Alleged assassin held

Press, 5 September 1983, Page 10

Alleged assassin held

NZPA San Salvador An alleged Left-wing guerrilla has been arrested over the killing of an American military adviser, Lieutenant-Commander Albert Schaufelberger, in El Salvador, the police say. They identified the suspect as Pedro Daniel Alvarado Rivera, aged 23, who was alleged to be a member of the Popular Liberation Forces, the oldest and most unyielding of the five guerrilla groups fighting El Salvador’s United Statesbacked Government. Commander Schaufelberger, second-in-command of the United States military group stationed in El Salvador, was shot dead on May 25 at a university carpark in the capital, San Salvador.

At a news conference the police showed reporters a videotape of Alvarado Rivera’s alleged confession to murder. Then the suspect, looking pale and nervous, was paraded in front of the journalists.

Commander Schaufelberger was the first United States military officer killed in nearly four years of civil war between guerrillas and the government Two days after his death the Popular Liberation Forces claimed responsibility in a radio broadcast and said that it was a warning against more United States military intervention in El Salvador.

The police said that two l other Forces members were still being sought for Commander Schaufelberger’s death. ■ Alvarado Rivera would go before a military tribunal to face charges arising from the killing, the police said. The alleged guerrilla is also being charged as coauthor in the killing of a Right-wing congressman, Rene Barrios Amaya, aged 50, who according to the Coroner’s Office was shot eight times on June 28 on the outtirts of San Salvador.