Basic Law of Agrarian Reform of El Salvador

The Basic Law of Agrarian Reform of El Salvador establishes the transformation of the country's agrarian structure through the substitution of the latifundist system with a just system of property, tenure and land exploitation based on equitable land distribution. The law recognizes and guarantees private property with social function, establishing maximum land tenure limits (100 hectares in class I-IV soils and 150 hectares in class V-VII soils) and compliance requirements to maintain ownership. It regulates the processes of affectation, acquisition and expropriation of lands exceeding established limits, as well as their subsequent assignment to agricultural cooperative associations and rural worker organizations. The legal framework creates the Salvadoran Institute of Agrarian Transformation (ISTA) as process executor and establishes provisional administration mechanisms, payment systems through agrarian reform bonds, and procedures to guarantee the incorporation of rural population into the country's economic and social development.