According to petwithsupplies, El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. It is home to 6.4 million people, with the majority of them living in urban areas. The largest cities in El Salvador are San Salvador, Santa Ana, San Miguel, Mejicanos and Soyapango. San Salvador is the capital of El Salvador and its largest city. It has a population of 2.1 million people and is located in the center of the country near a string of volcanic mountains known as the Boqueron range. The city has a vibrant culture with many museums, parks, restaurants, bars and clubs to explore. It also serves as an important economic hub for El Salvador with many businesses setting up shop here due to its central location and access to international markets. Santa Ana is the second-largest city in El Salvador with a population of over 500 thousand people. Located close to the country’s western border with Guatemala, it serves as an important commercial center for agricultural exports from El Salvador’s coffee-growing regions such as Chalatenango and Ahuachapan. In addition to coffee production, Santa Ana also produces sugarcane, rice and beans that are exported abroad or consumed within the country itself. San Miguel is another large city located in eastern El Salvador near the Pacific coast. With a population of around 350 thousand people, it is an important industrial center for manufacturing products such as shoes, clothing and furniture that are exported around the world from its port at Acajutla on the Gulf of Fonseca. Mejicanos is located just north of San Salvador on Lake Ilopango and has been dubbed “the city between two lakes” due to its proximity to both Lake Ilopango and Lake Coatepeque nearby. With a population approaching 250 thousand people, it serves as an important commercial center for both tourists visiting nearby attractions such as Cerro Verde National Park or Los Chorros Waterfall as well as locals looking for everyday goods or services within their own community. Finally, Soyapango is located east of San Salvador near San Miguel and has a population of around 200 thousand people making it one of El Salvador’s larger cities outside its main metropolitan areas like San Miguel or Santa Ana. It serves largely as an industrial hub for manufacturing companies producing products like textiles or electronics that are then sent abroad via shipping ports at Acajutla. Soyapango is also home to a large agricultural community that produces coffee, sugarcane, and other crops for sale both domestically and internationally. In 2008, El Salvador was a small, developing nation with a population of about 6 million people. The country was facing numerous challenges due to its civil war in the 1980s and 1990s, including high levels of poverty and unemployment. Political instability had also been an issue since the end of the conflict, with two major political parties vying for power in national elections. Geopolitically, El Salvador was located in Central America between Guatemala and Honduras. It shared land borders with both countries as well as maritime borders with Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea and Costa Rica in the Pacific Ocean. The country’s total land area was 21,041 square kilometers (8,124 square miles). At the time of this writing, El Salvador was a member state of the United Nations (UN) and had been since 1945. Other international organizations that El Salvador belonged to included the Central American Integration System (SICA), Organization of American States (OAS), Latin American Economic System (LAES), and International Criminal Court (ICC). In terms of domestic politics at this time period, El Salvador had been ruled by right-wing governments since 1989 when ARENA party won its first election after 17 years of civil war. These governments held on to power until 2009 when Mauricio Funes from FMLN party won presidential elections in 2009. The economy of El Salvador relied heavily on remittances from abroad which accounted for nearly 20% of its GDP at this time period. The country also experienced some growth from coffee exports but this sector had declined significantly due to global competition from other coffee-producing nations such as Colombia and Brazil. Manufacturing exports were also important for El Salvador but these too had declined over time due to competition from other countries such as China and Mexico. In terms of foreign policy during this period, El Salvador sought closer ties with neighboring countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua while maintaining good relations with other Latin American nations like Brazil and Argentina. In addition, it sought stronger ties with European Union nations while maintaining friendly relations with the United States which remained an important ally despite occasional diplomatic disputes over immigration policies or trade issues. Check eningbo for El Salvador in 2012.