In 1945, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), was the first organ that was formed whose role is to keep peace and security in the international arena. Its mandate entails averting conflicts, arbitrating disputes as well as cushioning civilians against the extreme effects of war. The Salvadoran Civil War is an example of how internal conflict, both as a result of domestic inequality and as a result of international intervention, can put the destiny of millions of people in the hands of states and military forces.
It took twelve years and pitted the U.S. supported government of El Salvador against the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), an alliance of left-wing guerrilla formations under the patronage of Cuba through Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union. The war was the result of decades of severe social inequality where a small land-owning elite used to manage the wealth of the country as most citizens were in poverty. The violent repression of dissent had already been cemented into the historical process, with the brutality of the La Matanza massacre in 1932, and also by the historical process of that kind: the State had violently suppressed dissent in the past. By 1979, the populace was protesting the government with protests that were suppressed by military crackdowns, which culminated into a coup to worsen instability.
El Salvador was plunged into civil war between 1980 and 1992 and many civilians were caught in the middle. Entire neighborhoods were being ravaged, families were being ripped apart and survival was now a day to day thing. In many cases, paramilitary death squads and government forces were attacking everyone who could be suspected to fight against the regime and children were matured in fear and normal citizens could not have control of their lives. The presence of international powers intensified the war and made local disputes a proxy war battlefield that was fought with Cold War tensions. The case of the Salvadoran Civil War proves that domestic inequalities, political violence, and foreign intervention can determine whether a whole population survives.