Negotiating an end to El Salvador's civil war

Published: Dec. 31, 2019, 8:58 a.m.

On December 31 1991 the two warring parties in El Salvador's brutal civil war agreed to end the fighting. Left-wing FMLN rebels pledged to disarm and demobilise all their fighters, in exchange for the US-backed government and military carrying out sweeping political and security reforms. The Salvadoran peace process was heralded as a major victory for UN diplomacy. Its top negotiator, the Peruvian Alvaro de Soto, tells Mike Lanchin about his role in the long road to peace in El Salvador. Photo: Rebels celebrate the end of the war in El Salvador (Jason Bleibtreu/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)