February 28 Popular Leagues

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The February 28 Popular Leagues (Spanish : Ligas Populares 28 de Febrero, abbreviated LP-28) was a mass movement in El Salvador. LP-28 was launched in September 1977 by the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), functioning as its mass front. [1] [2] [3] [4] The name referred to the February 28, 1977 massacre of ERP supporters, killed at Plaza Libertad in San Salvador during a protest against electoral fraud in the 1977 Salvadoran presidential election. [5] [6] LP-28 had some 5,000 to 10,000 members. [7] [8] Its following was largely based among peasants in Morazán Department. [8] Leoncio Pichinte was the general secretary of LP-28. [9]

Contents

ERP and the formation of LP-28

In the lead-up to the Salvadoran Civil War the mass mobilization of ERP was weaker than that of other guerrilla groups, as ERP had a more militaristic outlook. [7] ERP had lost its previous mass front, the Unified Popular Action Front (FAPU), in an internal split in 1976. [7] LP-28 was launched in response to the advances in mass organizations of its competitors among the guerrilla movements. [7] In reaction to the electoral fraud and repression against the progressive sectors in the Catholic church, most of the Ecclesiastic Base Communities (CEB) in Morazán Department joined LP-28. [1] In November 1977 the military forces had arrested and tortured Father Miguel Ventura in Morazan Department, but LP-28 organized mass protests in the area and managed to secure his release and allow Ventura to go into exile. [1]

1979 coup

LP-28 took a militant stance against the October 15, 1979 coup d'état, [8] taking actions to draw attention to the situation in El Salvador, such as occupations of embassy buildings, government installations and churches. [1] [7] LP-28, along with ERP, issued a call for a nation-wide insurrection. [10] On October 29, 1979, government forces opened fire on an LP-28 rally in Morazán Department, killing 29 people. [8]

1979 congress

The movement held its first congress on November 27, 1979, which affirmed the overthrow of the military junta and the establishment of a socialist society as the goals of the movement. [8] The congress was baptized 'Irma Elena Contreras'. [8] Some 3,000 LP-28 supporters attended the event. [8] The meeting was addressed by guerrilla leader Ana Guadalupe Martínez Menéndez  [ es ]. [8] The People's Revolutionary Bloc (BPR) sent a small delegation to the LP-28 congress. [8] The BPR delegation was led by Juan Chacón, who in his intervention at the event made a call for unity. [8] FAPU did not attend the LP-28 congress, as there was still hostility after the ERP killing of FAPU leader Roque Dalton. [8]

CRM and FDR

On January 11, 1980, LP-28, BPR and FAPU issued a joint call for insurrection. [11] LP-28, BPR and FAPU organized a joint protest on January 22, 1980, which was met with violence from the state. [11] Subsequently, LP-28, BPR and FAPU formed the Revolutionary Mass Coordination (CRM). [11] [12] CRM later merged into the Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR), LP-28 was given one of seven slots in the FDR leadership - where it was represented by Pichinte. [13] [14]

Member organizations

LP-28 was constituted by

In exile

LP-28 was present in Salvadoran diaspora, for example it had presence in Costa Rica. [17]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jeffrey Gould (2021). Entre el bosque y los árboles: Utopías Menores en El Salvador, Nicaragua y Uruguay. transcript Verlag. p. 45. ISBN   9783839456408.
  2. 1 2 Marta Harnecker (1991). Con la mirada en alto: historia de las Fuerzas Populares de Liberación Farabundo Martí a través de entrevistas con sus dirigentes. Tercera Prensa. pp. 150, 309. ISBN   9788487303098.
  3. ↑ Carlos María Vilas (1994). Mercado, estados y revoluciones: Centroamérica, 1950-1990. UNAM. p. 99. ISBN   9789683639011.
  4. ↑ Daniel Camacho (1989). Los Movimientos populares en América Latina. Siglo XXI. p. 103. ISBN   9789682315282.
  5. ↑ Ralph Sprenkels (2018). After Insurgency: Revolution and Electoral Politics in El Salvador. University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN   9780268103286.
  6. ↑ Santiago Mata (2015). Monseñor Óscar Romero: Pasión por la Iglesia. Palabra. ISBN   9788490612569.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Jocelyn Viterna (2013). Women in War: The Micro-processes of Mobilization in El Salvador. Oxford University Press. p. 248. ISBN   978-0-19-984363-3.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Jeffrey L. Gould (2019). Solidarity Under Siege. Cambridge University Press. pp. xvii, 91, 93, 107. ISBN   9781108419192.
  9. ↑ El País . Las Ligas Populares salvadoreñas ocupan la embajada de Panamá
  10. ↑ Charles D. Brockett (2005). Political Movements and Violence in Central America. Cambridge University Press. p. 302. ISBN   9780521600552.
  11. 1 2 3 Charles J. Beirne, S.J. (2013). Jesuit Education and Social Change in El Salvador. Routledge. p. 24. ISBN   9781135597665.
  12. ↑ Orlando J. Perez (2016). Historical Dictionary of El Salvador. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 121. ISBN   9780810880207.
  13. ↑ Thomas P. Anderson (1988). Politics in Central America: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 98. ISBN   9780275928834.
  14. ↑ Diario Co Latino. 37 años de la dirigencia del Frente Democrático Revolucionario
  15. ↑ Oscar Martinez Peñate. El Salvador del Conflicto Armado a la Negociacion 1979 1989. Editorial Nuevo Enfoque. p. 27. ISBN   9789992380024.
  16. ↑ El Salvador: el amanecer de un pueblo. Centro de Estudios y Difusión Social. 1983. p. 25.
  17. ↑ Tanya Basok (1993). Keeping Heads Above Water: Salvadoran Refugees in Costa Rica. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 52. ISBN   9780773509771.
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