Majano, Adolfo Arnoldo (1938–)

Adolfo Arnoldo Majano (b. 1938), Salvadoran army officer and member of the provisional junta (1979–1980). Majano was briefly the most visible representative of reformist forces within El Salvador's officer corps. A participant in the coup d'état that overthrew the regime of Carlos Humberto Romero on 15 October 1979, Majano later served as one of two military members on the junta that replaced him. Considered honest and progressive, Majano supported the junta's reforms and urged greater respect for human rights and an opening to the Left. But he was not an effective leader, and rightist forces within the military eventually outmaneuvered him. Ousted from the junta in December 1980, Majano went into exile the following year. In 2001, he sued the Salvadoran government, claiming that the loss of his military salary and retirement fund was a violation of his constitutional rights.

See alsoEl Salvador; Romero, Carlos Humberto.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tommie Sue Montgomery, Revolution in El Salvador: Origins and Evolution (1982).

Shirley Christian, "El Salvador's Divided Military," in Atlantic Monthly (June 1983): 50-60.

Additional Bibliography

Bosch, Brian J. The Salvadoran Officer Corps and the Final Offensive of 1981. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1999.

Grenier, Yvon. The Emergence of Insurgency in El Salvador: Ideology and Political Will. Basingstoke, U.K.: Macmillan, 1999.

Menjívar Ochoa, Rafael. Tiempos de locura. El Salvador, 1979–1981. San Salvador: FLASCO, 2006.

                                        Stephen Webre