Recovery from the brutalization of civil war was slow. Many
disaffected former combatants remained on the fringes of society,
while unemployment soared and the circulation of firearms went
unchecked. Delinquency, crime and violence ensued. The first
postwar elections , held in March 1994, resulted in Armando
Calderón Sol of the ARENA party assuming the presidency, beating
the FMLN's Rubén Zamora. The new government pursued a neo-liberal,
free-market economic policy and privatized large sectors of the
economy, including the controversial sale of Antel, the state
telecommunications company. IMF loans were used to stabilize the
currency and encourage growth in GDP.
On the downside, the cost of living rose, poverty increased and
unemployment reached unprecedented levels, while large-scale
privatization further concentrated wealth in the hands of the
elite. Public dissatisfaction increased with the government's
perceived failure to comply with the Chapultepec Accords and with
the amnesties granted to members of the military accused of
committing human-rights atrocities. The profound divisions in
society that had originally led to civil war grew wider than ever,
and civil violence intensified.
Following its failure in the 1994 elections, the FMLN's fortunes
were revived by impressive results across the country in the March
1997 municipal elections , including winning the capital's
prized mayoral seat. However, failure to build on these results
allowed ARENA's Francisco Flores to triumph in the presidential
elections of March 1999, though only 40 percent of the
electorate turned out to vote - highlighting widespread contempt
for politicians of both major parties.
Much of the country concentrated on the hardships of daily life.
Hurricane Mitch hit the country in October 1998, killing 374
and making 56,000 people homeless. The government's response was
slow, and much of the international effort was focused on
harder-hit Honduras and Nicaragua. Infrastructure was destroyed,
agricultural output badly damaged and disease spread across the
affected areas, primarily the low-lying flood plain of the Lempa
and San Miguel Grande rivers.
A report by the Universidad de Centroamérica (UCA), in March
2000, listed El Salvador as one of the most violent
countries in Latin America, with widespread gang warfare,
narcotrafficking and civil violence. A spate of kidnappings of
business people for ransom has gone largely unchecked, and the
small-talk of the nation is littered with the term
delincuencia . One attempt to combat civil disorder is the
highly controversial US military training base which President
Flores has allowed to be established in El Salvador - avowedly to
fight drug trafficking, though Salvadoreans are still naturally
suspicious of US military intervention in their domestic
affairs.