The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (Spanish: Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional, 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. As of 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.
Contents
History
Background
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.
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 Unified Revolutionary Directorate (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.
Guerrilla coalition (1980–1992)
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).
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.
Political party (1992–present)
On 30 June 1992, the Legislative Assembly formally legalized the FMLN, and on 14 December, the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) registered the FMLN as a political party. Although the FMLN was now a registered political party, its now-demobilized component militant groups continued to exist. The ERP (rebranded as the Renewed Expression of the People) and FARN wanted to moderate the FMLN and move it towards social democracy. Conversely, the FPL and PCES criticized those who wanted to moderate the FMLN, and PCES member Dagoberto Gutiérrez argued that the FMLN should continue the civil war but as an opposition political party.
Ahead of the 1994 general election, the first election held after the end of the civil war, the ERP and FARN proposed that the party should nominate a center-right reformist politician for president, but the FPL, PCES, and PRTC rejected this and instead nominated Zamora with Francisco Roberto Lima as his running mate. Zamora advanced to the second round where he lost to ARENA's Armando Calderón Sol with 31.7 percent of the vote. The FMLN also won 21 of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly (surpassing the PDC as the legislature's second largest political party),15 of 262 municipalities, and 4 of El Salvador's 20 seats in the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN). The FMLN was most successful in territories it controlled during the civil war.
The FMLN's elected officials assumed office in May 1994. The FMLN's legislators affiliated with the ERP and FARN voted in favor of ARENA's national budget resulting in the party suspending their membership. The ERP and FARN also wanted to dissolve the FMLN's five lingering factions, but the FPL, PCES, and PRTC rejected this. In December, 7 legislators and 14 mayors affiliated with the ERP and FARN left the FMLN and later founded the Democratic Party (PD) in March 1995. That same year, the FPL, PCES, and PRTC dissolved and fully merged into the FMLN.
In the 1997 legislative and municipal elections, the FMLN won 27 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 49 municipalities. San Salvador, El Salvador's capital city, was among the FMLN's municipal victories. Meanwhile, the PD lost all its seats and was deregistered by the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) for its poor performance, and the FMLN recuperated the seats that it had lost when the PD split from it. Ahead of the 1999 presidential election, FMLN leaders such as Hándal and Sánchez Cerén wanted to maintain the party's "orthodox" revolutionary socialist identity while leaders such as Jovel, Facundo Guardado, and Raúl Mijango wanted to make the party resemble European parties that supported social democracy. Jovel, Guardado, and Mijango represented the party's Renewal Movement (MR). The party ultimately nominated Guardado and he finished in second behind ARENA's Francisco Flores Pérez with 29 percent of the vote. In the 2000 legislative election, the FMLN became the legislature's largest party winning 31 seats.
Ideology
Civil war-era ideology
When the FMLN was established, its members had a wide range of center-left to far-left political positions, but it was largely dominated by its more far-left components. The PCES adhered to Marxism–Leninism, the FPL was Maoist, the ERP followed Marxism–Leninism and Che Guevara's foquismo, the FARN had close relations with social democrats and liberals, and the PRTC was Trotskyist (although it later moderated to Marxism–Leninism after it joined the FMLN). The Havana negotiations and subsequent formations of the DGU and FMLN were done to counteract ideological infighting among the leftist militant organizations and unite themselves under a single vanguard. Under the FMLN, its member militant groups united under the banner of Marxism–Leninism.
Although the FMLN was largely united, some disagreements remained between the various factions. Questions of whether to attain victory through a prolonged war or a rapid insurrection or on how much of the struggle should be based on political or military action continued to divide the FMLN, but many of these disagreements faded following Carpio's suicide in 1983. The vast majority of FMLN components also opposed receiving support from the Soviet Union, viewing it as corrupt and oppressive. Most groups instead opted for support from Cuba and Nicaragua. Only FAL/PCES and some hardline FPL members supported Soviet aid, while the ERP promoted nationalism and was suspicious of Cuban support.
The FMLN's members were largely in agreement on supporting the implementation of a mixed economy rather than a command economy, and most also supported non-alignment. In 1984, the FMLN stated that it was in a "struggle against colonialism, neocolonialism, Zionism, racial discrimination, and apartheid". The FMLN also utilized liberation theology to rally support from the country's Catholic population.
Post-civil war ideology
Between 1988 and 1991, the FMLN gradually began to abandon Marxism–Leninism. By 1991, the group embraced democratic socialism. Ignacio Ellacuría, a Jesuit priest and civil war observer, described the FMLN's shift towards democratic socialism as its own version of aggiornamento or a Second Vatican Council. Although the FMLN is traditionally described as left-wing, it is sometimes still described as far-left.
During Funes' presidency, the FMLN embraced left-wing populism. El Salvador did not join the Venezuelan-led Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) as Funes did not want to follow Chavismo, but some local FMLN chapters created ALBA Petróleo that sold discounted gas from ALBA members.
Party structure
The FMLN's headquarters is located at 27 Poniente Street No. 1316 in Colonia Layco, San Salvador, the country's capital city. Since since 4 August 2024, Flores and Marleni Funes have served as the party's secretary-general and deputy secretary-general, respectively. As of 2024, the FMLN has around 16,000 members. The FMLN Youth is the party's youth wing and "Anthem of the FMLN" ("Himno del FMLN") is the party's anthem.
In PARLACEN, the FMLN is a member of the Parliamentary Group of the Left. The FMLN is also a member of COPPPAL and the São Paulo Forum, two coalitions of left-wing Latin American political parties.