ABSTRACT
While the peace accords signed in January 1992 ended a bloody armed conflict in El Salvador which had lasted 12 years and left a toll of over 75,000 casualties, they also brought profound changes to the existing political system that resulted in the deepening of democratization, to the extent that the two warring factions became the strongest political parties in the country. Yet the situation in El Salvador two decades after the signing of the peace accords can hardly be considered peaceful. Violence and crime are rampant and many citizens are more worried than during the civil war about being murdered in the streets. In the context of this dichotomy, the chapter evaluates the quality of peace in El Salvador after the first 20 years post-war, 1992–2012. It does so by examining five variables: governance and negotiations; post-accord security; economic reconstruction and development; civil society and reconciliation; and transitional justice. In assessing the first three variables, the author uses quantitative indicators, while the assessment of the last two variables is more qualitative, given the lack of data to assess longitudinal change. The author concludes that the majority of the problems that El Salvador faces today should not be considered directly as failures of the peace accords themselves. Overall, the peace accords accomplished the major political goals they were originally designed to achieve. Instead, new circumstances have contributed to create the current challenges, such as the increase of international narcotrafficking activities in the country and the dramatic deterioration of the security situation through gang violence, along with the economic decline of recent years and lingering structural socio-economic disparities.
