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| 1964 |
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| JOSÉ NAPOLEÓN DUARTE (1925–90), a Christian Democrat, won the mayoral election in San Salvador. Duarte was one of the few reformist politicians tolerated by the military. | 1 |
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| 1967, March 5 |
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| Election of Col. Fidel Sánchez Hernández, of the ruling National Conciliation Party, as president. | 2 |
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| 1968 |
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| In an atmosphere of increasing political violence, the National Guard tortured and murdered two labor leaders. These tactics were intensified by the creation of ORDEN by Gen. José Alberto Medrano. A right-wing paramilitary squad, ORDEN was reputed to carry out summary executions of alleged peasant subversives. It received training from U.S. military advisers. | 3 |
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| 1969, July |
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| Suffering from an economic crisis, Honduras expelled 80,000 Salvadoran refugees, causing war between the two countries (See 1969, July). Known as the “soccer war” because it erupted after a series of heated soccer matches, it resulted in victory for El Salvador, which invaded and bombed the Honduran capital (July 14). After some 3,000 deaths, the OAS proclaimed a truce. The victory soured, however, as the Salvadorans were faced with the loss of the Honduran market and the return of nearly 100,000 migrants. | 4 |
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| 1972, Sept.–Oct |
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| With the economy in recession and opposition coalescing behind Christian Democrat José Napoleón Duarte, the military used electoral fraud to install Col. Arturo Molina as president. Dissidents in the military revolted, and protests erupted at the National University, but both groups were quickly suppressed by troops loyal to Molina. ORDEN death squads scoured the countryside to punish Duarte supporters. Duarte himself was imprisoned, tortured, and then exiled. The U.S. quickly recognized the Molina government. | 5 |
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| 1975 |
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| With over 80 percent of the land in El Salvador owned by a few families, Pres. Molina initiated a minor agrarian reform, redistributing 150,000 acres of public land. | 6 |
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| July 30 |
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| University students, protesting peacefully, were massacred by the army. In the aftermath, several new organizations, such as the Popular Revolutionary Bloc (BPR), were founded. | 7 |
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