The Armed Forces of El Salvador () are the military forces of El Salvador, consisting of three branches: the Salvadoran Army, the Salvadoran Air Force and the Navy of El Salvador. The President is the commander-in-chief, while administration is the responsibility of the Minister of National Defense. The legal basis of the military includes Articles 211 and 212 of the 1983 constitution, the 1998 Organic Law of the Armed Forces of El Salvador, and the 2002 National Defense Law.
The main focus of the armed forces in recent years has been combating organized crime. Under the Territorial Control Plan adopted in 2019, mixed military and police patrols, including large-scale deployments of military personnel, have taken place in high-crime areas. The Salvadoran armed forces have also had international peacekeeping deployments. El Salvador has partnerships with the United States and other regional countries focused on training, internal security, and providing support to civil authorities. Since the end of the civil war in 1992, the military has largely relied on Cold War-era platforms. As of 2024, the armed forces had 24,500 personnel, including 20,500 army, 2,000 in the navy, and 2,000 in the air force; supported by a reserve of 9,900 personnel.
History Foundation and early history The colonies of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala declared independence from Spain on 15 September 1821, and immediately faced the threat of annexation by the Mexican Empire of the self-proclaimed emperor Agustín de Iturbide. Mexico briefly succeeded in subduing El Salvador until the emperor fell in 1823, after which point the Federal Republic of Central America was formed from five states. The first Salvadoran army was founded by Manuel José Arce, the president of the federation, on 7 May 1824, when he consolidated the cavalry units that had fought against the Mexican forces of Agustín de Iturbide. In present-day El Salvador, the annual holiday of the military is 7 May, officially the Day of the Salvadoran Soldier.
Starting from 1825, the militia received assistance from two French advisors and was involved in the conflict between liberal and conservative forces that occurred within the federation. El Salvador was a bastion of liberal sentiment and support for liberal president Francisco Morazán before other states decided to dissolve the federation in 1840. When El Salvador became independent, the country inherited most of Acre's troops, consisting of independent dragoon squadrons. Unlike the other Central American states, whose armies were little more than bandit gangs during the 19th century, the Salvadoran militia developed by the 1850s into a balanced and disciplined force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery with French and Colombian assistance. During the presidency of Gerardo Barrios from 1858 to 1863, the militia was reformed as a European-style national army, and in 1867 an officer training school was created, which was later named the Captain General Gerardo Barrios Military School. Nearly all military officers were criollos.
El Salvador inherited from the Spanish period the unequal distribution of land, granted to select individuals by the crown. The landed oligarchy kept this structure in place into the 20th century with the help of the Salvadoran military. In 1833, a rural rebellion led by Anastasio Aquino, an Indigenous leader, was put down by the oligarchy using hired forces. The military became institutionalized and separate from the oligarchy, and soldiers may have been nominally employed by the governing body. However, if not given their pay, the soldiers would supplement their income as mercenaries and militia for local politicians and landowners. The widespread cultivation of coffee began in El Salvador in the middle of the century, and the period from roughly 1871 to 1927 is known as the start of the coffee republic. The coffee elite provided the majority of government revenue and had domination over the state and its military.
In 1871, Santiago González seized power by military coup. General Carlos Ezeta did the same in 1890, General Rafael Antonio Gutiérrez in 1894,Perez O. Historical Dictionary of El Salvador Rowman & Littlefield, 2016 p7. and General Tomás Regalado in 1898. However, these changes in power were fought between networks of rival landowners (coffee barons) and politicians under their patronage rather than between official military and government forces.Ching E. Authoritarian El Salvador: Politics and the Origins of the Military Regimes University of Notre Dame Press, 2014 The military suppressed opposition to the coffee oligarchy, and the oligarchy supported the professionalization of the military. In the early 1890s, President Carlos Ezeta opened a military hospital in San Salvador and a non-commissioned officer school. Besides a war with Guatemala in 1906, the military's focus was on internal security. In 1912 the National Guard (Guardia Nacional, GN) was established to provide security at coffee estates. Around that time, President Manuel Enrique Araujo created a general staff, education corps, and army reserve system, and in 1922 the Salvadoran Air Force was established.
La Matanza
In 1903 General Tomás Regalada presided over a peaceful transition of power to his selected successor, Pedro José Escalón, and politics remained relatively stable until the early 1930s. During the Great Depression, coffee prices fell, the wages of indigenous Salvadoran workers were cut and unemployment was widespread. For three days in 1932, the indigenous workers rebelled.History of Coffee in El Salvador Equal Exchange website. Accessed 26 February 2018. President General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez responded with force. Under his command, the national army proper, slaughtered up to 40,000 peasants.Lindo-Fuentes H. et al Remembering a Massacre in El Salvador: The Insurrection of 1932 UNM Press, 2007 p23.
Palm Sunday coup
Twelve years of autocratic rule followed. Martínez withheld democratic and civil rights. On 2 March 1944, a Palm Sunday, the landowners, intellectuals, students and also some sections of the Salvadoran armed forces rebelled. The First Infantry Regiment and the Second Artillery Regiment of San Salvador joined the rebels as did the Garrison of Santa Ana. Santa Ana was bombed from the air.Ackerman P. A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-violent Conflict St. Martin's Press, 2015 p252 The rebellion was put down by the remaining loyal sections of the military. Reprisals of torture and execution of those who had joined the rebellion followed. Martial law was put in place. However, in May 1944, non-violent protest leading to a general strike caused Martínez to fall from power.Zunes S. El Salvador: 1944 International Center on Non-violent Conflict website. Accessed 27 February 2018
Rebellion of 1948 During the years that followed, young military officers became increasingly dissatisfied with their situation. They saw the generals clinging to senior posts for which they had little training and without making way for the younger officers. They saw the generals failing to prepare for the social and economic changes coming to Central America. They objected to unfair disciplinary measures and unfair surveillance. In 1948, fighting broke out between the younger officers and troops under their command and the senior generals and the police force under their command. The president, Salvador Castaneda Castro was imprisoned. Senior officers and politicians were dismissed. The new government promoted the formation of a truly national, apolitical and professional army in El Salvador.Williams P. and Walter K. Militarization and Demilitarization in El Salvador’s Transition to Democracy University of Pittsburgh Pre, 1997 p38.
American influence and the Cold War From 1947 to 1953, El Salvador held an agreement with the US whereby an American military aviation mission would be sent to El Salvador; El Salvador would seek advice from the US preferentially and purchase arms from the US.United States Treaties and Other International Agreements, Volume 5 Department of State, 1955 p419.Holden R. Armies Without Nations: Public Violence and State Formation in Central America Oxford University Press, 2006 p285 Some Salvadoran military officers were trained in North America and the Panama Canal Zone. Nevertheless, the amount of American military aid purchased by El Salvador in the 1950s was small; just enough in munitions and light arms to suppress internal conflict such as communist activity.
In the 1950s, Salvadoran men underwent one year of national service before being discharged to a reserve army. They then underwent further training on a regular basis and could be called to join active provincial patrols (patrullas cantonalles). Regular meetings of the men were held reinforcing loyalty to the nation and opposition to communism. Men from disadvantaged circumstances were offered monetary and practical assistance and education for their children. The number of reservists grew to approximately 40,000.
In the 1960s, a junta of conservative military officers and landowners took power in a coup and then organised elections. In 1961, the junta's candidate Lieutenant Colonel Julio Adalberto Rivera was elected president. In 1967, Colonel Fidel Sanchez Hernandez became president.Civil War in El Salvador Macro history and world timeline website. Accessed 1 March 2018
Football War
In 1969, tensions between El Salvador and Honduras increased. There was dispute concerning the border between the two countries. Approximately 300,000 Salvadorans had moved to Honduras due to population and land pressures in their homeland but Honduras had not renewed the El Salvador – Honduras Bilateral Treaty on Immigration. Honduras and El Salvador were competitors in the Central American Common Market. Honduras' economy was struggling and the Honduran Government started to deport the Salvadorans who they saw as illegal immigrants. Many Salvadorans fled after their Vice Consul was killed.Di Piazza F. El Salvador in Pictures Twenty-First Century Books, 2007 p29. Moodie E. El Salvador in the aftermath of peace University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011 p30. Fouskas V. Politics of Conflict Routledge, 2010 p37. In June 1969, El Salvador played three games against Honduras in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup. Then, on 26 June 1969, El Salvador won a play-off game 3 goals to 2 against Haiti, taking a place in the cup finals.Dunmore T. Encyclopedia of the FIFA World Cup Scarecrow Press, 2015 p204.
On 14 July 1969, armed hostilities began between El Salvador and Honduras. Due to the war's proximity to the World Cup qualifying games, it was called the "Football War" or the "Soccer War".
At this time, the Salvadoran forces included approximately 8,000 infantrymen with rifles, machine guns, mortars and bazookas, 105 mm cannons and a few armoured personnel carriers. Very few arms were manufactured in El Salvador. Most arms were supplied by the US. Honduras' infantry was smaller and less well equipped.Brzoska M. and Pearson F. Arms and Warfare: Escalation, De-escalation, and Negotiation Univ of South Carolina Press, 1994 p64.
The Salvadoran Air Force, flying P-51 Mustangs, attacked Honduran targets and vice versa, but each air force had only a few working aeroplanes and was hampered by a lack of spare parts. El Salvador's infantry forces invaded Honduras and took Ocotepeque.
As Salvadoran troops approached Tegucigalpa, their supply lines failed, they became exhausted and were slowed by heavy rainfall, and their morale fell. On July 18, 1969, the Organization of American States (OAS) organised a ceasefire. Then as economic sanctions and an arms embargo took effect, both sides. The war lasted for four days and therefore is also called the "one hundred hour war".
Civil War