Families Of El Salvador ((full)) — 14

The Salvadoran Civil War (1980–1992) was fought, in part, to break the oligarchy’s hold. The 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords forced some land redistribution, and neoliberal reforms in the 1990s opened the economy to new players—remittances, supermarkets, call centers, and later, Bitcoin.

By 1930, less than 2% of the population owned more than 60% of the arable land. The 14 families didn’t just own haciendas—they owned banks, export firms, utilities, and the legislative deputies who wrote the laws. The power of the 14 families reached its most brutal expression in January 1932. After a peasant uprising led by Farabundo Martí, the government—acting in concert with the coffee oligarchy—responded with a genocidal campaign known as La Matanza (The Massacre). An estimated 10,000 to 40,000 indigenous and peasant Salvadorans were killed in a matter of weeks. 14 families of el salvador

Meanwhile, critics argue that Bukele has simply replaced one concentration of power with another: his own family and loyal military officers now control key state contracts. The legend of the 14 families endures because economic inequality in El Salvador remains staggering. According to World Bank data, the richest 10% of Salvadorans earn nearly 40% of the country’s income, while the poorest 40% earn less than 12%. The Salvadoran Civil War (1980–1992) was fought, in