Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador

The Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador (Spanish: Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno, JRG) was the military dictatorship that ruled El Salvador between October 15, 1979 and May 2, 1982. It contained two colonels, Adolfo Arnaldo Majano Ramos and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez Avendaño, and three civilians, Guillermo Ungo, Mario Antonio Andino and Román Mayorga Quirós. During its reign, the Revolutionary Government was the source of mass murder, torture, executions and unexplained disappearances via the use of death squads.

Internal contradictions within the Junta soon became apparent, with Colonel Majano representing a progressive view and Colonel Gutiérrez representing a more conservative viewpoint. On January 5, 1980 the three civilians resigned, and were replaced by José Antonio Morales Ehrlich and Héctor Miguel Dada Hirezi initiating the Second Revolutionary Government Junta. When Dada Hirezi resigned in protest at the violence of the Junta on March 3, José Napoleón Duarte took his place and this was the Third Revolutionary Government Junta.

On December 7, Majano was expelled from the junta (and went into exile) and on December 22, Duarte became head of the Junta, and also the head of state. Gutiérrez was Vice-President and considered to be the strong man of the regime. Two weeks after Duarte got into the Junta, Archbishop Romero was killed during mass in a Catholic church in the capital. On January 10, 1981 the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) launched a generalized attack on the government which resulted in the regime receiving immediate military aid from the U.S., including military advisers.

On March 26, 1982 elections to the National Congress were held. Then the new Congress chose Álvaro Magaña to become the new President of El Salvador, which resulted in the end of the Junta on May 2.