12 Years Later

When it finally became clear in 1989 that the FMLN could not be defeated through military power, the Salvadoran government agreed to allow a United Nations Secretary-General, Alvaro de Soto, to facilitate negotiations with the FMLN. In the time leading to the final agreement the "same government leaders who spearheaded the war maintained control" of the transition. It took two more years until the final agreement was signed by both parties on January 16, 1992 in Chapultepec, Mexico.

The Chapultepec Agreement called for demilitarization, police reform, judicial reform, land reform, and the establishment of an international Truth Commission. 

  1. Demilitarization called for the FMLN to demobilize and relinquish their arms/weapons and for the reduction of the Salvadoran armed forces.
  2. Police reform called for the replacement of the old police and implementation of a new Civilian National Police.
  3. Judicial reform called for an overhaul of the Supreme Court and to establish a Human Rights Ombudsman office.
  4. Land reform concerned implementing agrarian reform provisions and assist the lower class people of El Salvador with the credit and technical assistance to purchase land.
  5. The international Truth Commission was “entrusted with the task of investigating the overall pattern of past human rights abuses” and over serious acts of violence since 1980 and create a report with recommendations of the Commission’s findings.
12 Years Later