Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

FARABUNDO MARTÍ NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT • 175own goals, rejected conciliation with the new junta. Meanwhile, thetransitional government had its own problems with rightist militaryand police officials who sought to preempt a leftist insurgency thereby using death squads to kill off as many supporters of the guerrillasas possible.The leftists unified their military command in November 1979as a precondition to receiving Cuban aid. In May 1980, the UnifiedRevolutionary Directorate (Dirección Revolucionaria Unificada,DRU) was established in Havana to be the decision-making bodyfor the entire FMLN. In January 1981 the FMLN attempted a “finaloffensive” against the major cities of El Salvador in which theywere defeated by a Salvadoran army resupplied with U.S. militaryaid. FMLN retreated to the rural areas, and from 1982 until 1983 itsnumbers of combatants grew from 2,000 to 12,000 until it was engagingthe Salvadoran army in battalion-sized engagements. At the sametime, the FMLN was engaged in systemic sabotage of the economicinfrastructure and intimidation of the rural population.By 1985 the Salvadoran army had improved to the point thatthe FMLN was forced to go back to deploying its forces in smallergroups. After November 1986 the leadership and the rank and file ofthe FMLN began suffering declining morale. FMLN documents capturedduring that period indicated there was much internal criticismof the ERP and its strategy. In July 1987 the FMLN undertook to rebuildits forces within the cities to foment a popular uprising, a movereflected in increasing incidents of urban terrorism in the followingyear. The FMLN tried with little success to disrupt the 19 March1989 elections, which were held in at least 90 percent of the country.Even the Revolutionary Democratic Front (Frente DemocráticoRevolucionario, FDR), the leftist coalition of parties sympathetic tothe FMLN, broke with the FMLN over the question of participatingin the elections and ran a candidate in those elections.The FMLN attempted a second “final offensive” on 16 November1989, with no greater success. Moreover, the changes under way inthe Soviet Union and Eastern Europe began to make Cuba, the Sandinistas,and the FMLN seem anachronistic. When Violeta Chamorrowas elected president of Nicaragua on 25 February 1990, endingSandinista domination, future Nicaraguan aid was put into doubt.Negotiations resumed in May 1990 and continued in three roundsuntil a cease-fire was signed on 31 December 1991. During these