Ana María was the "nom de guerre" of Mélida Anaya Montes, the second in command of the FMLN, in El Salvador

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

.

An intellectual, she was considered as an icon among revolutionary women in the region. Eventually she was killed by her own comrades on April 6, 1983 in Managua, Nicaragua, after having made many sacrifices during her life as a guerrilla.

Later, the FMLN blamed its leader Cayetano Carpio

Cayetano Carpio

Salvador Cayetano Carpio , aka Commander Marcial, was the leader of the Communist Party of El Salvador in the 1960s, until he quit the party to found the Salvadoran revolutionary political-military organization, the Fuerzas Populares de Liberación Farabundo Martí, also known by its initials, FPL)...

 (sometimes referred to as the "Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh

Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...

 of Latin America") as the person responsible for the crime, and he committed suicide.

Early life

She was born in the small town of Santiago Texacuangos

Santiago Texacuangos

Santiago Texacuangos is a municipality in the San Salvador department of El Salvador....

, in the central zone of El Salvador. Ana María received her Doctorate of Education from the University of El Salvador

University of El Salvador

The University of El Salvador or Universidad de El Salvador is the oldest and one of the most prominent university institutions in El Salvador. It serves as the national university of the country...

, where she became a professor of education and gave classes in the Sixties. She was the assistant director of Alberto Masferrer University.

At the end of the 1960s, she became one of the main leaders of the Gremial Association "ANDES 21 de Junio" (National Association of Salvadoran Teachers 21 of June). She led the strikes of professors of 1968 and 1971, which created major trouble for the government of general Fidel Sanchez Hernandez

Fidel Sánchez Hernández

Fidel Sánchez Hernández was a politician, general, and former President of El Salvador. It could be said that Sánchez Hernández led his country during a tumultuous era...

.

In 1970, the ex-Secretary General of the Communist Party of El Salvador

Communist Party of El Salvador

The Communist Party of El Salvador was the official Communist political party in El Salvador. The Communist Party was founded by Miguel Mármol in the 1930s....

, Salvador Cayetano Carpio founded the first guerrilla detachment of El Salvador: The Popular Forces of Liberacion Farabundo Martí (FPL).

Death

On April 6, 1983, Ana Maria was murdered at her home in Managua, Nicaragua. Her assassins stabbed her 8 times with an ice pick, 'to make it look like a brutal act of the Salvadorean right wing.' Nicaraguan authorities later apprehended the murderers and found them to be members of the FMLN. The murder was caused by a deep division that had developed within the FMLN. A conciliatory faction, which favored negotiation, was led by Ana Maria and Salvador Cayetano Carpio. The hard line faction opposed negotiation with the government of El Salvador, and supported a prolonged war. This faction was led by Rogelio Bazzaglia, who confessed to Ana Maria's murder.

Legacy

Ana María continues to serve as an iconic example for educators and those struggling against oppression, especially in El Salvador. The Melida Anaya Montes Language School in San Salvador

San Salvador

The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...

, which uses popular education

Popular education

Popular education is a concept grounded in notions of class, political struggle, and social transformation. The term is a translation from the Spanish educación popular or the Portuguese educação popular and rather than the English usage as when describing a 'popular television program,' popular...

techniques highlights social justice issues, is named for her.

External links

• FMLN (in Spanish)
• Melida Anaya Montes Language School