The first junta, from 1979 to 1980, consisted of two colonels, Adolfo Arnoldo Majano and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez, and three civilians, Guillermo Ungo, Mario Antonio Andino and Román Mayorga Quirós.

[3] The party maintained control of the country through fraudulent elections, political intimidation, and state-sponsored terrorism against civilians and leftist groups.

[7] The eventual overthrow of Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in September 1979 prompted many military officers to remove Romero and replace him with a stronger government which was able to prevent such a revolution.

[8] The military gained the support of the US government and organized itself under Colonels Adolfo Arnoldo Majano and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez.

[14][15] It consisted of two military officers (Majano and Gutiérrez) and three civilians; Guillermo Manuel Ungo Revelo, a democratic socialist politician from the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR), Mario Antonio Andino, the ex-vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of El Salvador (CCIES), and Román Mayorga Quirós, a rector of the Central American University.

[19] Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez cautiously endorsed the coup and the junta stating that the goals and reforms were good-willed.

[7][14][22] They also demanded that the junta follow through with their promises of reform and also include wage increases, lower consumer prices, and public trials of military officers who had previously committed human rights abuses against the people.

[14][22] Meanwhile, wealthy landowners and businessmen, most of whom had affiliations with the National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP), opposed the reforms the junta promised to implement.

Despite ambitious beginnings the reform as laid out failed however some successes did result and Phase I, dealing with land over 500 hectares, mostly succeeded:[24] "By the end of 1986, ISTA had expropriated 469 estates throughout the country.

"[26] Velis Polío wrote that: "The reform was an economic, political and social earthquake in the countryside...Landholders saw before their eyes something that they never imagined could possibly happen on the lands that they had always governed absolutely.

Unlike Phase I, which gave the land to co-operatives, Phase III, dealing with providing up to 7 hectare lots to individual families, was also a failure although land was transferred, "However, between January 1981 and August 1982 37,880 petitions were made and FINATA granted 32,748 provisional titles, 251 definitive titles, paid ₵1.4 million ($560,000) in compensation and received ₵842,000 ($337,000) in voluntary payments from smallholders towards amortisation of their debts.

"[28] Martin Diskin indicates that by 1984 "only 63,611 have thus far applied"[29] and despite the fact "the present administration of FINATA has carried out its responsibilities with considerable energy, intelligence, and honesty",[29] only 47,001 households (16.8% less than the expected figure.)

"[29] On the other hand Mitchell A. Seligson writes in 1995 that "The land-poor population in El Salvador is defined here as those farming less than 1 manzana (0.7 hectare) of land..."[31] because "...analysis of the EHPM income data revealed that farmers who own 1 manzana or more of land earn incomes that match or exceed those who have steady jobs in the industrial sector.

Samuel Anthony McReynolds wrote: "While there is no question that influential political forces in El Salvador have tried to reduce the extent of the reform, this also is not unusual.

[14] By the end of October 1979, over 100 civilians had been killed by the Army and the National Guard, but the junta claimed that the acts were committed by forces not under its control.

[32] The second junta consisted, again, of two military officers (Majano and Gutiérrez) and three civilians; José Ramón Ávalos Navarrete, an independent politician and a doctor, José Antonio Morales Ehrlich, a conservative member of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), and Héctor Dada Hirezi, a progressive member of the PDC.

[23][32] Dada Hirezi resigned on 3 March 1980 after Mario Zamora, another progressive PDC politician, was assassinated by a far-right death squad.

[14] On 22 January 1980, the 48th anniversary of La Matanza, the massacre of 10,000–40,000 indigenous and communist rebels by the government of President Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, around 80,000 to 200,000 people marched in the streets of San Salvador.

[32] A death squad, acting under the orders of Major Roberto D'Aubuisson, assassinated Archbishop Romero while giving mass on 24 March.

[14] On 10 October, the 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 to form the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).

[54] On 17 March 1982, 4 Dutch journalists and 5 FMLN guerrillas were ambushed by the army near the town of Santa Rita, Chalatenango, with 8 being killed in the attack.

[57] The PDC, PCN, and minor Democratic Action (AD) joined in a coalition and elected Álvaro Magaña as president, defeating ARENA candidate, Hugo César Barrera, by a margin of 36 to 17 with 7 abstentions.