Lilian Mercedes Letona
Lilian Mercedes Letona (September 24, 1954 – August 1, 1983) was a Salvadoran guerrilla fighter and communist revolutionary in the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). She was known by her nickname Comandante Clelia.
She was born in Turín, Ahuachapán, to a teacher and a small trader. She studied painting and graduated in 1972, then joined student movements and later the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP). She helped recruit her sister Mercedes Letona, who became Comandante Luisa and led Radio Venceremos.
From 1973 she brought many San Salvador factory workers into ERP’s secret unit. She joined urban guerrilla actions and revolutionary propaganda. In January 1974, at age 19, she went underground to avoid persecution and joined the armed struggle, helping to form the Salvadoran Revolution Party (PRS-ERP), a founding part of the FMLN. She joined its central committee in 1977.
She helped plan the 1981 general offensive around San Salvador and was captured on February 11. For 22 days she was considered desaparecida in a clandestine police prison, then moved to Ilopango women’s prison. She was released in June 1983 under government amnesty. Afterward she joined the FMLN’s Francisco Sánchez front in the northeast.
Two months later she died in battle at the age of 28.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 03:06 (CET).