A faction within a guerrilla group in Chile has declared that it will create a new formal political party.

The Movement of the Revolutionary Left, or MRI, has resisted the cruel dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s-90s, according to teleSUR. The organization's decision to become a political party holds a significant change, especially for a group that has strongly criticized other leftist organizations for partaking in the country's party politics.

"We have taken the decision to start our process of legalization, convinced that this instrument can be a contribution to the democratization process that is so necessary for Chilean society," according to a statement from the MIR's central committee in January, as reported by the news outlet.

The MIR served as a major political force in Chile prior to and after the 1973 coup that ousted the Popular Unity administration of Salvador Allende from power, teleSUR noted. The leftist group, which was founded by Miguel Enriquez, supported Allende. When the 1973 coup ended, plenty of the MIR's members refused to go into exile and participated in an armed struggle to overthrow the Pinochet regime.

On Oct. 5, 1974, Enriquez was killed in a gun fight with Pinochet's secret police, the news outlet added.

Secretary General Demetrio Hernandez said that a group of representatives held a meeting with the Electoral Service of Chile to start the legalization process, teleSUR further reported. The group has a deadline in August to gather a minimum of 8,000 signatures to be eligible for legal status.

"We want to turn to those honest men and women who really want change, who really want democracy in Chile. And we are going to ask them for their support, and we're going to ask that, in turn, they persuade others," said Hernandez, as quoted by teleSUR.

Hernandez stressed that the new party plans to separate itself apart from the two political alliances in Chile that dominate the country's politics, teleSUR reported. He also said that the MIR aims to form a new coalition with other leftist organizations.

Hernandez said that he is the legitimate heir of the young radicals who founded the MIR, which was an alternative to the traditional reformist leftist parties and was inspired by Argentina's Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution, LAHT wrote. The MIR had more than 1,200 of its members -- including its senior leaders -- killed by the Pinochet dictatorship.

The remaining MIR members formally left the armed struggle when democracy returned to Chile in 1990, LAHT noted. Some guerrillas have joined labor, student, and grassroots groups that avoid parliamentary politics to promote the power of the people.