Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

172 • FARABUNDO MARTÍ NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONTcreate a Marxist revolution within El Salvador following the Sandinistamodel in Nicaragua. The creation of this united front of all majorleftist guerrilla groups was a condition imposed by Fidel Castrofor Cuban state sponsorship of the Salvadoran leftist insurgency. Inaddition to Cuban state sponsorship, the FMLN received arms, sanctuary,and other material assistance from the Sandinista governmentof Nicaragua prior to 25 February 1990 and afterward continuedto receive arms sporadically from units of the Sandinista People’sArmy. The five groups comprising the FMLN are listed here:1. Fuerzas Populares de Liberación (FPL, People’s LiberationForces), founded in 1970, was the oldest of the armed guerrillagroups. The FPL had its stronghold in Chalatenango Province in themountains bordering Honduras. While the FPL had 1,500 to 2,000regular guerrilla fighters, it also had “urban” guerrilla fronts thatwere responsible for much of the antigovernment terrorism in El Salvador’scities following 1977, including intimidation of voters duringthe March 1978 municipal elections and the machine-gun murders of12 prominent citizens, including Carlos Alfaro Castillo, the chancellorof the National University, and Rubén Alfonso Rodríguez, a formerpresident of the National Congress. On 28 November 1979 theFPL kidnapped South African Ambassador Archibald Dunn, whomthey later murdered. An urban front of this group was responsiblefor the first killing of an American official by an FMLN group whenit assassinated Lieutenant Commander Schaufelberger, the deputycommander of the U.S. Advisory Group in El Salvador, on 25 May1985. From April 1980 to November 1984 the FPL carried out sevenattacks on U.S. targets, including three attacks on the U.S. embassy,using light antitank rockets and two assassinations of U.S. embassypersonnel. Apart from its urban terrorist campaign, the FPL has onoccasion committed atrocities against civilians in rural areas, such asthe massacre of 22 civilians in Santa Cruz Loma in 1985.This group suffered from some internal quarreling, leading to themurder of the second-in-command, Melinda Anaya Montes (aka CommandanteAnna María), in the FMLN Managua office at the hands ofother FPL members. This reportedly led the founder of the FPL, CayetanoCarpio (aka Marcial) to take his own life on 6 April 1983.2. Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP, People’s RevolutionaryArmy), founded in 1972, was the strongest FMLN guerrillaorganization, having 2,000 combatants. This group operated largely