From 1980 until 1992 a brutal civil war was fought in the small Central American country of El Salvador. The root cause of that war was the disparity of wealth between the ruling oligarchy — the fourteen families that had ruled El Salvador since Spanish colonial days, and the peasants that made up the majority of the population. Today, twenty-seven years later, socio-economic conditions are much the same as they were during the civil war. Despite the inclusion of the former guerrilla faction, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), in the political process, most families still lack electricity and potable water, individuals want for formal education, and gang violence has replaced and, in many ways, surpassed the brutality of both the Salvadoran military and the guerrilla factions during their prolonged conflict.
The war and its aftermath are told through the perspectives of a U.S. Army officer, a guerrilla leader, and a refugee turned gang member. By giving voice to all three, it looks not only at history but at the current crises. Today, El Salvador has one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the world, and the influence of MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) has spread beyond its borders to many cities in the United States.
