On October 15, 1979, junior officers carried out a bloodless coup. They entered into coalition with civilians of the moderate Left and formed the Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno (JRG) that issued a proclamation promising structural (including agrarian) reforms, an end to human rights abuses, the abolition of the paramilitary group ORDEN (Organización Democrática Nacional), freedom for political prisoners, the protection and extension of union rights, and the democratization of society.1 The subsequent failure of the JRG signaled a rapid descent toward a civil war that cost some 75,000 lives.