El Salvador Must Now Fight Civil War on Economic Front, Defense Minister Says

In a speech on El Salvador’s Day of the Soldier, Defense Minister Carlos Vides Casanova said Tuesday that the focus of the Salvadoran civil war in the next three years should be on the economic front.

Without mentioning the United States by name, Vides Casanova said El Salvador has a right to continued economic aid from “friendly countries” because it is fighting its leftist insurgents on behalf of Western democracy.

Duarte, Diplomats

Present for the ceremony were President Jose Napoleon Duarte, foreign diplomats and the friends and families of 206 army recruits.

Duarte is scheduled to travel to the United States on May 16 to meet with President Reagan and members of Congress before accepting an honorary doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. During the week, the House of Representatives will debate the foreign aid bill for fiscal 1986.

Duarte aides declined to say how much economic aid the president will seek. In Washington, State Department officials said they are considering asking Congress for supplemental economic aid to El Salvador this year.

In the current fiscal year, Congress has appropriated $128.3 million in military aid and $322.4 million in economic aid. For fiscal 1986, which begins Oct. 1, the Reagan Administration has requested $132.6 million in military aid and $350.8 million in economic aid.

Vides Casanova said the armed forces now have the upper hand in the guerrilla war and are stocked with enough military equipment “to satisfy our tactical and strategic needs.”

Nevertheless, he said, the military is concerned about the three years ahead because “structural, moral and economic strength is as important as military strength. . . .”

Guarantee Productivity

Apparently speaking to the foreign diplomats present, he said:

“Friendly countries should understand that, having gained a step in the orderly democratic process of the country, what is needed is sufficient economic backing . . . to guarantee our productivity and our capacity to generate jobs.

“If at this point we are denied the right that we have to receive this aid, because we have sacrificed our lives and spilled our blood for Western democracy, the last five years . . . would be useless.”

Vides Casanova vowed to support the Duarte government, but he made it clear that the armed forces consider themselves to be in charge of the domestic situation.

He said Duarte has the right to pursue peace, meaning peace talks with the guerrillas, within the limits of the law, but he added, “We should not forget that force is always the ultimate guarantee of peace.” He urged the guerrillas to return to civilian life.

Duarte has held two rounds of talks with members of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front and its political arm, the Democratic Revolutionary Front. In the first of these, last October, Duarte offered amnesty and participation in elections. The rebels, however, say they will be killed if they openly take part in elections.

In the second round of talks, on Nov. 30, the rebels put forth a proposal that called for power-sharing, merging the rebel force with the army, withdrawing U.S. military trainers and ending weapons imports.

Duarte said the proposal was unconstitutional. The military and right-wing groups oppose any sharing of power and any integration of the rebels into the army.

Third Round Delayed

A third round of talks has been delayed for more than five months. Julio Rey Prendes, minister of the presidency, said the government has proposed a meeting with the guerrillas in private, outside of El Salvador, but that the rebels have not responded.

According to Ruben Zamora of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, in a recent interview in Managua, Nicaragua, the government has yet to respond to a rebel proposal for a meeting. Zamora, too, said the talks could be held in private.