EL Salvador has a population of 5 million in a country the size of Munster. The civil war between US backed army forces and left wing guerillas from 1980 to 1992 exposed the full, debilitating impact of one of "the most inequitable social orders in Latin America" - to quote a UN description of it.
Over the last century, an emerging "coffee oligarchy" had gained control of some 40 per cent of the country's land. The State imposed measures to guarantee the availability of cheap labour.
In 1932, a failed uprising by peasants resulted in up to 30,000 deaths, and marked a watershed in Salvadoran politics. The army assumed direct control of political power in return for defending the interests of the agricultural elite. For the best part of the next 50 years, Salvadoran presidents wore the tile of "Colonel" or "General".
Living conditions of the poor majority were abysmal. In the early 1970s, the campesinos or landless farm workers had the lowest income levels in Central America. Artificially supporting the economy were the dollars sent home by exiles working in America - similar to the remittances sent home by Irish abroad.
The Catholic Church allied itself with the disadvantaged. The Salvadoran born Jesuit, Father Rutilio Grande, who was killed in 1977, was one of the first to espouse liberation theology by establishing agricultural co operatives, rural unions and federations in villages across the country. Inspired by successful revolution in Nicaragua, Salvadorans decided to resort to armed struggle through the FMLN against the US backed Salvadoran military.
When Archbishop Oscar Romero, an orthodox church leader and staunch defender of human rights, was shot dead as he celebrated Mass in a cancer hospital on March 24th, 1980, it became apparent that even the cross would be no protection in a war with 75,000 recorded victims.
