Villa El Salvador

The Savior Town District is an urban, largely residential coastal district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. It borders the district of Chorrillos on the east; the Pacific Ocean on the southwest; Lurín on the southeast; Villa María del Triunfo on the east and San Juan de Miraflores on the north.

History

Villa El Salvador began in 1971 as a squatted pueblo joven (or shanty town) in the vast, empty sand flats to the south of Lima because of the urgent housing needs of immigrant families who had left the sierra of central Peru. A land invasion quickly created a town of 25,000 people. By 2008, it had grown to 350,000 people.^[2] Villa El Salvador evolved into a huge urban zone, largely self-organizing, for which it won some fame. Largely through the efforts of its inhabitants, the neighborhood was supplied with electricity, water, and sewage.

Villa El Salvador served as the home base for the activist María Elena Moyano, who helped organize the Federación Popular de Mujeres de Villa El Salvador (Fepomuves), a federation of women, which grew to encompass activities such as public kitchens, health committees, the Vaso de Leche program (which supplied children with milk), income-generating projects, and committees for basic education. Moyano was killed by members of the Shining Path, which used Villa El Salvador as a base in Lima.

Since June 1, 1983, Villa El Salvador has been formally (by law № 23605) established as a district within the

• 2019–2022: Kevin Íñigo Peralta.
• 2011–2014: Guido Íñigo Peralta.
• 2003–2010: Jaime Zea Usca.
• 1999–2002: Martín Pumar Vílchez.

Festivities

• October: Lord of Miracles

Twin towns

• Arnhem in Gelderland, Netherlands
• Amstelveen in North Holland, Netherlands
• Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany^[3]

Historical slum photos

• 
  Overview of the El Salvador slum, 1975
• 
  Slum street, 1975
• 
  Sheds in El Salvador, 1975

See also

• Administrative divisions of Peru

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Villa El Salvador District.

• (in Spanish) Municipalidad de Villa El Salvador – Villa El Salvador district council official website
• (in Spanish) Amigos de Villa – Association of Friends of Villa El Salvador, Lima - Perú
• (in Spanish) PortalVES^{[permanent dead link]} – District Portal Villa El Salvador, Lima - Perú