The February 28 Popular Leagues ( Spanish: Ligas Populares 28 de Febrero, abbreviated LP-28) was a mass movement in El Salvador. LP-28 was launched in September 1977 by the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), functioning as its mass front. [1] [2] [3] [4] The name referred to the February 28, 1977 massacre of ERP supporters, killed at Plaza Libertad in San Salvador during a protest against electoral fraud in the 1977 Salvadoran presidential election. [5] [6] LP-28 had some 5,000 to 10,000 members. [7] [8] Its following was largely based among peasants in Morazán Department. [8] Leoncio Pichinte was the general secretary of LP-28. [9]
In the lead-up to the Salvadoran Civil War the mass mobilization of ERP was weaker than that of other guerrilla groups, as ERP had a more militaristic outlook. [7] ERP had lost its previous mass front, the Unified Popular Action Front (FAPU), in an internal split in 1976. [7] LP-28 was launched in response to the advances in mass organizations of its competitors among the guerrilla movements. [7] In reaction to the electoral fraud and repression against the progressive sectors in the Catholic church, most of the Ecclesiastic Base Communities (CEB) in Morazán Department joined LP-28. [1] In November 1977 the military forces had arrested and tortured Father Miguel Ventura in Morazan Department, but LP-28 organized mass protests in the area and managed to secure his release and allow Ventura to go into exile. [1]
LP-28 took a militant stance against the October 15, 1979 coup d'état, [8] taking actions to draw attention to the situation in El Salvador, such as occupations of embassy buildings, government installations and churches. [1] [7] LP-28, along with ERP, issued a call for a nation-wide insurrection. [10] On October 29, 1979, government forces opened fire on an LP-28 rally in Morazán Department, killing 29 people. [8]
The movement held its first congress on November 27, 1979, which affirmed the overthrow of the military junta and the establishment of a socialist society as the goals of the movement. [8] The congress was baptized 'Irma Elena Contreras'. [8] Some 3,000 LP-28 supporters attended the event. [8] The meeting was addressed by guerrilla leader Ana Guadalupe Martínez Menéndez . [8] The People's Revolutionary Bloc (BPR) sent a small delegation to the LP-28 congress. [8] The BPR delegation was led by Juan Chacón, who in his intervention at the event made a call for unity. [8] FAPU did not attend the LP-28 congress, as there was still hostility after the ERP killing of FAPU leader Roque Dalton. [8]
On January 11, 1980, LP-28, BPR and FAPU issued a joint call for insurrection. [11] LP-28, BPR and FAPU organized a joint protest on January 22, 1980, which was met with violence from the state. [11] Subsequently, LP-28, BPR and FAPU formed the Revolutionary Mass Coordination (CRM). [11] [12] CRM later merged into the Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR), LP-28 was given one of seven slots in the FDR leadership - where it was represented by Pichinte. [13] [14]
LP-28 was constituted by
LP-28 was present in Salvadoran diaspora, for example it had presence in Costa Rica. [17]