El Salvador Guerrilla Tactics

By Scott MacLeod

The startling twelve-point proposal was conveyed first to Archbishop Arturo Rivera Damas of San Salvador, who passed it on to the government of President Jose Napoleon Duarte. After nine years of refusing to lay down their arms, the guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front last week declared their willingness to participate in El Salvador's presidential balloting and abide by the results, win or lose. The F.M.L.N. asked that the March 19 polling be postponed until Sept. 15 so the rebels would have more time to rally supporters. The group, which tried to sabotage the last five national elections, said it would back Guillermo Ungo, the candidate of the left-wing Democratic Convergence.

Within days, the rebel offer had achieved what may have been one of its principal objectives: a division between Duarte and the U.S. Government. Gravely ill with stomach and liver cancer and legally barred from seeking another term, Duarte was caught off balance. He rejected the F.M.L.N. proposal to push back the election date as unconstitutional, telling a press conference, "It's not a plan for peace. It's a plan for war."

Trailing the right-wing ARENA party in the latest polls, Duarte's Christian Democrats could win time for a comeback if the elections are delayed. But Duarte came under strong pressure from ARENA, which threatened to challenge any postponement in the courts and could conceivably launch a coup if concessions are made to the F.M.L.N.

Duarte's stand put him sharply at odds with Washington, which has staunchly backed the Salvadoran leader's efforts to end the nation's civil war. State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the F.M.L.N. offer was "worthy of serious and substantive consideration." Privately, State Department officials were enthusiastic, lauding the proposal as a fundamental shift in rebel policy that could signal a breakthrough.

The F.M.L.N. also implicitly dropped a demand for the formation of a national-unity government, which had been rejected by Duarte and had become a stumbling block to peace talks. U.S. diplomats said they would urge Duarte to use the F.M.L.N. plan as the basis for resumed negotiations with the rebels. Otherwise, they argued, he risked giving the appearance of not being genuinely interested in a settlement. "What we can't have happen," said a U.S. official, "is for this proposal to be dumped on with no constructive response."

Though U.S. officials emphasized that Duarte had not rejected the entire F.M.L.N. plan, they acknowledged that the Christian Democrats may be too divided to open negotiations. Thus any compromise may have to wait until after the elections, and by then it could be too late. Shut out of the polls, the F.M.L.N. is likely to launch a new offensive in a country already soaked in blood.

With reporting by Chris Norton/San Salvador