Aguilares, El Salvador

Aguilares is a municipality in the San Salvador department of El Salvador,

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.

Toponymy
The municipality was named in honor of Nicolás Aguilar y Bustamante, Vicente Aguilar y Bustamante, and Manuel Aguilar, leaders in the Salvadoran independence movement.

History
In the 1970s, the associated Catholic parish of Aguilares was served by Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit priest and activist who was assassinated on the outskirts of town. In 1979 or 1980, during the Salvadoran Civil War, the Salvadoran Army pillaged the town until its people retook it, depicted in Archbishop of San Salvador Óscar Romero's homily as images of the crucified Christ.