People's Revolutionary Army

aka Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo

The People's Revolutionary Army (Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo; ERP) was a leftist guerrilla organization active in El Salvador's 12-year civil war (1980–1992); it also played a leading role in the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation.

El Salvador had, since 1929, been ruled by a military dictatorship. The army, which served the interests of the 14-family oligarchy that controlled the Salvadoran economy, ran the country. Elections were [Page 295]held, but true changes in leadership came only through internal coups. In the late 1960s, resistance to the regime began to coalesce; by 1972 the middle-class, centrist Christian Democratic Party appeared certain to win that year's presidential election. The army responded with widespread election fraud and exiled Jose Duarte, the Christian Democrat's leader. Many political dissidents, having lost faith in the electoral process, began to look for other methods of opposing the dictatorship.

The ERP was ...