Salvador Cayetano Carpio (August 1919 – 12 April 1983), also known by his

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

Commander Marcial, was a Salvadoran left-wing revolutionary and the Secretary-General of the

Communist Party of El Salvador The Communist Party of El Salvador () is a communist party in El Salvador. The Communist Party was founded by Miguel Mármol on 10 March 1930, merged into the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front in 1995, then re-established on 27 March ...

in the 1960s, until his resignation from the party where he then founded the Salvadoran revolutionary political-military organization, the

Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces The Farabundo Martí Popular Liberation Forces (, abbreviated FPL) was a left wing guerrilla military and political organization in El Salvador. It was the oldest of the five groups that merged in 1980 to form the Farabundo Martí National Libe ...

(FPL). Carpio's founding of the FPL was a result of his belief to end the military dictatorship in El Salvador through an armed revolution. However, the Salvadoran Communist Party was against armed struggle, instead engaging mainly in legal electoral and trade union organizing. During the 1970s, Carpio's new organization, the FPL, became the largest group on the Salvadoran left, and therefore became the predominant force among the five organizations that joined together in 1980 under the umbrella of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). Carpio played a leading role in both the FPL and the FMLN. He was sometimes referred to as the "

Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...

of Latin America". The official story of his death was that he committed suicide after being accused by other leaders in the FPL for the murder of FPL second-in-command Ana María on 6 April 1983 in

Managua, Nicaragua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

Early life

Salvador Cayetano Carpio was born in 1919 as a son of a cobbler. Throughout his life he worked as a laborer in various jobs, but he was most recognized as a baker. He became a trade union activist as a young man. Later he joined the

, he was later assigned its secretary general in the 1960s. As a result of various acts of political repression against the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

, much of his adult life was spent in prison, in exile or underground.

Forming of the FPL

At the age of 50, Carpio headed for the hills with a small group of women and men. Under his leadership, the FPL combined armed struggle with different forms of mass organization. It was instrumental in the formation of the Popular Revolutionary Block (BPR or Bloque Popular Revolucionario), the largest of the cross-sector mass organizations that mobilized hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans in the economic and political struggles of the latter part of the 1970s. As the senior leader of the revolutionary movement and commander-in-chief of its largest organization, Carpio was a central figure in the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).

References

External links

Biografía de Salvador Cayetano Carpio, Comandante Marcial
(Biography of Salvador Cayetano Carpio, in Spanish)
Communiques from the FPL

Letter from Ceyetano Carpio (in Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Carpio, Cayetano 1918 births 1983 deaths People from La Libertad Department (El Salvador) Salvadoran communists Salvadoran revolutionaries People of the Salvadoran Civil War Salvadoran prisoners and detainees Suicides in Nicaragua

Early life

Forming of the FPL

See also

References

External links