In 1979 the reformist Revolutionary Government Junta took power . Both the extreme right and the left now disagreed with the government and increased political violence quickly turned into a civil war . The initially poorly trained Salvadoran Armed Forces ( ESAF ) also engaged in repression and indiscriminate killings , the most notorious of which was the El Mozote massacre in December 1981 . The United States supported the government , and Cuba and other Communist states supported the insurgents now organized as the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front ( FMLN ) . The Chapultepec Peace Accords marked the end of the war in 1992 , and FMLN became one of the major political parties
El Mozote massacre
El Mozote massacre
History of El Salvador