El Salvador Government - 1986

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Official name: Republic of El Salvador

Type: republic

Capital: San Salvador

Political subdivisions: 14 departments

Legal system: based on Spanish law, with traces of common law; new constitution enacted in December 1983; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; legal education at University of El Salvador; accepts compulsory 1CJ jurisdiction, with reservations

National holiday- Independence Day, 15 September

Branches: Legislative Assembly (60 seats), Executive, Supreme Court

Government leaders: Jose Napoleon DUARTE, President (since June 1984);

Rodolfo CASTILLO Claramount, Vice President (since June 1984); Abraham RODRIGUEZ, First Presidential Designate (since September 1984); Rene FORTIN, Magana, Second Presidential Designate (since September 1984)

Suffrage: universal over age 18

Elections: Legislative Assembly (formerly Constituent Assembly), 28 March 1982; presidential election, 25 March 1984, presidential runoff election, 6 May 1984 (next scheduled for 1989); Legislative Assembly election, 31 March 1985

Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Jose Antonio Morales Erlich; National Conciliation Party (PCN), Hugo Carrillo; Democratic Action (AD), Ricardo Gonzalez Camacho; Salvadoran Popular Party (PPS), Francisco Quinonez; National Republican Alliance (ARENA), Alfredo Cristiani; Salvadoran Authentic Institutional Party (PAISA), Roberto Escobar Garcia Social Democratic Party (PSD), Mario Rene Roldan; Patria Libre, Hugo Rarrera

Voting strength: Legislative Assembly— PDC, 33 seats; ARENA, 13 seats; PAISA, 1 seat; PCN, 12 seats; Independent, 1 seat

Other political or pressure groups: leftist revolutionary movement—Unified Revolutionary Directorate (DRU) and Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), leadership bodies of the insurgency; Popular Liberation Forces (FPL), Armed Forces of National Resistance (FARN), People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP), Salvadoran Communist Party/Armed Forces of Liberation (PCES/FAL), and Central American Workers’ Revolutionary Party (PRTC)/ Popular Liberation Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARLP); militant front organizations—Revolutionary Coordinator of Masses (CRM; alliance of front groups), Popular Revolutionary Bloc (BPR), Unified Popular Action Front (FAPU), Popular Leagues of 28 February (LP-28), National Democratic Union (UDN), and Popular Liberation Movement (MLP); Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR), coalition of CRM and Democratic Front (FD), controlled by DRU; FD consists of moderate leftist groups— Independent Movement of Professionals and Technicians of El Salvador (M1PTES), National Revolutionary Movement (MNR), and Popular Social Christian Movement (MPSC); extreme rightist vigilante organizations or death squads—Secret Anti-Communist Army (ESA); Maximiliano Hernandez Brigade; Organization for Liberation From Communism (OLC)

Labor organizations: Federation of Construction and Transport Workers Unions (FESINCONSTRANS), independent; Salvadoran Communal Union (UCS), peasant association; Unitary Federation of Salvadoran

El Salvador

Unions (FUSS), leftist; National Federation of Salvadoran Workers (FEN ASTRAS), leftist; Democratic Workers Central (CTD), moderate; General Confederation of Workers (CGT), moderate; Popular Democratic Unity (UPD), moderate labor coalition which includes FESINCONSTRANS, and other democratic labor organizations

Business organizations: National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP), conservative; Productive Alliance (AP), conservative; National Federation of Salvadoran Small Businessmen (FENAPES), conservative

Member of: CACM, FAO, G-77,1ADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB—Inter-American Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ITU, IWC—International Wheat Council OAS, ODECA, PAHO, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

NOTE: The information regarding El Salvador on this page is re-published from the 1986 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of El Salvador 1986 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about El Salvador 1986 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.