Farabundo Martí
Encyclopedia
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...
.
Early life
Martí was born in TeotepequeTeotepeque
Teotepeque is a municipality in the La Libertad department of El Salvador. Its geographical coordinates are 13° 35' 7" North, 89° 31' 6" West. The name Teotepeque comes from the Nahuat word for "Mountain of God." Agustín Farabundo Martí Rodríguez, for whom the FMLN or Farabundo Marti National...
, a farming community located in Departamento de La Libertad, El Salvador. After graduating from the "Salesian Secondary School" of Saint Cecilia of Santa Tecla
Santa Tecla
Santa Tecla may mean:* A saint: see Thecla* Santa Tecla, El Salvador, formerly named Nueva San Salvador...
, he entered 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...
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...
. Early on, Martí believed the exploitation of the country's poor was for the profit of the rich, and he became known as a Salvadoran revolutionary and a martyr for the Salvadoran Left.
Revolutionary Activity
Categorized as a hard-working and intelligent young man, he decided to drop out of his Political Science and Jurisprudence program at the University of El Salvador to fight for his community and nation. In 1920, he was arrested for taking part along with other students in a protest against the Meléndez-QuiñonezJorge Meléndez
Jorge Meléndez Ramírez was born in San Salvador, El Salvador to Rafael Meléndez and Mercedes Ramírez. His wife was Tula Mazzini, and they had three children: Jorge , María de los Angeles, and Ricardo.He served as President of El Salvador from 1 March 1919 to 1 March 1923....
dynasty, which was then ruling the country. His arrest subsequently led to his exile from the country, and he took up residence in Guatemala and Mexico until his return to El Salvador in 1925. Returning from exile, Martí was appointed as a representative to go to the conference of the Anti-Imperialist League of the Americas in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York. Upon arriving in New York, he was once again arrested, but later released. In the meantime, he also worked with Nicaraguan
Nicaraguan
Nicaraguans are people inhabiting in, originating or having significant heritage from Nicaragua. Most Nicaraguans live in Nicaragua, although there is also a significant Nicaraguan diaspora, particularly in Costa Rica and the United States with smaller communities in other countries around the world...
revolutionary leader Augusto César Sandino
Augusto César Sandino
Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion against the U.S. military occupation of Nicaragua between 1927 and 1933...
.
Martí became involved in the founding of the Communist Party of Central America, and led a communist alternative to the Red Cross called International Red Aid
International Red Aid
International Red Aid was an international social service organization established by the Communist International...
, serving as one of its representatives. Their goal was to help poor and underprivileged Salvadorans through the use of the Marxist-Leninist ideology (strongly rejecting Stalinism). In December 1930, at the height of the country's economic and social depression, Farabundo Martí was once again exiled due to his popularity among the nation's poor and rumors of his upcoming nomination for President
President of El Salvador
This page contains a list of Presidents of El Salvador.-Heads of State of El Salvador within the Federal Republic of Central America :*Pedro Barriere : 21 September 1821 - 28 November 1821*José Matías Delgado : 28 Nov 1821 - 9 February 1823...
the following year.
Attempt at a Revolution and Death
Once the new president was elected in 1931, Martí returned to El Salvador, and along with Alfonso Luna and Mario Zapata, began the movement that was later truncated by the military. They helped start a guerrillaGuerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
revolt of indigenous
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
farmers. The government responded by killing over 30,000 indigenous people at, what was to be, a 'peaceful meeting' in 1932; this became known as La Matanza
1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising
The peasant uprising of 1932, also known as La matanza , was a brief, peasant-led rebellion that occurred on January 22 of that year in the western departments of El Salvador...
(The Slaughter). The peasant uprising against dictator Maximiliano Hernández Martínez
Maximiliano Hernández Martínez
Maximiliano Hernández Martínez was the President of El Salvador from 1931 to 1944...
was crushed by the Salvadoran military ten days after it had begun. The Communist-led rebellion, fomented by collapsing coffee prices, enjoyed some initial success, but was soon drowned in a bloodbath. President Hernández Martínez, who had himself toppled an elected government only weeks earlier, had the defeated Martí shot after a perfunctory hearing.
Legacy
Martí remains a martyr figure for El Salvador’s Left, and he is the namesake of the leftist Salvadoran political party Farabundo Martí National Liberation FrontFarabundo Martí National Liberation Front
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is, since 1992, a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations...
(FMLN) (Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional), which fought a bloody guerrilla war against the Salvadoran military government (backed by the U.S.) in the 1980s. That war is to this day renowned for grave human rights violations committed by both sides. The FMLN is today one of El Salvador’s two major political parties.
See also
- Farabundo Martí National Liberation FrontFarabundo Martí National Liberation FrontThe Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is, since 1992, a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations...
- History of El SalvadorHistory of El SalvadorThe history of El Salvador has been a history of struggle against conquistadors, empires, dictatorships and world powers to be free. El Salvador was one of the regions that resisted the Spanish invasion led by Pedro de Alvarado who had to fight Atlantica and retreat several times back to Guatemala...
- Politics of El SalvadorPolitics of El SalvadorPolitics of El Salvador takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of El Salvador is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in...
- Santa Ana, El SalvadorSanta Ana, El SalvadorSanta Ana is the second largest city in El Salvador, located 64 kilometers west of San Salvador, the capital city. Santa Ana has approximately 274,830 inhabitants and serves both as the capital of the department of Santa Ana and...