José Napoleón Duarte

José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes (1925–1990) was born on November 23 1925 in San Salvador in El Salvador. From 1980 till 1982 he led the civil-military Revolutionary Government Junta that took power in a 1979 coup d'état. He served as President of El Salvador between June 1 1984 and June 1 1989.

Junta leader

On October 15 1979 a Revolutionary Government Junta (JRG) took control of El Salvador in the midst of a full scale civil war. Duarte returned to El Salvador, and on March 3, 1980 he joined the Junta, also becoming El Salvador's foreign minister. On December 22, 1980 he became the head of state and of the Junta. The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) responded by launching an all out attack on the government on January 10, 1981, which resulted in the regime receiving immediate military aid and advisors from the United States of America, and with the arrival of the new US government of Ronald Reagan Duarte became a symbol for anti-communist resistance in Central America. On March 28 elections were held to the National Congress in which Duarte's PDC party gained 24 of the 60 seats, putting them in opposition against the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party which gained 36 seats. On May 2 he handed over power to Álvaro Alfredo Magaña Borja, who had been chosen President by the National Congress. During his time at the head of the JRG he initiated land reform, nationalized certain industries such as sugar, and denounced human rights violations by the military and the FMLN alike. However members of the military and affiliated death squad paramilitaries continued to carry out atrocities against suspected guerrilla sympathizers during his rule at the head of JRG; the death squads even killed certain mayors who were members of Duarte's own Christian Democratic Party. For a man with reformist tendencies he was seen as relatively powerless, especially against the Vice President Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez Avendaño, who was considered the strong man of the JRG.

Related Topics:
October 15 - 1979 - Revolutionary Government Junta - March 3 - 1980 - December 22 - Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front - January 10 - 1981 - United States of America - Ronald Reagan - Central America - March 28 - Nationalist Republican Alliance - May 2 - Álvaro Alfredo Magaña Borja - Land reform - Nationalized - Human rights - Death squad - Paramilitaries - Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez Avendaño

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