ABSTRACT
The most significant Communist insurgency in Central America continues to simmer in El Salvador. Since El Salvador gained independence from Spain in 1821, political power in the country has been concentrated among a small elite of landowners and military officers. El Salvador lacked guerrilla groups of any substance during the 1960s. According to Communist ideology El Salvador is a dependent capitalist society dominated by the local oligarchic bourgeoisie allied to the US imperialism. This elite stratum is not a nationalist bourgeoisie capable of advancing an independent capitalist "national project." The Salvadoran economy has been dominated by a small stratum of landowners and businessmen focusing on the production of coffee, sugar, cotton, and other export crops. The overwhelming majority of El Salvador's population are mestizos or ladinos, a mixture of the descendants of the original Hispanic settlers and the assimilated indigenous Indian population.
