El Salvador death-squad warning

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 6

El Salvador death-squad warning

NZPA-Reuter San Salvador On the eve of presidential elections, El Salvador’s most prominent Right-wing death squad yesterday warned the next president not to yield to United States pressure by sending military officials into diplomatic exile.

The warning came in a communique* by the secret Anti-Communist Army (EJSA.) which appeared to be aimed at Mr Jose Napoleon Duarte, the moderate Christian Democrat expected to win today’s second and final round of the elections.

The EJLA, which has claimed responsibility for a long string of assassinations and bombings in El Salvador did not mention Mr Duarte by name but made pointed reference to “gringo” interference in Salvadorean affairs. Mr Duarte is the candidate favoured by the United States, which has made no secret of its distaste for the Right-wing candidate,. Mr Roberto D’Aubuisson.

Salvadorean political sources said the E.S.A. communique appeared to have been prompted by speculation that Mr Duarte was planning to purge El Salvador’s three security organisations — the treasury police, the national police and the civil guard — of hard-line Rightists. Diplomats in San Salvador have expressed fears that a Duarte victory would unleash increased violence from the Right to halt the reforms that the Christian Democratic leader is planning to carry out if he wins

the elections. Leftist guerrillas have announced that they are mining El Salvador’s highways. But Lieutenant Colonel Domingo Monterrosa, the military commander for eastern El Salvador, said his patrols had found no evidence of such mining. Leftist forces, who are boycotting the electoral process, announced a similar road-mining operation when a first round of balloting was held on March 25. But actually only a few roads in northern El Salvador were mined. Leftists call the election a farce, insisting that the only way to hold a fair vote was to negotiate a share of power first Guerrillas have said they will continue the 4V5-year-old civil war “before, during and after” the election. An estimated 200,000 of the country’s 1.8 million eligible voters could not cast ballots during the first round because of a massive bureaucratic foul-up, mostly due to late deliveries of balloting materials. But officials at the Central Election Council, which supervises the balloting, said they have solved most of these problems and they expect a much smoother operation in the run-off. By law, all Salvadoreans older than 18 must vote or pay a fine. But officials say the law has been enforced only rarely in a century of existence and there are no plans to seek out those who skip today’s balloting. Official results are not expected until several days after the election.