Aguilares
Encyclopedia
Aguilares is a municipality
in the San Salvador
department
of El Salvador
, located 33 km away from the city of San Salvador
. The municipality measures 33.72 km² and as of 2006, had an estimated population of 73,300. Sugar cane cultivation is the major economic activity for the area.
The municipality is divided into five administrative divisions, called cantones: Florida, Las Tunas, Pinalitos, Pishishapa, and Los Mangos. It is bounded on the north by El Paisnal
, on the east by Suchitoto
(Cuscatlán Department
) and Guazapa
, to the south by Nejapa
and Guazapa, and to the west by Quezaltepeque
(La Libertad Department) and El Paisnal.
parish
of Aguilares was served by Rutilio Grande
, a Jesuit priest and activist who was assassinated in the fields near El Paisnal, a neighboring village. For this reason, the Aguilares area figures prominently in the film Romero
, a biography of martyred Archbishop Óscar Romero
, which shows Grande's work in and around Aguilares just before his death in 1977.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in the San Salvador
San Salvador Department
San Salvador is a department of El Salvador in the west central part of the country. The capital is San Salvador, which is also the national capital. The department has North of the Rio Lempa Valley, the "Valle de las Hamacas" and a section of Lake Ilopango...
department
Departments of El Salvador
||A list of the departments of El Salvador in alphabetical order.Department :# Ahuachapán # Cabañas # Chalatenango # Cuscatlán # La Libertad # La Paz...
of El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, located 33 km away from the city of San Salvador
San Salvador
The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
. The municipality measures 33.72 km² and as of 2006, had an estimated population of 73,300. Sugar cane cultivation is the major economic activity for the area.
The municipality is divided into five administrative divisions, called cantones: Florida, Las Tunas, Pinalitos, Pishishapa, and Los Mangos. It is bounded on the north by El Paisnal
El Paisnal
El Paisnal is a municipality in the San Salvador department of El Salvador....
, on the east by Suchitoto
Suchitoto
Suchitoto is a municipality in the Cuscatlán department of El Salvador.Suchitoto is widely known throughout El Salvador for its church and for its cobblestone roads...
(Cuscatlán Department
Cuscatlán Department
Cuscatlán is a department of El Salvador, located in the center of the country. With a surface area of , it is El Salvador's smallest department. It is inhabited by over 200,000 people. Cuscatlán or Cuzcatlán was the name the original inhabitants of the Western part of the country gave to most of...
) and Guazapa
Guazapa
Guazapa is a municipality in the San Salvador department of El Salvador.An area known for fostering FMLN combatants during the 1990s...
, to the south by Nejapa
Nejapa
Nejapa is a municipality in the San Salvador department of El Salvador. It is the city after Apopa and before Quezaltepeque. People from Nejapa Are known as Nejapenses. One of the major traditions of Nejapa is "Las Bolas De Fuego" . It is celebrated Every 31st of August. Las Bolas de Fuego has two...
and Guazapa, and to the west by Quezaltepeque
Quezaltepeque, La Libertad
Quezaltepeque is a municipality in the La Libertad department of El Salvador. It is located about 15 km from San Salvador. Quezaltepeque is a modern city that has a little bit of everything, from shops, restaurants to swimming spots. It has one of the largest prisons in El Salvador, which...
(La Libertad Department) and El Paisnal.
Toponomy
The municipality was named in honor of Nicholas, Vicente and Manuel Aguilar, leaders in the Salvadoran independence movement.Notable events
In the 1970s, the associated CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Aguilares was served by Rutilio Grande
Rutilio Grande
Rutilio Grande García was a Jesuit priest in El Salvador and a promoter of liberation theology. He was assassinated in 1977, along with two other Salvadorans. He was a close friend of Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero...
, a Jesuit priest and activist who was assassinated in the fields near El Paisnal, a neighboring village. For this reason, the Aguilares area figures prominently in the film Romero
Romero (film)
Romero is a film depicting the life of assassinated Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero, played by Raúl Juliá. Richard Jordan played the role of Romero's close friend and fellow martyred priest Rutilio Grande, and actors Ana Alicia and Harold Gould also appeared in the film.Romero was the first...
, a biography of martyred Archbishop Óscar Romero
Óscar Romero
Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a bishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, succeeding Luis Chávez. He was assassinated on 24 March 1980....
, which shows Grande's work in and around Aguilares just before his death in 1977.