The Revolutionary Government Junta (, JRG) was the name of three consecutive joint civilian-military dictatorships that ruled El Salvador between 15 October 1979 and 2 May 1982. The first junta, from 1979 to 1980, consisted of two colonels, Adolfo Arnoldo Majano Ramos and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez Avendaño, and three civilians, Guillermo Manuel Ungo, Mario Antonio Andino and Román Mayorga Quirós. The second junta, from January through December 1980, consisted of Majano Ramos and Gutiérrez Avendaño, and José Antonio Morales Ehrlich, Héctor Dada Hirezi, and José Ramón Ávalos Navarrete. The final junta, from 1980 to 1982, consisted of Colonel Gutiérrez Avendaño, Morales Ehrlich, Ávalos Navarrete, with José Napoleón Duarte as the junta's president. The Revolutionary Government Junta was the source of many human rights violations that were committed across the country during its rule. Background and coup The National Conciliation Party (PCN) ruled El Salvador from 1962 to 1979 as an effective one-party system. The PCN had diplomatic support from the United States and the CIA trained and funded the Salvadoran Armed Forces. The party maintained control of the country through fraudulent elections, political intimidation, and state-sponsored terrorism against civilians and leftist groups. In March 1979, President Carlos Humberto Romero had soldiers crush protests and strikes against his government to prevent a revolution in El Salvador from starting, similar to the revolution in Nicaragua which began that year. The eventual overthrow of Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in July 1979 prompted many military officers to remove Romero and replace him with a stronger government which was able to prevent such a revolution. The military gained the support of the US government and organized itself under Colonels Adolfo Arnoldo Majano Ramos and Jaime Abdul Gutiérrez Avendaño. The military launched a coup d'état on 15 October 1979 and forced Romero to resign and go into exile. Many high-ranking military officials who were loyal to Romero, such as the Minister of National Defense and the Director of the National Guard, also resigned and went into exile. The coup is often cited as the beginning of the Salvadoran Civil War. First Junta Three days after the coup on 18 October 1979, Colonels Majano Ramos and Gutiérrez Avendaño established the First Revolutionary Government Junta. It consisted of two military officers (Colonels Majano Ramos and Gutiérrez Avendaño) and three civilians; Guillermo Manuel Ungo Revelo, a democratic socialist politician from the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR), Mario Antonio Andino,