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Description
A helicopter operated by a group under the command of Lt. José Neftalí Madariaga, Alouette II, is flying in Chalatenango in the department of Chalatenango. The helicopter is of French design and manufacture. In January, few months before this photo was taken, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) launched attacks throughout the country, with the government declaring martial law and a dusk-to-dawn curfew. The guerrillas named it the “final offensive” as it was supposed to overturn the Salvadoran government before the U.S. President Ronald Reagan was inaugurated on January 20, 1981. The FMLN called the population for an insurrection but the offensive didn't receive enough popular support and it failed. After this failure the guerrillas began to attack the country’s infrastructure and only eight months later were they able to take another small town, Perquín, holding it for nine days. Right after the guerrillas’ final offensive, in January 1981, the Carter administration, using the unverified claim that Nicaraguan boats had landed on the Salvadoran coast to support the guerrillas, announced the delivery of $5 million in military aid, including M-16 rifles, M-79 grenades launchers, ammunition, and helicopters. President Carter was also sending military advisers to help in conducting the counterinsurgency war. Furthermore, following the inauguration of the Reagan administration on January 20, 1981 and the release on February 1981 of a document alleging that the situation in El Salvador was a “textbook case of indirect armed aggression by Communist powers through Cuba,” the Reagan administration sent on March 2, 20 more military advisers and announced an additional $25 million in military aid. It’s in this context that, at the time that this photo was taken, were created the Rapid Deployment Infantry Battalions of the Salvadoran Armed Forces, elite units specially trained for counterinsurgency combat that had completed their training under the guidance and supervision of United States military personnel. The first unit was created in March 1981 with the name “Atlacatl,” operating under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Domingo Monterrosa Barrios. Un helicóptero operado por un grupo al mando del teniente José Neftalí Madariaga, Alouette II, vuela en Chalatenango en el departamento de Chalatenango. El helicóptero es de diseño y fabricación franceses. En enero, pocos meses antes de que se tomara esta foto, el Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional (FMLN) lanzó ataques en todo el país, y el gobierno declaró la ley marcial y un toque de queda desde el atardecer hasta el amanecer. La guerrilla la denominó "ofensiva final," ya que se suponía que iba a derrocar al gobierno salvadoreño antes de que el presidente de Estados Unidos, Ronald Reagan, asumiera el cargo el 20 de enero de 1981. El FMLN llamó a la población a una insurrección, pero la ofensiva no recibió suficiente apoyo popular y falló. Luego de este fracaso, la guerrilla comenzó a atacar la infraestructura del país y solo ocho meses después lograron tomar otro pequeño poblado, Perquín, reteniéndolo durante nueve días. Inmediatamente después de la ofensiva final de la gu
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