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11 Puerto Rican prisoners and of bombing two military A military dictatorship had risen to power in
recruiting centers in Chicago. In 1985, all three were El Salvador in 1929; in January 1932, the junta had
found guilty of seditious conspiracy and bomb and put down a peasant rebellion led by Farabundo Marti,
weapons violations. executing him and massacring between 10,000 and
Police estimated, even after the great number of 30,000 of his followers. In the late 1960s, resistance to
arrests in 1980 and 1983, that the FALN retained a the regime began to coalesce, and by 1972 the middle-
membership of 120, with more than 2,000 supporters class, centrist Christian Democratic Party was poised
in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Los Angeles, to win that year’s presidential election. The military
Washington, D.C., Denver, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, regime engaged in electoral fraud and sent Jose
and El Paso, Texas. Following the August 20, 1985, Duarte, leader of the Christian Democrats, into exile.
FBI raids in Puerto Rico, FALN activities died down Following the election, many began to seek other
almost completely. methods of opposing the dictatorship.
In 1999, U.S. president Bill Clinton granted The election scandal fostered the creation of many
clemency to 16 Puerto Rican nationalists and sus- leftist political groups, some of which advocated open
pected FALN members. Although they were charged rebellion. As the decade progressed, protests, demon-
with seditious conspiracy, possession of unregistered strations, and terrorist attacks against the ruling
firearms, or interstate transportation of stolen vehicles, elite—particularly in the form of kidnappings for
none had actually been convicted of the 130 bombings, ransom—escalated. The government responded with
or any related injuries and deaths. increasing repression: by 1979, roving government
death squads were killing hundreds each month.
See also BLACK PANTHER PARTY; MACHETEROS; PUERTO At the peak of civil unrest in 1979, leftist guerrillas
RICAN NATIONALIST TERRORISM
formed an alliance, calling the new group the
Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation. Five
Further Reading guerrilla groups were involved in the organization:
each group’s leader sat on the equivalent of an execu-
Barreto, Amílcar Antonio. Language, Elites, and the State: tive committee; joint operations were discussed
Nationalism in Puerto Rico and Quebec. Westport, CT: among them and subjects of contention voted on. The
Praeger, 1998.
Fernandez, Ronald. Los Macheteros: The Wells Fargo five groups collectively had an estimated 5,000 to
Robbery and the Violent Struggle for Puerto Rican 10,000 fighters.
Independence. New York: Prentice Hall, 1987. In 1981, the FMLN launched a so-called Final
Lopez, Jose E., ed. Puerto Rican Nationalism: A Reader. Offensive, an assault on the capital and security
San Juan: Puerto Rican Cultural Center, 1977. forces. The guerrillas anticipated that citizens would
U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. rise en masse; when they did not, FMLN fighters
Clemency for FALN Members: Hearings Before the retreated to their strongholds in the countryside. The
Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One 1981 offensive proved that although the FMLN
Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, on examining lacked the popular support to defeat the government,
certain implications of the president’s grant of clemency it could remain a long-term disruptive force. During
for members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation the mid-1980s, helped by billions of dollars of U.S.
(FALN), September 15 and October 20, 1999. http:// military and economic aid, the Salvadoran govern-
purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS9560 .
ment made some tentative moves toward demo-
cratization. The FMLN began to press for political
recognition over military victory, putting forward its
FARABUNDO MARTI FRONT peace conditions. In 1989, another large-scale FMLN
FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION offensive pushed the government into negotiations.
A U.N.-brokered peace agreement was signed in
January 1992. Out of a population of 5 million,
The Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation 80,000 people had been killed during the 12 years of
(FMLN) was an alliance of five leftist guerrilla groups fighting.
that fought a 12-year civil war against El Salvador’s The immediate postwar period was a difficult
military junta. transition for FMLN. The five organizations had