The National Conciliation Party (PCN) had held a firm grasp on Salvadoran politics since the 1961 Salvadoran Constitutional Assembly election and the 1962 Salvadoran presidential election, following the dissolutions of both the

Prelude and planning
In July 1979, the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle was overthrown in the Nicaraguan Revolution and the Sandinistas gained power in Nicaragua. The event caused many military officials in El Salvador to fear that

• List of Salvadoran coups d'état
• Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador
• Salvadoran Civil War

In the weeks directly following the coup, thousands of civilians marched in the streets of San Salvador. They occupied churches and gathered around government buildings, demanding that the junta release information of all those who had disappeared under the