El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign

The Salvadoran Civil War (1979–1992) was a conflict between the military-led government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or 'umbrella organization' of five left-wing guerrilla groups. On October 15, 1979, a coup, the first of three before the 1982 elections, led to the killings of anti-coup protesters by the government as well as anti-disorder protesters by the guerillas who also attacked the government.

By January 1980, the left-wing political organizations united to form the CRM (Coordinated Revolutionaries of the Masses) and a few months later the left-wing armed groups united to form the DRU (Unified Revolutionary Directorate) which, following its merging with the Communist party in October 1980, was renamed the FMLN.

The full-fledged civil war lasted for twelve years and was extremely violent. It included the use of death squads, heavy military equipment, the recruitment of child soldiers, the deliberate terrorizing and targeting of civilians, as well as other violations of human rights.

The United States contributed to the conflict by providing large amounts of military aid to the government of El Salvador during the Carter and Reagan administrations despite significant opposition from the American public.

In 1990, the UN began peace negotiations and on January 16, 1992, a final agreement, The Chapultepec Peace Agreement, was signed by the combatants in Mexico City, formally ending the conflict.

An unknown number of people "disappeared" during the conflict and the UN reports that more than 75,000 were killed.

On 14 November 2013, gunmen stormed a missing persons the charity headquarters, "Probúsqueda," founded by Fr. Jon Cortina, and torched records that would have helped find missing persons from the Civil War era and reunite them with their searching families.