Editing History of El Salvador (section)

==Military dictatorships (1931–1979)==
{{Main|Military dictatorship in El Salvador}}
[[File: Ganeral-maximiliano-hernc3a1ndez-martc3adnez-presidente-de-el-salvador-de-1931-a-1944.jpg|thumb|Brigadier general [[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]]]]
[[File:El asesinato en masa de indígenas consolidó a los militares en el gobierno, abriendo un período de 5 décadas de dictadura militar, que sería el más largo capítulo ininterrumpido de control militar en Latinoamérica.jpg|thumb|The Aftermath of the [[La Matanza|1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising]]]]
Between 1931, the year of General [[Maximiliano Hernández Martínez]]'s coup, and 1944, when he was deposed, there was brutal suppression of rural resistance. The most notable event was the [[La Matanza|1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising]] headed by [[Farabundo Martí]], Chief [[Feliciano Ama]] from the [[Izalco]] tribe and Chief [[Francisco "Chico" Sanchez]] from [[Juayúa]], Izalco subdivision. The government retaliation, commonly referred to as ''La Matanza'' (“the slaughter”), which followed days of protest. In this 'Matanza', between 10,000 and 40,000 indigenous people and political opponents were murdered, imprisoned or exiled. [[Federal Research Division]] historian Richard Haggerty described the coup as a "watershed" event in Salvadoran history,{{sfn|Haggerty|1990|p=15}} while historian Michael Krennerich described both the coup and the subsequent {{lang|es|[[La Matanza]]}} (a January 1932 military-instigated massacre that killed up to 40,000 peasants) as "landmarks in the history of the country".{{sfn|Nohlen|2005|p=270}}

From 1931 until 1982, was ruled by either a military dictator or a joint civilian-military dictatorship and its economy was based primarily on the cultivation and exportation of coffee. These authoritarian governments employed political repression to maintain power, despite the appearance of democracy.

Throughout the 1970s, there was great political instability in El Salvador. In the 1972 presidential election, opponents of military rule united under [[José Napoleón Duarte]], leader of the [[Christian Democratic Party (El Salvador)|Christian Democratic Party]] (PDC). Amid widespread fraud, Duarte's broad-based reform movement was defeated. Subsequent protests and an attempted coup were crushed and Duarte was exiled. These events eroded hope of reform through democratic means and persuaded those opposed to the government that armed insurrection was the only way to achieve change.