1979 Salvadoran coup d'état

The 1979 Salvadoran coup d'état occurred on 15 October when junior officers of the Armed Forces of El Salvador's Military Youth Movement (MJM) bloodlessly overthrew General Carlos Humberto Romero, the president of El Salvador. The coup leaders established the Revolutionary Government Junta (JRG) that ruled El Salvador until 1982.

Since 1931, a military dictatorship had ruled El Salvador; from 1961, it was led by the National Conciliation Party (PCN). During the 1970s, leftist militant groups committed terrorist actions such as kidnappings and hit-and-run attacks, and mass organizations held peaceful demonstrations to oppose the military dictatorship. The dictatorship and death squads targeted and repressed members of these groups. The PCN remained in power after claiming to have won fraudulent presidential elections during the 1970s.

Political violence increased during Romero's presidency from 1977 to 1979, and some junior military officers believed that Romero had to be overthrown to prevent the country from falling to a leftist revolution. On 15 October 1979, the Military Youth Movement took control of El Salvador's military garrisons, and Romero surrendered when the coup leaders agreed to let him and loyalist government officials leave the country. The JRG appointed new government and military officials and promised to implement reforms, but the coup started the Salvadoran Civil War that lasted until 1992. The 1979 coup d'état is the most recent to occur in El Salvador.