Presidents’ Call May Bring New Salvador Peace Talks

SAN SALVADOR —  On its face, the call by the presidents of five Central American countries for “a constructive dialogue” to end El Salvador’s civil war does little to advance a settlement of the nine-year conflict, but some officials and diplomats say it provides both sides with a face-saving way to open new peace talks.

“Now I think we can expect both the government and the FMLN (the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the Marxist guerrilla organization) to come up with some new proposals, using Tela as the excuse,” one Latin American diplomat said.

Firm Conviction

He referred to a statement issued Monday in Tela, Honduras, by the presidents of Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, in which they “reiterate their firm conviction about the need for an immediate and effective cessation of hostilities” in El Salvador.

The section of the statement dealing with the war here, part of a larger agreement to close Nicaraguan rebel camps in Honduras, went on to say that the presidents “vehemently urge the FMLN to carry out a constructive dialogue to achieve a just and lasting peace (and) . . . urge the government of El Salvador to arrange, with full guarantees . . . the incorporation of the members of the FMLN into peaceful life.”

Although El Salvador and the United States say this means that the five presidents endorsed a demand for rebel disarmament, the accord does not call for the rebels’ demobilization and their integration into the system until “the FMLN agrees through dialogue to abandon the armed struggle.”

This effectively divorced the Salvadoran conflict from the solution worked out to dismantle the Nicaraguan rebel camps by early December. That solution was based on the more advanced negotiating process and the establishment of an international mechanism to oversee the disarming and relocation of the Nicaraguan Contras.

Despite Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani’s claims that the Tela agreement supports his position for immediate FMLN disarmament, officials here said Cristiani is working on a plan to rejuvenate a “dialogue commission” empowered to talk with the rebels.

He called for formation of such a group “to hold immediate talks” with the rebels when he took office June 1. But it was never formed, and the rebels said there was no basis for negotiations.

The FMLN, in a statement issued Tuesday over its clandestine radio, said it “reaffirms its will to contribute to the work of the political parties, the (Roman Catholic) archbishop and other social forces to arrange a dialogue and begin negotiations with the government.”

In line with that call, FMLN leaders are said by supporters here and in other countries to be preparing what one source called “a truly serious” plan to negotiate an end to the fighting, which has killed an estimated 70,000 people.

“It will be the FMLN’s first meaningful offer, without the conditions that made their plan last year unworkable,” one source said.

Several Proposals

In the weeks before the country’s presidential elections last March 19, the FMLN made several proposals that in essence called for the rebels to end the war and participate in the elections.

However, the government would not agree to postpone the voting for the six months demanded by the FMLN, nor would the rebels accept counterdemands that they disarm before the balloting and agree to a cease-fire.

The sources would not disclose any details of the new plan. But they said its overall scope has been approved in principle by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who reportedly has urged the FMLN to reopen negotiations with Cristiani.

FMLN leaders met July 29-30 in Mexico City with officials of El Salvador’s major opposition party, the Christian Democrats, who agreed the rebel approach was serious.