Short answers, pulled from the story.
El Salvador's official name is the Republic of El Salvador. It is a country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the northeast, Guatemala to the northwest, and the Pacific Ocean to the south. It is the smallest and most densely populated country in continental America, covering 21,041 square kilometres.
La Matanza was a brutal government suppression of a rural revolt that began on the 22nd of January 1932. Thousands of poorly armed peasants in western El Salvador, led by Feliciano Ama and Farabundo Marti, rose against General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez. The government killed between 10,000 and 40,000 people, mostly Pipil peasants, and executed both rebel leaders.
The Salvadoran Civil War ended on the 16th of January 1992 when President Alfredo Cristiani and the commanders of five FMLN guerrilla groups signed the Chapultepec Peace Accords at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. The UN reports that more than 75,000 people were killed during the conflict, which lasted from 1979 to 1992.
El Salvador's Legislative Assembly passed the Bitcoin Law on the 9th of June 2021, and bitcoin became legal tender on the 7th of September 2021, making El Salvador the first country to do so. Bitcoin rapidly lost about half its value after adoption, and in February 2025, Congress agreed to remove its legal tender status following pressure from the International Monetary Fund.
Oscar Romero was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador who publicly denounced massacres and injustices committed by government forces during the civil war period, earning the description "the voice of the voiceless." He was assassinated by a death squad while saying Mass on the 24th of March 1980. He was canonized as the first Salvadoran saint by Pope Francis on the 14th of October 2018.
In September 2021, El Salvador's Supreme Court ruled that Bukele could run for a second consecutive term, a decision organised by judges Bukele's party had appointed after winning a legislative supermajority. He won re-election on the 4th of February 2024 with 84% of the vote, and was sworn in for a second five-year term on the 1st of June 2024.