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Country profile: El-salvador
language: Spanish President: Mauricio Funes
Republic of El Salvador
religion: Christianity
Agro-Industry Development
Agriculture
Arable land in 1998 consisted of 565,000 ha
(1,396,000 acres) planted with annual crops, and
251,000 ha (537,266 acres) with permanent crops.
Irrigation covered 36,000 ha (89,000 acres) in
1998, half of it in the Sonsonate and Sensunapan
region. In 2000, agriculture represented 11% of
GDP and 30% of employment.
Coffee, El Salvador's major crop (30% of total
agricultural output), is grown principally in
the west and northwest at elevations of 460 to
1,520 m (1,500 to 5,000 ft). Primarily as a
result of the civil war, coffee production
declined in the 1980s. In June 1993, the
Ministry of Economy certified the first shipment
of organic coffee; the agrarian reform
cooperative that produced the coffee had not
used chemicals or pesticides for over four
years. Production in 1999 amounted to 144,000
tons (down from 156,000 tons in 1990). Exports
of coffee in 2001 amounted 92,130 tons, valued
at$131.5 million
Land that was originally planted for cotton is
now being used for sugar cane, pasture, and
nontraditional crops. El Salvador has steadily
been shifting agricultural exports towards
nontraditional items such as jalapeño peppers,
marigold flowers, okra, and pineapples.
Traditional coffee areas are also being absorbed
by urbanization projects.
El Salvador, which is Spanish for "the saviour" - or Jesus Christ - has been wracked by civil war and a succession of natural disasters.
The tiny country is the most densely-populated state on the mainland of the Americas and is highly industrialised. But social inequality and a susceptibility to earthquakes have shaped much of modern El Salvador.
In the 1980s El Salvador was ravaged by a bitter civil war. This was stoked by gross inequality between a small and wealthy elite, which dominated the government and the economy, and the overwhelming majority of the population, many of whom lived - and continue to live - in abject squalor. The war left around 70,000 people dead and caused damage worth $2bn, but it also brought about important political reforms.
In 1992 a United Nations-brokered peace agreement ended the civil war, but no sooner had El Salvador begun to recover when it was hit by a series of natural disasters, notably Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and earthquakes in 2001. These left at least 1,200 people dead and more than a million others homeless.
The economy depends heavily on the money sent home by Salvadoreans living in the US. Poverty, civil war, natural disasters and their consequent dislocations have left their mark on El Salvador's society, which is among the most crime-ridden in the Americas.
Violent street gangs, known as "maras", have been described by President Saca as a "regional problem that requires regional solutions". One of the most notorious groups was started in the 1980s by Salvadoran immigrants in the US.
Funes is the first left-wing president in two decades
President: Mauricio Funes
Mauricio Funes' election victory in March 2009 marked the first time in 20 years that a left-wing leader had come to power in El Salvador.
He defeated his conservative rival from the Arena party which had previously won every election since El Salvador's civil war ended in 1992. Mr Funes took office on 1 June 2009.
Mr Funes' FMLN party ( Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) was founded by Marxist guerillas who were engaged in a conflict against the US-backed government in the 1980s.
At least 75,000 people were killed during the civil war. In 1992 the FMLN signed a peace agreement and re-branded itself as a legitimate political party.
Mr Funes himself was never involved in armed uprising. He gave up his career as TV journalist to run for president.
He is considered a moderate and says he admires US President Barack Obama. Like Mr Obama, he campaigned on a platform of change. Mr Funes says he wants to build a relationship of "understanding and mutual respect" with the United States.
He has also expressed admiration for the economic policies of Brazil's moderate left-wing president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Mauricio Funes was born on 18 October 1959. He is married to a Brazilian doctor and has three children.
Press freedom is guaranteed under El Salvador's constitution, and the media freely and routinely criticise the government and report on opposition activities.
Broadcasting is dominated by private operators, with a handful of national TV networks. There are scores of radio stations in the capital alone.
Cable TV is widely available and carries international channels.
Country profile: El-salvador
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