, including camouflage fabrics. One of the earliest patterns produced was a copy of the US m1948 ERDL, which was printed using a variety of fabric types.

• Another Salvadoran camouflage pattern commonly found throughout the 1980s and 1990s was the so-called "dark leaf" pattern. Using the same drawings as the earlier ERDL copy, the "dark" pattern incorporates black, dark brown and dark green leaf shapes on pale green background. The Salvadoran produced uniforms of this period are rather crudely printed, with inks so dark they tend to blend into one another at distances greater than a few feet away.

• El Salvador also produced its own indigenous version of tiger stripe pattern camouflage during the Civil War period, although like other patterns it was very crudely printed and often indistinguishable at a distance. Although leaf patterns tended to be distributed widely throughout the Army, the tiger stripe patterns seem to have been the province of elite units such as the BIRI (Brigada Infantria Reaccionmente Immediamente) and paratroops.

• The US m81 woodland camouflage pattern came into use with Salvadoran forces some time in the late 1980s, originally donated from the United States. Locally-produced copies would shortly also see production, and a BDU style uniform remains today the standard issue combat uniform of the Salvadoran soldier.

• The US six-color "chocolate chip" camouflage pattern has been worn since the 1990s by the Army's Grupo Operaciones Especiales or GOE, the Special Operations Group.

• Salvadoran military personnel (primarily the Cuscatlan Battalion) deployed to Iraq wearing US-issue tricolor desert camoufage uniforms.

• Salvadoran Air Force wear a woodland camouflage pattern with a blue colorway, incorporating black, medium blue & blue-grey woodland shapes on grey background.

• Some units of the Salvadoran National Police wear a unique pixelated camouflage design using an urban colorway of black, dark grey & medium grey digital pattern on light grey background.

• Marines of the Salvadoran Navy (Infanteria de Marina) have been observed recently wearing a copy of the US Marine Corps temperate MARPAT camouflage.