El Salvador (SLV)Central America, AmericasDecember 7, 1980
Event Summary
On December 7, 1980 Colonel Adolfo Majano was forced out of El Salvador's ruling Revolutionary Government Junta, removing the last significant reformist officer and clearing the way for the Christian Democrat Jose Napoleon Duarte to become head of the junta as the country descended into civil war. Majano had been a leader of the October 1979 reformist coup and co-chairman of the junta, but he was progressively sidelined by the more conservative Colonel Jaime Abdul Gutierrez and by US pressure. Having already lost the chairmanship in May 1980, Majano resigned from the junta entirely on December 13, 1980 after being pushed out around December 7; the dataset dates his removal December 7, 1980.
A third junta was then formed with Duarte as president. The junta issued a warrant for Majano's arrest; he was detained in February 1981, released, and left for exile in Panama.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Colonel Adolfo Majano, the reformist junta member forced out around December 7 to 13, 1980; he was later briefly arrested and then left for exile in Panama.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Adolfo Majano (reformist colonel forced out)
Jaime Abdul Gutierrez (rival conservative colonel)
Jose Napoleon Duarte (who became junta president)
Sources
Due to pressure from Gutierrez and the United States to step down, Majano resigned from the junta entirely on 13 December 1980, effectively ending the second junta, after which the junta filed a warrant for his arrest, he was arrested by the army on 20 February 1981 on charges of military disobedience, released on 20 March, and left for exile in Panama.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvadoropen source ↗
On December 7, Majano was expelled from the junta and went into exile, and on December 22 Duarte became head of the Junta and also head of state, with Gutierrez as Vice-President and considered the strong man of the regime.
SOURCE REVIEWEDMilitary Wiki, Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvadoropen source ↗
On 13 December 1980 the Second Junta was dissolved after Colonel Adolfo Arnoldo Majano was forced to resign his position, and the Third Junta was formed with President Jose Napoleon Duarte, Vice President Colonel Jaime Abdul Gutierrez, Jose Ramon Avalos Navarrete, and Jose Antonio Morales Ehrlich.
SOURCE REVIEWEDWikipedia, Final offensive of 1981 (El Salvador)open source ↗
Majano resigned as Chairman and Commander-in-Chief in May 1980, was replaced by Gutierrez, resigned from the junta on 13 December 1980, accused the junta of supporting right-wing extremists, and after an arrest warrant was issued was arrested on 20 February 1981 before going into exile.
Fate coding: Colonel Majano was forced out of the junta, later briefly arrested (February 1981) and then left for exile in Panama, matching the dataset's exiled fate. Date nuance flagged: the dataset dates the removal December 7, 1980 (when one source says Majano was expelled from the junta), while other sources date his formal resignation December 13, 1980; both are recorded, with the difference reflecting the gap between his effective ouster and formal departure. Coding note: the dataset labels this a military coup; it was in substance an internal power shift within the ruling junta that removed the last reformist officer and elevated the conservative faction under Gutierrez with Duarte as figurehead president. Arc link: this connects directly to the October 15, 1979 reformist coup and junta (enriched in batch 32); the removal of Majano marks the definitive failure of the reformist project as the Salvadoran Civil War intensified. Context recorded: the junta's rightward consolidation, US pressure, and the escalating violence (including the December 1980 murder of four American churchwomen) are recorded as documented backdrop, with those killings a separate event.
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Colonel Adolfo Majano, the reformist junta member forced out around December 7 to 13, 1980; he was later briefly arrested and then left for exile in Panama..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; exiled. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“Salvador’s Military Ousts Chief Liberal from Ruling Junta,” December 8, 1980
Los Angeles Times
“Junta Unable to Fulfill Promises: Salvador Violence Spawns New Fears of Rightist Coup,” by Juan Vasquez, December 8, 1980
Wall Street Journal
“Military Coup Feared in El Salvador,” by Steve Frazier, December 9, 1980
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →