Terrorist Organization Profile:
Morazanist Patriotic Front (FPM)

The FPM was sometimes linked to the Honduran Communist Party, and it aims are usually described as "leftist." However, while the FPM repeatedly made public statements claiming responsibility for attacks, it did not articulate a detailed set of aims. FPM's target selection indicates that its primary goal was combating the U.S. presence in Honduras, not fighting for a Marxist state.

The U.S. military presence in Honduras expanded in the late 1980s as a result of the civil war in neighboring Nicaragua. The U.S.-backed Contras -- right-wing rebels fighting the Sandinista government of Nicaragua -- moved into Honduras in order to protect their forces. Attacks against the Sandinista government were launched from safe havens in Honduras. U.S. military personnel arrived in the country to coordinate material support to the Contras and to conduct training maneuvers.

The presence of Contra forces and American military personnel provoked considerable animosity in many Hondurans. In fact, several groups associated with the political left formed to combat their presence with terrorism. Honduras, which had largely been spared the extensive terrorism associated with long civil wars in other Central American countries, saw an increase in terrorist bombings and assassinations in the late 1980s. These bombings were largely associated with the Contra crisis.

FPM was the most active group implicated in the upswing of attacks. The group's first reported attack was the fall 1988 slaying of American expatriate Leo Mills. Mills, a private businessman, was shot will jogging. Anti-American attacks claimed by the FPM would escalate over the next two years. The group claimed responsibility for an explosion at the U.S. Peace Corps in December 1988. The bomb caused no casualties but significant damage. FPM later targeted U.S. AID. The group's two most famous attacks both involved American servicemen. In July 1989, 7 U.S. soldiers were wounded when FPM terrorists threw a bomb at them as they left a night club. 7 more U.S. military personnel were wounded when their bus was attacked by snipers in March 1990.

The Contras departed Honduras after the Sandinista government lost out in a February 1990 election. While most of the Honduran terrorist organizations put down their arms after the Contras' left, FPM continued its terrorist attacks for several years. FPM was implicated in a rocket attack against a U.N. site in June 1991 and an assassination in February 1992. The group's last attack occurred in April 1995, when a leaflet bomb exploded near the offices of several foreign press agencies. No one was injured.

Learn more about these U.S. Department of State classifications:

Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs)

Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL)