1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: Refugees trying to flee El Salvador

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The Salvadoran Civil War was a civil war in El Salvador which was fought between the military-led junta government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) (a coalition or "umbrella organization" of left-wing groups) from 15 October 1979 to 16 January 1992. A coup on October 15, 1979, was followed by killings of anti-coup protesters by the government and of anti-disorder protesters by the guerrillas, and is widely seen as the start of civil war.

The fully-fledged civil war lasted for more than 12 years and included the deliberate terrorizing and targeting of civilians by US-trained government death squads including prominent clergy from the Catholic Church, the recruitment of child soldiers and other human rights violations, mostly by the military. An unknown number of people disappeared while the UN reports that the war killed more than 75,000 people between 1979 and 1992. The war ended with the Chapultepec Peace Accords, but in 2016 the El Salvador Supreme Court ruled that the 1993 amnesty law was unconstitutional and that the El Salvador government could prosecute war criminals.

The United States contributed to the conflict by providing military aid of $1–2 million per day to the government of El Salvador during the Carter[30] and Reagan administrations and provided significant training. The Salvadoran government was considered "friendly" and an ally by the U.S. in the context of the Cold War.[31] By May 1983, US officers started to take over positions in the top levels of the Salvadoran military and were making critical decisions and running the war.

Counterinsurgency tactics implemented often targeted civilians with the United Nations estimating that the FMLN guerrillas were responsible for 5% of the acts of violence of civilians during the civil war, while 85% were committed by the Salvadoran armed forces and death squads.

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