[1] On 1 July 1972, Salvadoran President Arturo Armando Molina appointed Romero to serve as Minister of Defense and Public Security.

On 28 February 1977, military forces dissolved a UNO protest rally in the Plaza Libertad in San Salvador, and between 200 and 1,500 civilians were killed.

[7][8] The general's arrival to power meant the establishment of a purely repressive project, abandoning all reformist attempts.

He responded to accusations of "electoral fraud" by declaring a state of emergency for thirty days and established a rigidly conservative government.

The different police, military and government paramilitary forces launched a bloody repression campaign against leftist groups that ended the lives of 4 Catholic priests and numerous leaders and militants of workers and peasant organizations.

Left-wing armed groups responded to the violence exerted by the State with attacks on the security forces and government officials.

[citation needed] Romero held power until October 1979, when he was deposed by a coup d'état carried out by a group of politically leftist and moderate military officers and civilians.