Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
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Categories: Political parties in El Salvador
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Politics of El Salvador |
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (in Spanish: Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional, FMLN) was a Marxist coalition of revolutionary movements that was established in El Salvador in 1980. During twelve years FMLN led a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the regime. Today, this former guerrilla organization has become a major political party of the country.
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Historical Background
The Civil War
On 17 December 1979, in period of national crisis, the three dominant Marxist organizations (FPL, RN and PCS) in El Salvador formed the Coordinadora Político-Militar. The CPM's first manifesto was released on 10 January 1980, and the day afterwards the Coordinadora Revolucionaria de Masas was formed as a union of revolutionary mass organizations. CRM later merged with the Frente Democrático Salvadoreño to form the Frente Democrático Revolucionario.
On 22 May 1980, the Dirección Revolucionaria Unificada was created by the FPL, RN, EPL and PCS. DRU consisted of three Political Commission members from each of these four organizations. The DRU manifesto declared, "There will be only one leadership, only one military plan and only one command, only one political line."
On 10 October 1980 the four organizations formed the Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional (FMLN). In December of the same year, the Salvadoran branch of the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores Centroamericanos broke away from its central organization and affiliated itself to FMLN. Thus the following organizations composed FMLN (listed in the order of size at the time of the peace accords in 1992):
- Fuerzas Popular de Liberación "Farabundo Martí"
- Partido Comunista de El Salvador, armed wing Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación
- Partido de la Revolución Salvadoreña, armed wing Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo
- Fuerzas Armadas de la Resistencia Nacional
- Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores Centroamericanos, armed wing Ejército Revolucionario de los Trabajadores Centroamericanos
Youth organizations of FMLN at the time of armed struggle incuded:
- Juventud Farabundista (FPL)
- Juventud Comunista Salvadoreña (PCS)
- Juventud Revolucionaria (PRS)
- Jóvenes en Resistencia (RN)
- Juventud los Muchachos (PRTC)
After the formation of the front, FMLN launched a major military offensive on 10 January 1981.
The organization was named for the rebel leader Farabundo Martí, who led workers and peasants in an uprising to transform Salvadoran society after the devastation caused by the eruption of the volcano Izalco in 1932. In response, the military regime led by General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, who had seized power in a 1931 coup, launched an effective but brutal counterinsurgency campaign that saw 30,000 suspected guerrillas and Martí supporters killed.
After the ceasefire established by the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords, the FMLN became a legitimate political party. At the last legislative elections, 16 march 2003, the party won 34.0% of the popular vote and 31 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador. Its candidate at the presidential election of 21 March 2004, Schafik Jorge Handal, won 35.6% and was defeated by Antonio Elías "Tony" Saca of the Nationalist Republican Alliance.
Today there are two main tendencies within the party, the "ortodoxos" (mainly former Partido Comunista militants) and "renovadores" (mainly former FPL militants).