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Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces

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Not to be confused with the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front.
FPL
Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces
LeadersSalvador Cayetano Carpio
Dates of operation1 April 1970 – 1995
IdeologyCommunism[1]
Marxism–Leninism
Liberation theology[2]

The Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Populares de Liberación Farabundo Martí, abbreviated FPL)[4][5] was a left wing guerrilla military and political organization in El Salvador. It was the oldest of the five groups that merged in 1980 to form the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN).

History

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The FPL grew out of the Partido Comunista Salvadoreño (PCS), which at the end of the 1960s proposed armed aggression as the best method to oppose the military dictatorship in El Salvador. The FPL was formed on 1 April 1970; amongst the founders, Salvador Cayetano Carpio was considered the top leader of the organization, while Mélida Anaya Montes, the leader of the educational union, and university professors Clara Elizabeth Ramírez and Felipe Peña Mendoza were high-profile figures.

During the 1970s, the FPL began to increase its social base, carrying out political and social work with the farmers of the North and Central Zone of El Salvador and with university students. In 1975, the Bloque Popular Revolucionario (BPR) formed to unite trade unions and farmers. In 1979, the organization initiated conversations with other armed groups on the left for the unification of the revolutionary forces. These negotiations led to the foundation of the FMLN on 10 October 1980.

During the Civil War of El Salvador, the FPL maintained its bases in the rural departments of Chalatenango, Cabañas, Usulután and the San Vicente Department. In April 1983 the organization faced a serious internal crisis with the assassination of Mélida Anaya Montes (Commander Ana Maria) in Managua, Nicaragua. The Secretary General and leader of the organization, Salvador Cayetano Carpio was accused of ordering the assassination, and committed suicide before the investigations into her death concluded.

After the events of April 1983, Commander Leonel González was chosen as the new Secretary General of the organization. After the Chapultepec Peace Accords, the FPL demobilized their military apparatus. By 1995 the organization had dissolved and had been completely integrated into the FMLN.

Ideology

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The FPL was a communist movement. It initially adhered to rigidly communist principles and believed that only rural insurgency could be successful, but grew more pragmatic over time and became willing to work together with the FMLN.[1] The organization also followed liberation theology, to the point that the Salvadoran security forces believes that the FPL was formed by progressive Jesuits. Its adherence to liberation theology became a major factor in the group's recruitment efforts, as the organization relied on "networks centered on catholic priests like Benito Tovar in Chalatenango" to attract supporters and recruits.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Banerjee, Vasabjit (2022). "Maintaining Dominance: Explaining the Rise of LateEntering Insurgent Groups in El Salvador and Guatemala" (PDF). Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. Taylor & Francis Group, LLC: 16. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2022.2050484.
  2. ^ a b Banerjee, Vasabjit (2022). "Maintaining Dominance: Explaining the Rise of LateEntering Insurgent Groups in El Salvador and Guatemala" (PDF). Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. Taylor & Francis Group, LLC: 14. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2022.2050484.
  3. ^ "La Brigada Farabundo Martí" (in Spanish). Darío Sánchez. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  4. ^ Elliott Johnson; David Walker; Daniel Gray (2014). Historical Dictionary of Marxism. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 160–. ISBN 978-1-4422-3798-8.
  5. ^ Elisabeth Jean Wood (2003). Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-01050-4.
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