February 28 Popular Leagues

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]

LP-28 poster

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.[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

  • the "Heroes of October 29" Popular Peasant Leagues (Ligas Populares Campesinas "Héroes del 29 de octubre", LPC-28)
  • the Secondary Students Popular Leagues "Edwin Arnoldo Contreras" (Ligas Populares Estudiantiles de Secundarias "Edwin Arnoldo Contreras", LPES)
  • the Popular University Leagues "Mario Nelson Alfaro" (Ligas Populares Universitarias "Mario Nelson Alfaro", LPU)
  • the Popular Workers Leagues "Marco Antonio Solís" (Ligas Populares Obreras "Marco Antonio Solís", LPO-28)
  • the LP-28 Barrio and Colony Committees (Comités de Barrios y Colonias LP-28, CB-LP-28)
  • the Association of Market Users and Workers of El Salvador (Asociación de Usuarios y Trabajadores de los Mercados de El Salvador, ASUTRAMES).[2][15][16]

In exile

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

References
  1. Jeffrey Gould (2021). Entre el bosque y los árboles: Utopías Menores en El Salvador, Nicaragua y Uruguay. transcript Verlag. p. 45. ISBN 9783839456408.
  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. 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. 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. 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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