Letter from Salvador Cayetano Carpio to López Vallecillos, 10 March 1969

Letter from Salvador Cayetano Carpio to López Vallecillos, 10 March 1969

Salvador Cayetano Carpio (1918-1983) was a veteran union organizer and leader of the Salvadoran Communist Party who, in 1970, left the party to create an anti-government guerrilla group that became known as the Popular Liberation Forces (FPL). The FPL became one of the largest and strongest of the five rebel groups that joined together to create the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) in 1980.

In this letter, Carpio replies courteously and affirmatively to a request from López Vallecillos for an article to be published in La Universidad, an academic journal that López Vallecillos directed at the national university.

Although the letter is brief and businesslike, it suggests how the Communist Party and the future guerrilla leader were still allowed to operate semi-openly by military authorities as late as 1969. Carpio signs his real name (not his nom de guerre Marcial) and states that he would be happy to write and sign an article for publication.

Salvador Cayetano Carpio

López Vallecillos Family Archive

10 March 1969

Paper

Spanish

Personal letter

Translation:

Dear Friend,

I send you warm greetings, wishing you much success in your praiseworthy work at the magazine.

I was pleased to receive your kind invitation to participate in the July-August issue of La Universidad magazine, which I consider an honor, and which I accept with great pleasure.

Among the topics which I could tackle in the article, I am prepared to discuss "Ideological currents in the Salvadoran labor movement today," which you indicate as topic number 8.

Thank you for your attention, and it is my pleasure to sign off as your friend and compañero.

Salvador Cayetano Carpio.