Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

MANUEL RODRÍGUEZ PATRIOTIC FRONT • 415six against Mormon churches, one on journalists, and one on a repairfacility of International Telegraph & Telecommunications.Following the restoration of democratic rule in Chile in 1989, theFPMR-D did not desist from attacks against the Chilean governmentand actually was the first group to launch a terrorist action with anantitank rocket attack on police posts in the southern towns of LosQueñes and Pichi-Pehuhuen on 21 October 1988. This created divisionsin the Chilean Communist Party, many of whose membersbelieved that there was no rationale for such terrorist actions in thepost-Pinochet period. The group split into two factions, the FPMRParty and the FPMR-D “dissident” group. The FPMR-D rationalizedits continuation of terrorism as a protest against the reluctance of thePatricio Aylwin administration to prosecute former Pinochet regimeofficials for human rights abuses and adopted a new strategy for a“patriotic national war” to demoralize and to delegitimize the ChileanArmed Forces.The FPMR-D undertook at least six armed attacks in 1988, butwhereas the first five were isolated shooting attacks, the sixth attackon 21 October 1988 involved the attempted takeover of the threetowns of Los Queñes, Aguas Grandes, and Pichipellaupén, whichwas meant to inaugurate the patriotic national war. This uprising wassharply repelled by Chilean army and security forces, with heavy casualtiesto the FPMR-D. On 28 October 1988 the body of Raul Pellgrínwas recovered from the Tinguiririca River. On 20 August 1989the second leader of the FPMR-D, Roberto Nordenflycht Farias, alsoknown as Commandante Aurelio, was shot to death in a battle witharmy troops. On 21 March 1990 the FPMR-D wounded General GustavoLeigh, former air force commander, in an assassination attempt.Leigh had been accused of overseeing death squad activities directedagainst Chilean leftists during the rule of General Augusto Pinochet.On 3 November 1990 the FPMR-D shot at U.S. Marines from theUSS Abraham Lincoln, who were dining in a restaurant in Viña delMar. On 5 August 1993 security police captured Mauricio HernándezNorambuena, also known as Ramirio, who was the FPMR-D’s chiefof military operations. On 9 September 1993 the FPMR-D bombedone Kentucky Fried Chicken and two McDonald’s restaurants. On30 December 1996 four of the top leaders of the FPMR-D, includingMauricio Hernández Norambuena and Patricio Ortiz, escaped fromthe high-security prison in Santiago by helicopter.