Morazán Department

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Morazán
flag Coat of Arms
Location
Statistics
Created (given current status)	1875
Capital	San Francisco Gotera
Area    •%	1,447 km²   Ranked 7th
Population    •(2006)	251,447   Ranked 12th
ISO 3166-2	SV-MO

Morazán is a department of El Salvador. Located in the northeast part of the country, its capital is San Francisco Gotera. It covers a total surface area of 1,447 km² and has a population of more than 200,000.

[edit] History

Gotera was made a department in 1875, with its capital at Osicala. On February 8, 1877, Gotera was made the capital. The department changed its name from Gotera to Morazán on March 14, 1877.

Morazán was a major stronghold of the guerrilla movement during the 1979-1992 civil war. The infamous El Mozote massacre took place in this department in the village of El Mozote on December 11, 1981, when Salvadoran armed forces killed an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign. Originally dismissed by the Salvadoran and United States governments as an invention of anti-government propaganda, the massacre was confirmed in the early 1990s through exhumation of bodies buried at the site. A museum commemorating the Salvadoran civil war, the Museum of the Revolution, was established in the municipality of Perquín.

[edit] Municipalities

1. Arambala
2. Cacaopera
3. Chilanga
4. Corinto
5. Delicias de Concepción
6. El Divisadero
7. El Rosario
8. Gualococti
9. Guatajiagua
10. Joateca
11. Jocoaitique
12. Jocoro
13. Lolotiquillo
14. Meanguera
15. Osicala
16. Perquín
17. San Carlos
18. San Fernando
19. San Francisco Gotera
20. San Isidro
21. San Simón
22. Sensembra
23. Sociedad
24. Torola
25. Yamabal
26. Yoloaiquín

See also El Mozote massacre and Perquín for discussions of two historical sites related to the Salvadoran civil war.

Departments of El Salvador
Ahuachapán | Cabañas | Chalatenango | Cuscatlán | La Libertad | La Paz | La Unión | Morazán | San Miguel | San Salvador | San Vicente | Santa Ana | Sonsonate | Usulután