In 1975, Alejandro Rivas Mira and other members supported the political trial that culminated in the assassination of the poet
Roque Dalton. At the time, Alejandro Rivas Mira was the top leader of the
People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP). He had a rivalry with Roque Dalton, who advocated for the creation of a political party that would control the ERP’s armed organization. This proposal was displeasing to Rivas Mira, who had a more militaristic mindset and favored waging a war. The death sentence was approved by two members of the war tribunal: Vladimir Rogel and Joaquín Villalobos. However, it is still unknown who actually shot Dalton. Nearly 18 years after the assassination of the revolutionary poet, journalist Juan José Dalton — Roque’s son — interviewed Villalobos, who described the killing as “unjust, a youthful mistake, the most serious one I made.” Juan José Dalton rejected this explanation, arguing that “accepting it would mean admitting that that stage of life — youth — is potentially criminal, which is not acceptable.” The ERP under his leadership has been described as “the most efficient military organisation on the Salvadoran left” during the civil war, with Villalobos developing a “reputation for brash strategic brilliance”. The
Financial Times described Villalobos as "The true master of 20th-century Latin American guerrilla warfare", above
Che Guevara. He subsequently played a major role in the negotiations that ended the civil war, presenting himself as the conciliatory face of the ERP. As a result of the 1992 peace accords, the FMLN was legalized as a political party. Villalobos remained a member until 1995, when he and other former leaders of the ERP split from the FMLN to form a new centrist political party, the Democratic Party, which signed a deal with the then government accepting a series of neoliberal reforms. He obtained a Master's Degree from St Antony's College and is now a visiting scholar there. Villalobos became an outspoken critic of the left in Latin American countries. Villalobos has advised various governments and politicians on security and conflict resolution. He has served as a consultant on peacemaking efforts in countries including
Colombia,
Mexico,
Sri Lanka,
Philippines,
Afghanistan,
Bosnia, and
Northern Ireland. In 2015, Villalobos was named one of the fifty most influential
Ibero-American intellectuals.In December 2016, Villalobos, along with
Jonathan Powell,
Bill Ury and
Shlomo Ben-Ami, was awarded a medal by President
Juan Manuel Santos of
Colombia, in recognition of his contribution to the successful
Colombian peace process. ==References ==