The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (, abbreviated FMLN) is a Salvadoran left-wing political party and former guerrilla rebel group.
The FMLN was established on 10 October 1980 as the merged of four leftist guerrilla groups: the Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces (FPL), the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), the National Resistance Armed Forces (FARN), and the Armed Liberation Forces/Communist Party of El Salvador (FAL/PCES); the Revolutionary Party of the Central American Workers (PRTC) joined in December 1980. In 1981, the FMLN joined forces with the Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR) coalition of mass organizations and were sometimes collectively referred to as the FMLN–FDR. The FMLN fought against the Salvadoran government during the country's civil war that lasted from 1979 to 1992. The FMLN launched three major offensives against the government in 1981, 1982, and 1989. The group signed the Chapultepec Peace Accords with the government that ended the civil war. As a part of the peace accords, the FMLN was demobilized and registered as a political party.
For three decades from the mid 1990s to the late 2010s, the FMLN dominated Salvadoran politics in a two-party system alongside the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA). The party often finished in first or second place in the country's legislative and municipal elections. The FMLN lost the first three presidential elections it participated in, when it nominated various former civil war commanders. The party won the 2009 presidential election when it nominated journalist Mauricio Funes for President. Funes was succeeded in 2014 by Vice President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, a former guerrilla commander who narrowly won the 2014 presidential election. The FMLN lost the next two presidential elections, and after the 2024 election, it lost all its seats in the Legislative Assembly. Throughout the FMLN's history as a political party, several splinter parties have emerged from it such as the Democratic Party, Renewal Movement, and the Revolutionary Democratic Front (unrelated to the civil war-era group).
The FMLN is El Salvador's largest left-wing political party. During the civil war, the FMLN espoused Marxism–Leninism but moderated its position between 1989 and 1991 to embrace democratic socialism. The FMLN is a member of the Parliamentary Group of the Left political faction in the Central American Parliament. It is also a member of the São Paulo Forum and COPPPAL, two alliances of leftist Latin American political parties. Manuel Flores, the FMLN's 2024 presidential candidate and a former legislator, has served as the party's secretary-general since August 2024. , the FMLN has around 16,000 members. In recent years, it has received criticism from leftist voters for corruption and perception of being out of touch with its base, as well as seeing a collapse in legislative seats during the 2024 legislative election.
History
Background
Splintering of leftist groups during the 1970s
The Communist Party of El Salvador (PCES) was established in the 1930. In 1970, PCES general-secretary Cayetano Carpio split from the party and founded the Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces (FPL) as he viewed the party's reliance on the electoral process to transform El Salvador as futile; he instead called for a "prolonged popular war" modeled on the Viet Cong to overthrow the military dictatorship that had ruled El Salvador since 1931. In 1971, the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), led by Joaquín Villalobos, was established by dissidents of the PCES, FPL, and Christian Democratic Party (PDC). Villalobos called for a popular insurrection modeled on the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).
Throughout the 1970s, the FPL and ERP carried out hit-and-run attacks against the Salvadoran government, and allied mass organizations organized protests and strikes to create conditions that would start a revolution. In 1975, José Sancho established the National Resistance Armed Forces (FARN) as a splinter group from the ERP after Villalobos ordered the assassination of Roque Dalton—the leader of the ERP's political wing. In 1977, PCES and FARN dissidents led by Francisco Jovel created the Revolutionary Party of the Central American Workers (PRTC). In 1979, Schafik Hándal, Carpio's successor as PCES general-secretary, established the Armed Liberation Forces (FAL) as the PCES's militant wing after the party adopted an "armed struggle" doctrine under Hándal's leadership.
On 15 October 1979, the reformist elements of the Armed Forces of El Salvador (FAES) overthrew General Carlos Humberto Romero, the president of El Salvador, in a coup d'état and established the civil-military Revolutionary Government Junta (JRG). Some leftist groups such as the PCES initially supported the JRG while others such as the ERP opposed it and renewed calls for an insurrection. Eventually, negotiations between the JRG and some communist groups fell apart after Colonel Adolfo Arnoldo Majano lost his influence in the JRG and the junta itself being unable to curb violence by far-right death squads.
Negotiations and unification
In December 1979, Salvadoran leftist leaders met in Havana, Cuba to negotiate the establishment of a united coalition to oppose the JRG. They viewed the FSLN's victory in the Nicaraguan Revolution as a sign that they needed to set aside ideological differences and create a united vanguard to launch a successful revolution. Cuban leader Fidel Castro personally took part in the negotiations. In May 1980, the FPL, FARN, and FAL/PCES established the (DRU) as a united coalition for political and military planning. DRU initially excluded the ERP due to lingering animosity over Dalton's assassination, but it later allowed the ERP to join following pressure from Castro.
On 10 October 1980, the DRU established the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a merger of the DRU's members and the Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR), a coalition of the DRU member's affiliated mass organizations. The FMLN and FDR were sometimes referred to collectively as the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front–Revolutionary Democratic Front (FMLN–FDR). The FMLN was an umbrella group consisting of the DRU groups as its militant wing and the FDR as its political front. The FMLN was named after Farabundo Martí, a peasant and communist leader who led a rebellion against the government of Brigadier General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez in 1932 and was executed during subsequent reprisal killings known as that killed up to 40,000 people. The PRTC later joined the FMLN in December 1980. The FMLN was governed by five-member executive directorate that consisted of the Salvador Sánchez Cerén (representing the FPL), Villalobos (ERP), Sancho (FARN), Hándal (FAL/PCES), and Jovel (PRTC).
Guerrilla coalition (1980–1992)
Early military offensives (1980–1983)
The FMLN launched its first military offensive—known as the final offensive of 1981—on 10 January 1981 when it carried out 43 attacks against various government and military positions including the Ilopango International Airport and the headquarters of the Treasury Police. Carpio issued FMLN General Order Number 1 that called on the Salvadoran people to join the FMLN in a national uprising. Although the FMLN had captured 82 cities and villages, mostly in northern El Salvador, by 17 January, the JRG launched a counteroffensive and Hándal called for a "temporary tactical retreat". By 26 January, the offensive failed and the FMLN acknowledged that it did not spark the national uprising it hoped for. Although the offensive failed, the FMLN proved itself to be a competent fighting force and retained control of some territory.
On 28 March 1982, the date of the 1982 Constitutional Assembly election, the FMLN launched the general offensive of 1982 that intended to disrupt the election's conduct, but the offensive failed to achieve this goal and all 60 seats on the Constitutional Assembly were decided. That year, many FMLN leaders believed that a negotiated settlement was the best way to obtain their goals, but this approach was strongly rejected by Carpio who described it as a betrayal of the revolution. In January 1983, the FPL Central Committee voted Carpio out of power and replaced him with Mélida Anaya Montes. In April 1983, Carpio had Montes assassinated in Managua, Nicaragua and he committed suicide days later when the assassins were captured.
Carpio's suicide diminished the FPL's influence within the FMLN and the coalition's members moved towards further cooperation with each other led by the ERP. The FMLN divided its forces into five fronts: the Feliciano Ama Western Front (in Ahuachapán, La Libertad, Santa Ana, and Sonsonate), the Anastasio Aquino Para-Central Front (in San Vicente and parts of Cabañas and La Paz), the Modesto Ramírez Central Front (in Cuscatlán, San Salvador, and parts of Cabañas and La Paz), the Francisco Sánchez Eastern Front (in La Unión, Morazán, San Miguel, and Usulután), and the Apolinario Serrano Northern Front (in Chalatenango).
Peace negotiations (1983–1989)
Carpio's death also led to the FMLN approaching the Salvadoran government to enter negotiations ahead of the 1984 presidential election in the hopes of joining a coalition government. In 1983, the FMLN entered private negotiations with the government of President Álvaro Magaña. After the 1984 election, the FMLN entered open negotiations with the PDC government of President José Napoleón Duarte. The FMLN and Duarte's government held several meetings between 1984 and 1988 but were unable to come to an agreement to end the civil war due to continued FMLN attacks.
While in negotiations, the FMLN continued to carry out hit-and-run attacks against the government including assassinations, kidnappings, and bombings. FMLN militants particularly attacked American military personnel as the United States was supporting the Salvadoran government with weapons, supplies, and advisors. The FMLN also destroyed infrastructure, blockaded public transportation, and imposed "war taxes" on businesses (such as kidnappings and bombings) that cost the Salvadoran government US$2 billion between 1979 and 1988.
Throughout the civil war, Cuba trained hundreds of FMLN personnel and Nicaragua subsidized the FMLN's operation of Radio Venceremos, the group's clandestine radio station. There were unsubstantiated rumors during the civil war of direct support from the Soviet Union such as an alleged sighting of a Soviet submarine near La Unión or a Soviet soldier in Chalatenango. The FMLN received materiel support from communist countries such as Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Ethiopia, Hungary, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam, much of which was sent to the FMLN through Nicaragua. The FMLN also received financial support from sympathetic solidarity committees in the United States, Mexico, and Europe. FMLN membership varied throughout the civil war: it was as low as 4,000 members in 1981 to as high as 15,000 members in 1991.
In December 1987, Rubén Zamora and Guillermo Ungo, two FDR leaders, announced the creation of Democratic Convergence (CVD), a left-wing political party formed from the merger of the Popular Social Christian Movement (MPSC), the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR), and the Social Democratic Party (PSD). The CVD was allowed to participate in the 1989 presidential election with Ungo as its presidential candidate, and the CVD's electoral participation was approved by the FMLN. Ungo finished in fourth place with 3.8 percent of the vote.
Last offensive and peace accords (1989–1992)