las antiguas organizaciones político-militares que conformaron el FMLN. Handal fue protagonista principal de estas luchas, en las que obtuvo poder y reconocimiento interno. Sin embargo, murió repentinamente.

This article analyzes the role played by Schafick Jorge Handal in the process of political conversion of the Frente Farabundo Martí into la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) in the post-civil war period. We analyzed the main debates about the political and ideological redefinition of the FMLN, once the civil war was finished, the party leadership and internal democracy. This process was marked by bitter disputes between the leaders of the old political-military organizations that formed the FMLN. Handal was one of the main protagonists of these struggles, and gained power and internal recognition. But he died suddenly in 2006, when the process of "unification" was advanced, but not consolidated. Nevertheless, Handal has become the main identity reference in the official memory of the party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]