14 Families Of El Salvador High Quality ✦ Top-Rated

However, studies by the Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo (FUNDE) show that economic concentration remains extreme. Many of the original family names have simply evolved into modern holding groups: (Poma family), Grupo de Sola , Grupo Agrisal , Grupo Cuscatlán , and Banco Agrícola (once controlled by the Dueñas family). They own the malls, the banks, the poultry farms, the beverage distributors, and the media outlets.

A 2021 investigation by El Faro found that just five business groups—most with roots in the original 14—control over 40% of El Salvador’s non-financial corporate assets. Historians caution that “the 14 families” is more of a political shorthand than a precise census. The number 14 likely comes from the 14 departments of El Salvador, symbolizing nationwide control. Different historians name different lineages. Some argue it was actually 20 or 30 families who married into a core of 5 or 6. 14 families of el salvador

But the phrase’s power is not in its arithmetic. It’s in what it represents: , where birth determined access to capital, justice, and dignity. Bukele and the Oligarchy: A New Chapter? President Nayib Bukele (2019–present) has openly mocked the 14 families, calling them “the traditional corrupt elite” and “the ones who looted the country.” His populist rhetoric resonates with a generation that grew up on stories of oligarchic abuse. However, studies by the Fundación Nacional para el

As one San Salvador street vendor put it: “Pueden cambiar los nombres, pero los dueños siguen siendo los mismos.” (“The names may change, but the owners remain the same.”) A mirror held up to El Salvador’s unfinished revolution—and a reminder that oligarchy is not just a group of people, but a system that keeps reinventing itself. A 2021 investigation by El Faro found that