ABSTRACT
El Salvador has been burdened with one of the most rigid class systems and unequal income distributions in Latin America. In El Salvador, there were too many people and not enough land. With over 570 inhabitants per square mile, population density was the highest in Latin America. But structural change was something that the system was woefully ill-equipped to handle. In the "living museum," the dinosaurs had veto power. The legitimacy of the political arrangements created by the "revolution of 1948" had been seriously damaged, and the notion that structural reforms could be attained through the ballot box widely discredited. In effect, these events marked the beginning of the end of the "living museum." By the end of 1981, the situation in El Salvador had deteriorated on all fronts. The attempts of Jose Napoleon Duarte to establish an effective, moderate, civilian influence in the government had been thwarted.
