of Puerto Rico from the United States. The best
known of these groups were the Fuerzas Armadas de
Liberación Nacional (FALN), the Macheteros, and
the Organization of Volunteers for the Puerto Rican
Revolution. Although usually leftist in their politics,
the groups’ overriding concern was Puerto Rican
independence. According to the FBI, these groups
were responsible for eighty-eight of the known ter-
rorist incidents in the United States during the
1980’s. Their primary modus operandi was bomb-
ings and armed robberies. Other leftist groups in-
volved in terrorism in the United States during this
period included the May 19 Communist Organiza-
tion; the Black Liberation Army (BLA), an offshoot
of the defunct Black Panther Party; the United Free-
dom Front (UFF); the Armed Resistance Unit
(ARU); and the Red Guerrilla Resistance. The UFF
and ARU shared some members, and most observ-
ers believe that the Red Guerrilla Resistance was
made up of members of the May 19 Communist Or-
ganization.
The militant Zionist group the Jewish Defense
League (JDL) and its offshoot, the Jewish Under-
ground, were also involved in terrorism during the
1980’s. At least twenty acts of terrorism in the United
States were attributed to the JDL. Many of these acts
targeted Soviet diplomatic facilities and businesses
because of Moscow’s alleged mistreatment of its Jew-
ish citizens. Other nations whose facilities were tar-
geted by the JDL included Syria, Iran, and other
Middle Eastern nations opposed to Israel. The ac-
tions were primarily bombings, including two bombs
detonated at the Washington, D.C., office of the So-
viet airline Aeroflot on February 21, 1982.
Offshoots of the left-wing Weather Underground
were linked to one of the most newsworthy terrorist
crimes in the early part of the decade. The incident
involved an armored truck robbery that the May 19
Communist Organization carried out with the BLA
on October 20, 1981, outside Nyack, New York. Two
policemen and one BLA member died in the rob-
bery and manhunt. Former Weather Underground
members were also among the membership of the
UFF and the ARU.
Right-wing groups involved in terror incidents in-
cluded the Cuban exile group Omega 7. Most of the
actions of the Omega 7 were bombings of diplo-
matic buildings owned by governments that had offi-
cial relations with Cuba and businesses owned by Cu-
bans unsympathetic to the anti-Castro exiles. At least
thirty acts of terrorism committed in the United
States during the decade were attributed to groups
that the FBI labels as “anti-Castro Cuban.” Most of
the acts were carried out by this group. Omega 7 has
an unusual past, as some of its members have links to
the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that date
back to the failed attempt by the U.S. government to
overthrow the revolutionary government of Cuba in
1961.
The Order was a neo-Nazi organization dedicated
to what members called the “preservation of the
Caucasian race” and was active in 1983 and 1984.
Members of the organization were involved in burn-
ing down a synagogue and a church, whose minister
opposed them, and bombing a pornography shop.
In addition, Order members were convicted of mur-
dering Alan Berg, a Denver disc jockey opposed to
the neo-Nazi doctrine; a policeman; and a fellow
member whom they suspected of disclosing their ac-
tivities. The most spectacular of the group’s actions
was the $3.7 million robbery of a Brink’s armored
truck.
Two other right-wing terrorist organizations were
The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord
(CSA) and the Order II. CSA is known to have com-
mitted two acts of arson in 1983, setting fire to a Jew-
ish community center and to a church that sup-
ported gay rights. In addition, the group set off an
explosive near a natural gas pipeline in an attempt to
disrupt natural gas distribution throughout the Mid-
west.
The Order II was organized after Order leader
Robert Jay Mathews was killed in a shootout with FBI
agents on Whidbey Island, Washington. Based in
Idaho near Richard Butler’s Aryan Nations church
compound, this group was responsible for seven
bombings. All seven members of the group were ar-
rested during an attempt to rob three banks simulta-
neously.Organizations with Foreign Links In the United
States, several terrorist acts were committed by
groups with grievances tangentially related to the
U.S. government, including the Armenian Revolu-
tionary Army and Justice Commandos for the Arme-
nian Genocide. These two groups, believed by most
authorities to be composed of the same members,
supported Armenian independence and sought jus-
tice for the early twentieth century Armenian geno-
cide carried out by Turkey. Acts of terrorism by the960 Terrorism The Eighties in America