Salvador Holds Ex-Officer in Kidnap Scheme

SAN SALVADOR —  In the first major move to prosecute one of its present or former commissioned officers accused of criminal activities, the Salvadoran military establishment has detained a one-time lieutenant suspected of taking part in a lucrative kidnap-for-ransom ring, it was announced Friday.

Evidence was being sought to enable authorities to detain at least one other former officer, a National Police statement said.

Under arrest is former Lt. Rodolfo Lopez Sibrian, who was implicated in the machine-gun slayings of two American labor advisers in 1981 but who was never brought to trial despite intense pressure from the United States.

Several Others Held

The announcement said that former Lt. Carlos Zacapa is being investigated as part of a probe into the kidnaping of “several people of Salvadoran society.”

Several other people, including at least one well-known rightist businessman, also have been arrested in the case, and sources familiar with the investigation said others still are being investigated. As many as 20 people may be involved.

A source close to the military said that many of the suspects were friends of the kidnap victims.

One of the detainees, Ramon Erasmo Oporto, hanged himself in jail Thursday night, according to a police communique. Political sources said Erasmo Oporto was a police detective and Lopez Sibrian’s brother-in-law.

Attributed to Leftists

Sources familiar with the case who asked not to be identified said the detainees are suspects in at least six kidnapings of wealthy Salvadorans and netted “millions” of dollars. They said the kidnapers’ method of operation involved attributing their abductions to the leftist guerrillas who are battling the U.S.-backed government of President Jose Napoleon Duarte.

The sources added that the police have found two clandestine jails where the kidnap victims allegedly were held.

In going after the suspected kidnapers, the police employed tactics similar to those used by the kidnaping ring, picking up at least one suspect in a way that made it look like a kidnaping.

Luis Orlando Llovera Ballete, Lopez Sibrian’s father-in-law, was picked up by gunmen wearing masks as he drove down a busy street, and his capture originally was reported as a kidnaping. Police Tuesday announced they had him in custody.

Friend of D’Aubuisson

Llovera is a member of the Nationalist Republican Alliance, a political party whose former leader, Roberto d’Aubuisson, has often been accused of masterminding past activities here of right-wing death squads. Llovera is a close friend of D’Aubuisson’s.

The house of a congresswoman of the Alliance party, known here as Arena, was searched during the investigation but she apparently was not detained, sources said. The police communique said officials also are looking for evidence to arrest Antonio Cornejo Arango, a former member of the board of directors of Arena.

Cornejo’s house was searched this week, too, but he apparently was not home at the time, according to local press reports.

Arena leaders said that the party was in no way involved in the kidnaping ring and that they hoped the government would pursue the case.

“This is very serious and we are interested in seeing this investigated to the end,” said Alfredo Cristiani, head of the party. “Whoever is in the middle of this should be imprisoned and they (the government) should not use the party as the culprit for all the crimes of the country.”

Strictly for Profit

The sources familiar with the case said that the kidnaping ring operated strictly for profit and had no political motives. It is widely believed here that many former death-squad members have moved into more common criminal activities.

No commissioned military officer has ever been prosecuted for political crimes in this country, in spite of accusations that officers have been responsible for thousands of assassinations and disappearances during the ongoing war against leftist guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front.

Although rightist crimes have gone largely unpunished here, hundreds of suspected leftists are in jail.

U.S. officials, who previously had pushed for the prosecution of Lopez Sibrian, refused to comment on the case, saying only that “we are aware that an investigation is going on and we think the Salvadorans should comment.”

Prosecutions Blocked

In the past, the Salvadoran military is said to have obstructed prosecution of officers such as Lopez Sibrian, but sources close to the military said they believe officials would accept prosecutions against the former officers in this case.

The arrest of Lopez Sibrian and investigation into other military personnel, said the source, “is bad for the army, but it also is good for them. They’ve never done this before. What are they going to do?”

The investigation into the ring apparently began in February with the kidnaping of Alfredo Ortiz Mancia, a former foreign minister seized as he was jogging. Ortiz Mancia was later released after an unknown amount of ransom was paid.

The two confessed triggermen in the slaying of the American labor advisers and the head of El Salvador’s agrarian reform program in the Sheraton Hotel here in 1981 testified that Lopez Sibrian ordered them to shoot the three men. Their testimony, however, could not be used to charge Lopez Sibrian with the crime because under Salvadoran law, confessions made by one defendant cannot be used against another.

Triggermen Convicted

In February, a Salvadoran jury convicted the two triggermen of killing Michal P. Hammer, 42, of Potomac, Md.; Mark D. Pearlman, 35, of Seattle, and Jose Rodolfo Viera, 39, of San Salvador as the three men were eating at the hotel coffee shop in January, 1981. The gunmen each received the maximum sentence under Salvadoran law of 30 years in jail.

Lopez Sibrian, another officer, and two right-wing businessmen implicated in the case have all so far escaped trial. Lopez Sibrian was allowed to appear in a police line up where witnesses failed to recognize him, in part apparently because he had dyed his red hair black and had plastic surgery performed on his nose. He was, however, forced to leave the army.