Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez

Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez Avendaño was born on April 5, 1936 in Sonsonate.[2] He graduated from the Military School in San Salvador.[3] He served in the Salvadoran Army as an engineer, and received a degree from the Higher Military Engineering School of Mexico in 1968. In July 1969, he returned to El Salvador and took part in Football War with neighboring Honduras.[2]

By now a Colonel, in 1979 Gutiérrez joined the military conspiracy to overthrow the regime of Carlos Humberto Romero, which culminated in the coup d'état of October 15. One of two army representatives on the Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador. Gutiérrez was considered the second most important person in the junta after Colonel Adolfo Arnoldo Majano.[4]

However, the two disagreed on how to solve El Salvador's deepening political crisis; for Majano, the solution was radical social reform, while Gutiérrez, who represented the conservative-minded army, preferred military methods. In May 1980, right-wingers within the military removed Adolfo Majano as head of the junta; on May 12, 1980, Gutiérrez took over as commander in chief of the armed forces.[4][5] Two days later, he also became head of the Revolutionary junta, and led the transition to open civil war; over the following months, terror escalated and hostilities spread throughout the country.[6][7]

Adolfo Arnoldo Majano (front left) and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez (front right).

After Majano was removed from the junta, the third Revolutionary Government Junta was formed on December 13, 1980. Christian Democrat José Napoleón Duarte was appointed President of El Salvador while Colonel Gutiérrez took over as Vice President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.[8] Over the next year and a half, the new government managed not only to maintain a military advantage and retain power, but also to hold elections to the Constitutional Assembly on March 28, 1982. On May 2, 1982, José Napoleón Duarte and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez resigned, transferring power to the interim president-elect Álvaro Magaña.

Gutiérrez resigned from the army with the rank of general. He took over as president of the National Communications Administration, was chairman of the Executive Commission of the Hydroelectric Complex on the Lempa River, and held a number of other important posts.[2]

The military authorities reported that Gutiérrez died on August 9, 2012 at his home in La Libertad.[2][3] He was buried on August 10, 2012 after parting and the funeral Mass.

Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez causes controversy in Salvadoran society: some consider him a dictator and conductor of state terror, others consider him an honest military man who “did not sit down at the negotiating table with criminals” and provided stability to the country. His participation in the 1979 coup is also debated: one view is he helped end the bloody dictatorship of Carlos Romero, another accuses him of removing a regime that had ensured stability since 1962.[3]