The main cause of the conflicts that occurred before, during and after the civil war in El Salvador is the disparity between rich and poor. Built on the colonial system introduced by the Spanish during the colonial period, the hacienda system, supporting unequal distribution of wealth and land, polarized the country. While the Spanish acquired labor through the econominda system in which the Spanish crown assigned a set number of natives to Spanish elites, the elites acquired land through haciendas. Attempting to exploit cash crop production and monopolize agriculture, Spanish elites created haciendas, large landholdings. (Kraft)When El Salvador was declared independent, landowning elites clashed until the creation of a government under the power of the “Fourteen Families” oligarchy whose wealth came from the cultivation, processing, exportation and financing of coffee. Two meetings demonstrate how the elites relied heavily on the government to keep the campesinos, or indigenous workers, under control. One inside 1881...