Salvador Rebel Warnings Cut Night Traffic

A highway curfew proclaimed by leftist guerrillas has sharply reduced nighttime traffic in the Salvadoran countryside.

Since Jan. 29, guerrilla broadcasts on Radio Venceremos have been warning motorists to stay off the highways between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m.

“The army moves its troops in convoys at night, and our forces will strike all kinds of nocturnal traffic on all the country’s highways,” the broadcasts warn.

Jorge Villacorta, a Salvadoran rebel spokesman in Costa Rica, said the curfew has been successful. “It is working and it is going to be permanent,” Villacorta said by telephone.

Col. Ricardo Cienfuegos, a spokesman for the Salvadoran army, said the curfew has not changed anything for the armed forces.

“It doesn’t mean anything, it’s just propaganda,” Cienfuegos said. “We are working in the same way, patrolling the highways and everything.”

Highway Traffic Sparse

He noted that civilian highway traffic at night has been sparse since the fighting began, even before the guerrilla curfew was imposed.

But Noe Rodriguez, the owner of a trucking company, said that many trucks were using the highways at night until the curfew was ordered. Now, Rodriguez said, there is virtually no nighttime truck traffic.

“We have to comply,” he said. “The best thing is to be prudent and not go out.”

Humberto Ramirez, a dispatcher at the Eastern Bus Terminal in San Salvador, said the curfew has forced the cancellation of all nighttime bus traffic in eastern El Salvador, where the guerrillas are strongest. Ramirez said the nighttime runs had accounted for 20% of highway bus traffic in that part of the country.

Jose Granados, who owns and operates a minibus in eastern San Miguel province, said highways there are deserted at night because of the curfew.