- Spanish:
- Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional
- Date:
- 1992 - present
- Related People:
- Mauricio Funes
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
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What is the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN)?
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) is a political party in El Salvador that began as an insurgent group. It was created in 1980 as the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, backed by Cuba. The FMLN engaged in battles with Salvadoran government troops throughout the 1980s.
In 1992, the Chapultepec Peace Accords, brokered by the United Nations, were signed by the Salvadoran government and the FMLN, after which FMLN members began to disarm. In December of that year, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal recognized the FMLN as an official political party. The FMLN won control of the Salvadoran government for the first time in the March 2009 presidential election.
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Where does the FMLN operate?
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) began as a paramilitary group in El Salvador but later transitioned into a legal political party after the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in 1992, which officially ended the country’s civil war. Throughout the 1980s, the FMLN engaged in battles with the Salvadoran government troops, with a major offensive in November 1989 that included attacks on urban centers such as San Salvador. After the peace agreement, FMLN members disarmed and the group was recognized as an official political party. Since then, the FMLN has been a prominent political party in El Salvador, participating in legislative and presidential elections.
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How did the FMLN first form?
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) was created on October 10, 1980, as the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR). The FDR was a coalition of political groups that opposed the government and had the backing of Cuba.
Throughout the 1980s, the FMLN engaged in battles against the Salvadoran government, whose troops were trained and supplied by the United States. In 1992, the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed by the Salvadoran government and the FMLN, after which FMLN members began to disarm. Later that year, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal recognized the FMLN as an official political party.
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What was the FMLN's role in El Salvador's civil war?
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) was an insurgent group that became a legal political party at the end of El Salvador’s civil war in 1992.
In 1980, the FMLN was created as the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, backed by Cuba. Throughout the 1980s, the FMLN initiated hard-fought battles with Salvadoran government troops, who were trained and supplied by the United States. In November 1989, the FMLN launched a major offensive on a number of urban centers in the country, including San Salvador. After weeks of intense fighting and aerial bombardment of San Salvador, the guerrilla units were forced to retreat from the city.
The UN-brokered Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed by the Salvadoran government and the FMLN on January 16, 1992, in Mexico City, and the FMLN members then began to disarm. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal recognized the FMLN as an official political party that December.
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How did the FMLN become a political party?
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front FMLN transitioned into a legal political party following El Salvador's civil war. The FMLN was created on October 10, 1980, as the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, backed by Cuba.
After years of battles with government troops, the Salvadoran President lost confidence in the army's ability to defeat the FMLN, which strengthened the commitment to reach a settlement with the group. The United Nations-brokered Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed on January 16, 1992, and FMLN members began to disarm. In December 1992, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal recognized the FMLN as an official political party, which allowed them to participate in elections.
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What are some major achievements or leaders of the FMLN in recent Salvadoran politics?
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) transitioned from an insurgent group to a legal political party after El Salvador's civil war ended in 1992. By the late 1990s, it rose to become one of El Salvador's prominent political parties.
Mauricio Funes of the FMLN won the presidential election in March 2009, marking the first time the former guerrilla group gained control of the Salvadoran government. As president, Funes initiated investigations and arrests of military personnel suspected of human rights violations during the civil war as part of his attempts to accelerate post-civil war reconciliation. In 2012, Funes became the first Salvadoran president to acknowledge the government's crimes against humanity during the civil war, apologizing for the 1981 El Mozote massacre. Also, Funes called on the army to assist police in combating gang violence. In the February 2024 presidential election, the FMLN candidate, Manuel Flores, captured about 6 percent of the vote.
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Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), insurgent group that became a legal political party of El Salvador at the end of the country’s civil war in 1992. By the end of that decade, the FMLN had become one of the country’s prominent political parties.
On October 10, 1980, the FMLN was created as the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (Frente Democrático Revolucionario; FDR), a coalition of dissident political groups backed by Cuba. Throughout the 1980s its members initiated and engaged in hard-fought battles with Salvadoran government troops who were trained and supplied by the United States. In November 1989 the FMLN launched a major offensive on a number of urban centres in the country, including the country’s capital, San Salvador. The fierceness of the attacks took the national army by surprise, but, after weeks of intense fighting and indiscriminate aerial bombardment of San Salvador by the Salvadoran Air Force, the guerrilla units were forced to retreat from the city.
Nevertheless, Salvadoran Pres. Alfredo Cristiani’s loss of faith in the army’s capacity to defeat the FMLN strengthened the president’s commitment to reaching a negotiated settlement with the group. The United Nations-brokered Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed by the Salvadoran government and the FMLN on January 16, 1992, in Mexico City, and the FMLN members then began to disarm. That December the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the Salvadoran national body responsible for overseeing elections, recognized the FMLN as an official political party.
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The FMLN held its first convention in September 1993, endorsing Rubén Zamora Rivas of the Democratic Convergence (Convergencia Democrática; CD) coalition for the 1994 presidential election. Zamora lost in a runoff election to the candidate of the ruling right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Alianza Republicana Nacionalista; Arena). In concurrent legislative elections, however, the FMLN claimed a significant minority of seats.
The FMLN performed well in the 1997 legislative elections, winning just one seat fewer than Arena. Yet when the time came to choose a candidate for the 1999 presidential election, the FMLN was divided between contenders from two factions—one from its orthodox Marxist wing and the other from its modern, or “renovator,” wing. The final selection was former guerrilla leader Facundo Guardado, who was supported mainly by the “renovators.” Guardado did not fare well, winning only 29 percent of the vote. In 2000 the FMLN won the largest number of seats in the National Assembly for the first time, but its 31 seats fell short of a majority in the 84-member body. In 2003 the FMLN claimed the same number of seats. (Both of these elections were marked by irregularities and abstention, with less than 40 percent of eligible voters participating.) In the 2004 presidential race, with a turnout of about two-thirds of eligible voters, Arena’s candidate, Antonio Saca, defeated the FMLN’s Schafik Jorge Hándal, a former guerrilla commander. Arena also won the most seats in the 2006 legislative elections.
The FMLN claimed the most seats in the 2009 legislative elections. In the March 2009 presidential election, the FMLN won control of the Salvadoran government for the first time: its presidential candidate, Mauricio Funes, garnered 51 percent of the vote, defeating the Arena contender, Rodrigo Ávila. Funes took office on June 1, 2009.