<Li> Chapultepec Peace Accords </Li> <Li> Truth Commission for El Salvador </Li> <P> The Salvadoran Civil War was a conflict between the military - led government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or "umbrella organization" of several left - wing groups . A coup on October 15, 1979, led to the killings of anti-coup protesters by the government as well as anti-disorder protesters by the guerrillas, and is widely seen as the tipping point toward civil war . </P> <P> The full - fledged civil war lasted for more than 12 years and saw extreme violence . It also included the deliberate terrorizing and targeting of civilians by death squads, the recruitment of child soldiers and other violations of human rights, mostly done by the military . An unknown number of people disappeared during the conflict, and the UN reports that the war killed more than 75,000 people between 1980 and 1992 . In 2016, the El Salvador Supreme Court ruled that the amnesty law was unconstitutional and that the El Salvador government could prosecute war criminals . </P>

When did the civil war in el salvador start