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The Salvadoran Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, FMLN, is celebrating its 37th anniversary today, reaffirming its commitment to revolutionary struggle in the Central American country.
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As part of the anniversary celebrations, organizers said that members are paying tribute to fallen members in San Salvador's Bermeja Cemetery.
The left-wing political party, founded on Oct.10, 1980 as a coalition between various revolutionary groups, is also paying tribute to late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, whom members say was a pivotal figure in the creation, consolidation and political maturity of the FMLN.
"We must always keep in mind that the FMLN was born from the people, was built by the people and remains the light in the search for progress and development for the popular majority," FMLN Secretary General Medardo Gonzalez told Prensa Latina.
He went on to say that Castro supported the movement, assisting it with his strategic and tactical military expertise. El Salvador, Gonzalez said, will never forget his contributions during the nation’s era of “offensive resistance."
"We have begun the changes to transform the country, but we still have a lot to do, and we must strive to add more deputies and mayors in the next elections," said Gonzalez, who is still recognized for his role as a military commander. His nom de guerre is Milton Mendez.
The political party, first established as a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla movement, was founded in a merger of five groups: the Communist Party of El Salvador, the Farabundo Marti Popular Forces of Liberation, the People's Revolutionary Army, the National Resistance and the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers. The FMLN emerged in response to the country's right-wing military dictatorship during the late 1970s.
The movement transformed into a political party in September 1992, vowing to fight for socialism through electoral politics.
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