El Salvador 14 Families !!top!! -

No story of the Fourteen is complete without the date: . It is the national scar.

This dominance led to extreme inequality, which eventually sparked the civil war (1980–1992). To understand El Salvador’s history, one must understand the rise, fall, and transformation of these 14 families. el salvador 14 families

Names frequently cited in historical accounts of the oligarchy include Dueñas, Hill, Meza-Ayau, Regalado, and Wright . Economic Dominance and the Civil War No story of the Fourteen is complete without the date:

: From the 1930s to the 1970s, the country was largely governed by military dictatorships that protected the interests of the landed elite against social unrest and labor movements. To understand El Salvador’s history, one must understand

Fast-forward to the 1970s. The world changes. The Fourteen do not. Their names are now on banks (Banco Agrícola), on soft drinks (La Constancia beer), on industrial conglomerates (Grupo Poma). They have diversified out of coffee into finance, textiles, and shipping. But the structure is identical: a dozen families, intermarried, owning roughly 90% of the nation’s wealth.

The transformation was cemented by President and later solidified under the liberal reforms of the 1880s. The government passed laws that effectively privatized communal lands (ejidos) held by indigenous communities and peasants. These laws forced small farmers off their land, transferring massive tracts of volcanic soil into the hands of a small group of European-descended elites.