The Alianca Libertadora Nacional, or A&ccedil;&atilde;o Libertadora Nacional, (ALN) was a leftist Brazilian group that operated in the late 1960s and early 1970s, during the time of Brazil's growing insurgent movement.  Other Names: Action for National Liberation, National Liberation Action, National Liberation Alliance.<br /><p><br />The group was founded in February 1968 by Carlos Marighella, a Communist organizer from S&atilde;o Paulo. He borrowed the group's name from a revolutionary organization that had existed briefly in Brazil in the 1930s before being banned by the government. The ALN reached a maximum strength of 200 members, consisting of radical students, intellectuals, and a few professional Communists who had followed Marighella.  The main focus of revolutionary activity was in the cities, centered on the two major metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.<br /><p><br />The driving force of insurgency in Brazil was the military rule of the country.  In 1964 the Brazilian military conducted what it referred to as a revolution and what opponents called a coup. Essentially, the military assumed political power in Brazil and stayed there, formally, for twenty years. The long, continued control of the government by military personnel became a strong source of conflict. Compounding the problem, the military government used political power to create laws preventing opposition.  These factors combined with the communist ideology of rejecting "central control that obstructed action" became the driving inspiration behind the establishment and philosophy of the ALN. <br /><p><br />The training manual for the ALN, also considered the bible of the urban guerrilla warfare, "The Mini-Manual of the Urban Guerrilla," was written by Marighella.  He defined the urban guerrilla as an implacable enemy of the government systematically inflicting damage on the authorities and on the men who dominate the country and exercise power. He identified the principal task of the urban guerrilla as distracting, wearing out, demoralizing the militarists, the military dictatorship and its repressive forces, and also to attack and destroy the wealth and property of the North Americans, the foreign managers, and the Brazilian upper class. Essentially, the mini-manual defines and identifies tactics, techniques, and targets that should be used in urban guerrilla warfare. It has sections titled "Surprise," "Raids and Penetrations," "Ambush," "Execution," and "Sabotage" to name just a few. Throughout  1968-1969, the ALN "expropriated" several banks, took control of the National Radio Station, to force broadcast a manifesto, attacked military and police outposts, conducted bombing attacks on army barracks and the offices of U.S. companies and, with also-revolutionary group MR-8, kidnapped American Ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick, who was released later in exchange for political prisoners.  <br /><p><br />The kidnapping and the guerrilla's success in getting comrades released, resulted in the authoritative crackdown to curtail terrorist activity against the state.  The government issued Institutional Act #13 (which gave the government power to permanently exile all political prisoners released as a result of negotiation with "terrorists" or any Brazilian deemed dangerous to national security) and Institutional Act #14 (which restored the "formal" death penalty - nonexistent in peacetime Brazil since 1891). The National Security Law of 1969 was also passed, allowing the state to "exercise complete discretion in determining what may constitute a crime against national security."  It provided the legal framework for repression of anyone opposed to the policies of the national security state. An Amendment to the 1967 Constitution increased power of the Executive branch even more by issuing a decree-law which enabled the Executive to pass secret decree-laws whose texts would not be published. This provided the basis for arrest for the infringement of a law which was completely unknown.<br /><p><br />After the kidnapping the government became less willing to negotiate and the use of repression became relentless and especially brutal. Brazilian police frequently and arbitrarily arrested individuals, and the media was kept under strict control.  The efforts of the government to destroy the guerrilla movement (which peaked in 1970) really began to produce results when it was able to strike at the "brains" of the terrorist groups.  The demise of ALNs effectiveness began on 4 November 1969 when Marighella, was killed in a shootout with police in Sao Paulo.  Ten months later October 1970, Marighella's successor, Joaquim Camara Ferreira, died of a heart attack after his capture in Sa Paulo.  <br /><p><br />