The National Conciliation Party's firm grip on power was ended, and in its place the military established the Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador (JRG).

[3][4] The PCN government was supported by the United States, for, as a military dictatorship, it was seen as "the most effective [way of] containing Communist penetration in Latin America".

[4][8][9] In order to combat the political and militant opposition to the government, President Julio Adalberto Rivera established the National Democratic Organization (ORDEN).

[10][11] The organization was headed by General José Alberto Medrano and placed under the administration of the National Security Agency of El Salvador (ANSESAL).

ORDEN was a group of several government-controlled death squads that were used to arrest and torture political opponents, intimidate voters, rig elections, and kill peasants.

[5][9][10][13] Some of the most notorious death squads included the Anti-Communist Armed Forces of Liberation – War of Elimination (FALANGE) and the White Warrior's Union (Mano Blanca).

[15] As a result, opposition forces, who saw weakness, organized strikes and marched in the streets of San Salvador and the crowds seized public buildings.

[15] Civil War Massacres Aftermath In July 1979, the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle was overthrown in the Nicaraguan Revolution and the Sandinistas gained power in Nicaragua.

"[16][17][18][19] The 800-strong officer corps of the military decided to act to remove Romero and install their own government with support from the United States.

[20] In May 1979, Colonel Ernesto Claramount, a Christian Democrat who was living in exile in Costa Rica, called for the army to overthrow Romero.

[1][24] He was charged with corruption, electoral fraud, and human rights violations, but Romero fled for exile in Guatemala after negotiating a deal with the military to leave El Salvador by 6:30 p.m. local time.

[27] The junta consisted of Colonels Majano Ramos and Gutiérrez Avendaño, and three civilians: Guillermo Manuel Ungo Revelo, Mario Antonio Andino, and Román Mayorga Quirós.

[5][20] Ungo Revelo was a democratic socialist politician who had opposed the PCN government in the 1970s, Andino was the ex-vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of El Salvador (CCIES), and Mayorga Quirós was a member of the Central American University.

[24] Under Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, the junta and subsequent civilian government received massive aid and funding[clarification needed] from the United States.

The five largest groups, Farabundo Martí People's Forces of Liberation (FPL), Communist Party of El Salvador (PCES), National Resistance (RN), People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), and the Revolutionary Party of the Central American Workers – El Salvador (PRTC), joined forces on 10 October 1980, nearly one year after the coup, to form the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), the most prominent opposition force to the Salvadoran government throughout the Salvadoran Civil War.

[24][42] The resulting civil war killed anywhere from 70,000 to 80,000 people and lasted twelve years from 1979, starting with the coup, until 1992, with the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords.