Since the turn of the century El Salvador has been under some form of military dictatorship. Most of these dictators have been intent on protecting their interests as well as those of the powerful elite and upper middle class - at the expense, of course, of the peasants and the working class.

In 1959 the influence of what then appeared to be a popular, nationalistic revolutionary movement in Cuba was felt in El Salvador as it was throughout Latin America. Student groups were particularly inspired by the example of Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries. Public demonstrations in San Salvador called for the removal of President Colonel Jose Maria Lemus and the imposition of a truly democratic system. The president responded by abandoning his earlier efforts at reform in favor of heightened repression. Free expression and assembly were banned, and political dissidents were detained arbitrarily. This instability provoked concern among important political actors in El Salvador. For the elite, the government's emphasis on economic development for the working class was pointless under such a threatening climate; the emerging middle class likewise felt a threat to its gains from the specter of revolution; and the military reacted almost reflexively to the spectacle of a president who had lost control. Lemus was deposed in a bloodless coup on October 26, 1960.

The early 1960's were a tumultuous time that were spearheaded by the formation of various political parties of moderate and leftist (communist) inclinations. Some of these were the National Conciliation Party (Partido de Conciliacion Nacional--PCN), which, eventually, became the official party in El Salvador. The PCN began as a splinter group from the Christian Democratic Party (Partido Democrata Cristiano--PDC), which eventually became the leading opponent of the PCN and a major force for peaceful change in the Salvadoran system.

The PDC was founded in November 1960. The party grew out of informal meetings among middle- and upper-class activists who sought to devise a vehicle to represent their interests in the political arena. The concerns of the Salvadoran middle class revolved around economic progress and political stability. It saw the prospects for both concerns threatened from the political right and from the left. The Salvadoran right (laissez-faire capitalism) stifled popular aspirations through its adamant opposition to reform and its support for the elite-dominated economic system. The left promised to abandon the capitalist model that had created the middle class in favor of a communistic system.

Strong economic growth in the early 1960s solidified the position of the PCN (conservative, status quo) as the official party of El Salvador. The leadership of the party was drawn mainly from the ranks of middle-class professionals although it did not successfully represent the interests of that class. The most important constituency of the PCN was the military; without its support and cooperation, the party could not have governed.The PCN government protected the political power and social and economic privilege that the military officer corps had long enjoyed. They also preserved, at least for a time, the domestic stability required for economic growth within the prevailing elite-dominated system. Like many other Latin American militaries, the Salvadoran armed forces saw the maintenance of the societal status quo as serving their best interests. The PCN shared this conservative viewpoint and worked closely with the military leadership, seeking its advice and support on policy initiatives and political issues. In essence, under the PCN the military continued to rule El Salvador from behind the scenes.

Salvadoran agricultural and business interests favored the PCN and opposed the PDC. Although a moderate party by Latin American standards, the PDC was seen by the Salvadoran right (capitalists) as a dangerously left-wing (communist) organization. The Christian Democrats' occasional use of the words revolution or revolutionary to describe their vision of social reform invoked in the minds of large landowners and businessmen images of government confiscation of property, a prospect they would go to any lengths to avoid.

The war with Honduras served as a turning point in Salvadorian politics. After the war, the PDC sought to turn the issue of unequal land distribution to its political advantage. The war had not only highlighted this issue, it had exacerbated it. Returning refugees were unable to resume the kind of farming they had practiced in Honduras.

The PDC  began to push the issue of full agrarian reform, including credit and technical assistance, as a major platform plank for the 1972 presidential elections. The Christian Democrats assumed that agrarian reform was not just a popular rallying point; it was also seen as a way to establish a new class of small- to medium-sized landholders who would presumably demonstrate some loyalty to the party and the government that granted them that status. By calling for land redistribution, the PDC provoked further misgivings among the elite and conservative sectors of the military with regard to the party's intentions should it achieve power.

The 1972 elections took place in an uneasy political atmosphere. In El Salvador, organizational efforts by leftist parties (communist) and by activist Roman Catholic clergy were viewed with alarm by conservative sectors. The fears of the economic elite in particular were provoked by the 1971 kidnapping and murder of Ernesto Regalado Duenas, the son of a prominent family, by a leftist terrorist organization calling itself "the Group". A protracted teachers' strike in 1971 only added to the unsettled climate prevailing in the country.

The actual vote count in the presidential balloting of February 20, 1972, probably will never be known. As expected, the military's candidate ran strongly in the capital, San Salvador. Tabulations were suspended by the government, and a recount was initiated. The official results reversed an earlier decision by 10,000 votes. The selection of the president thus was relegated to the assembly, where the PCN majority affirmed their candidates tainted victory.

In 1963, the U.S. government sent 10 Special Forces personnel to El Salvador to help PCN General Jose Alberto Medrano set up ORDEN - the first paramilitary death squad in that country.  These shadowy right-wing bands came to be known as the "death squads."  The death squads targeted both religious and lay members of these groups.

In opposition to ORDEN (a PCN creation) left-wing paramilitary groups were formed. Soon after the failed coup attempt of 1972, kidnappings for ransom and hit-and-run attacks on government buildings and other targets became increasingly common in San Salvador. The left wing groups included the People's Revolutionary Army (Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo-- ERP) and the Farabundo Marti Popular Liberation Forces (Fuerzas Populares de Liberacion Farabundo Marti--FPL).

Popular support for radical leftist groups appeared to expand rapidly in El Salvador in the mid-1970s.  Established and run secretly by the guerrilla groups, these organizations drew much of their leadership from radical Roman Catholic groups known as Christian Base Communities (Comunidades Eclesiasticas de Base--CEBs) that had been established by activist clergy throughout the country. Through public demonstrations, strikes, seizures of buildings, and propaganda campaigns, these organizations sought to undermine the government and create conditions conducive to a communist revolution.