Brief Political History of El Salvador 

a video like this cannot capture the death and trauma of the war. And I deliberately try not to dwell too much on it because of how traumatic it is. But I'm glad that it has given you some understanding.

Im also a first generation. My mother openly talks about it ever since I was young. Made me grateful for what I have and now since its become a lot safer I want to go visit.

Are you second gen? You're first gen if you are the immigrant moving to another country. For example, if you were born in the U.S. to immigrant parents, you are second gen.

The video is confuse we are not descendientes of toltecas we was lencas pipiles and cholutecas

@@chrysenthenum2no you are wrong

Thank you Artbox. I'm glad it was helpful. I originally made it for my class, but I'm really happy this is helping others.

Awesome video. Thank you so much for posting

sadly, your story is similar to many others. But i'm glad that you found a better life and can look back at this even if it brings up a lot of feelings.

have you been to salva recently?

What exactly started the civil war?

@@solidsnake8331 I was still a boy but simply put government protected the wealthy that was taking poor regular peoples land. the poor protest and want to over throw gov then killing started then a priest that poor people like a lot was killed and that ignite even more ..

same here brother i went back in 2022 after 33 yrs.

And how was it?

@@Marsfi16 ended up buying a little house and some land to go back and explore El Salvador in a few years.

I wouldn't say that was the starting point. In reality, it was the deterioration of the Central American Republic that started them on a terrible path. The Mexican union barely lasted a little over a year.

@ @Crónica Panamericana That is a fair point. The only reason I say I think it was like the starting point is because it was a forced annexation. That caused the battle between their neighboring country, Guatemala. Although the Mexican Empire didn't last too long, it still caused the two countries to have tension with one another before the Central American Republic.

​@ i thinks its worth noting Salvadorans dont have a good image of Mexicans generally, from what I've seen this moment in history ( as well as trying to join the US) is a source of pride for rebelling almost like a failed mini independence although most Mexicans will not know about it. Today this is reffered too as cope. However, personally, i hope for greater latin American unity both in their respective regions and in the United States. I think point of both parties problems were American involvement racist attitudes towards latinos.

Francisco Dueñas? What happened to his family? Did most of them stay in the country?

@ unfortunately im on the internet learning about francisco. My mom left el salvador in 1964 she was a duenas she never told me anything of my past history. My garndparents i never met.

@@johncarcamo6772 that's a real shame, but I'm glad you're recovering your history.

We are part of that history, continue to learn about our past and pass it on so it doesn't continue

I'm sorry you lived through that. A very difficult time for any child. Glad you made it ok.

Because of extreme corruption we are in a different country 😂

I didnt want to visit until recently. i thought the same.

@@alexxx7066 I think I might need to flee to ES and take our parents back, this is a mess😂

My father fought in the war too, and one of my mom's brothers

Yup my family was as well

Since my dad was 4 when it started he did not fight but when he was 14 he worked for the Cruz verde

I’m sorry to hear that. But I’m glad you’re learning about it now.

yes, but it's unclear how much power they have.

Yes/no. Real power is in the hand of multinationals that control the manufacturing and service (call centers, banking, etc.) sectors which have grown in place of coffee. There is a native elite that controls much, but they are no longer the only game in town. Add to the complexity of it all the drug trade and its effects on wealth distribution, alongside the current heavy crackdown on said crime and power is much muddier to figure our today. Lastly, even the U.S. is no longer the sole power manipulating things at home now that Chinese investment is playing a role. So, yes, the oligarchy exists but in a much weakened state.

@ what happend to oligarchs in el salvador did there fortune just depleted

Either way the bad guys got guns illegally or were from the government so why not

well, that doesn't fix anything because the only thing you are going to have is more death, and we already have tons of that.

Agreed. We would have dealt with the dictators and criminals ages ago.

You can own guns in El Salvador, it’s just not as accessible as the US, I think there is only 1 gun store for the whole country

I did. This video was done over two years ago and Bukele himself had been in office for less than two years.

@ Yes, but by then he had already made a substantial impact on crime and breaking up the gangs and you must have known that. It's a well done video and you know more about the history of El Salvador than I do, but I picked up on your bias right there. Mentioning that he has an authoritarian streak and that 'we'll see if he's able to get anything done' after immediately making an impact for the better on the worst faction of the most dangerous country in Latin America and most of the world, is not fair. History proves that at the end of the day there is no difference between the ills and atrocities committed by governments, politicians, lawmakers or parties on the far left or the far right. Try to remember that and see people for their actions and not their political affiliations.

In fact, he had not at the time. The prison he’s sending people to was not built yet and to the extent crime had gone down at all was not clear if it was because of the covid disruptions or not. As to his authoritarian streak, there’s no question he has one. Everyone recognizes that including Bukele who calls himself the world’s coolest dictator. It’s just that he thinks that’s a good thing because he’s working for El Salvador.

@ That is a good point. I knew that he hadn't built the megacárcel yet, but didn't consider the covid disruption factoring into confusion. As for the authoritarian streak, yes I agree with all of that. I understand how it has the potential to be concerning but do you not agree that he has handled the situation thus far exactly as he should have? There's a reason why his approval rating is sky high in his country and throughout Latin America. He has treated those disgusting criminals better than they deserve. Them being kept alive and fed is better than they deserve (obviously I'm not advocating they be killed but at least 95% of them don't deserve to live). There have been numerous regimes in history run by dictators that have raped, tortured, worked to death and murdered millions for even being suspected of holding contrary beliefs to the party so his moniker "The world's coolest dictator" is strictly a colloquial term when you consider what the mara have done. It's not as if everyone should blindly trust him and not keep an eye on him but at this point, people like Petro and leftists complaining of "violaciones de derechos humanos" would serve the world better to be strapped to a rocket and launched out of orbit. The dude is one of the only world leaders actually doing something for the people instead of lining their own pockets and selling them out.

@@talesfromthemoribund702 of course it's easy to see why he's so popular and whey people outside of El Salvador are looking to emulate him. The drop in crime has to be one of the fastest in Latin American history, so on that alone, we should pay attention to what happened. The question now becomes, what happens once the state of exception is lifted? Obviously it can't go on forever. And once it does, is this sustainable? I do not know the answer to that question, because it is very easy to lock people up in a state of exception, but much harder without it. And the structural reasons why El Salvador grew as a gang haven are still there (geography and poverty). Thus, I'm happy El Salvador's crime problem has gone way down, but as hard as that was, that was the easy part. I hope for their sake this is sustainable but if it isn't without a state of exception, then the choice is not one I would want to make because then it becomes one between a place where I have no rights either vis a vis the state or because of the gangs.

He kinda is but it’s not a bad thing if he truly cares for and helps the people of El Salvador

This is an older video so the effects of Bukelee still hadn’t materialized. No one today can deny he hasn’t liberated El Salvador from the gangs

???

@ there was slavery by the Spaniard empire, I think that's what he meant. (as far as I know that is true, there was slavery in El Salvador at some point, I do not remember when the slavery was abolished and prohibited in El Salvador). I love this video because it is very neutral, it is kind of telling the truth so far, I pray God for Bukele to help build a good future for El Salvador so far I think president Bukele is doing a good job.

@@marlondanielpenavelasquez1221 what are your opinions of his adoption of bitcoin as the legal tender?

@@rorychang9965 opportunities are opportunities. You may look at it as bad but I’m comparing him and this to other presidents who have stolen, ran away or were incarcerated who instead of investing in the country took wealth.

What the hell are you commenting Bs for?