5 Salvadoran Rebel Groups Plan Military Unity

Leftist guerrillas announced Wednesday that they are planning to unite their five rebel groups into one army and vowed to broaden the war against the U.S.-backed government.

The rebels, broadcasting on clandestine radio stations, said the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front eventually will become a single army rather than an umbrella organization for the five distinct guerrilla groups. They did not say when the merger would take place, how the armies would be joined, or who would lead a combined force.

Although the rebels have said before, in general terms, that they would like to join forces, their statement provided the first outline of such a merger. It was broadcast on Radio Venceremos by the People’s Revolutionary Army and on Radio Farabundo Marti by the Popular Liberation Forces. The two groups are the largest of the rebel organizations and, in the past, they have been at odds over political and military strategy.

‘Only Division of Labor’

“We have gained a level of unity in our political thinking so that now there are no substantial strategic differences, . . .” the rebels said. “We have one sole military line regarding strategy and tactics. . . . The only division the enemy can expect of us is the division of labor . . . to guarantee that our blows are harder and our advances, more solid.”

If the guerrillas are able to unite their forces, it would allow them to pool money, weapons, ammunition and other resources, as well as to coordinate military attacks throughout the Central American country.

However, a U.S. official, who asked not to be further identified, said that he considers the announcement “puffery” designed for the leftists’ own consumption and that he doubts that the groups will be able to put their differences aside.

“Who is going to submerge his ego to let someone else be in charge?” the official asked. “The fact is there are serious differences within the FMLN . . . and there still are obvious contradictions with the FDR.” The FDR--the Revolutionary Democratic Front--is the political face of the Farabundo Marti group.

The five rebel armies created the Marti front in 1980 but have maintained separate leaderships under a nominal joint high command.

Two-Phase Strategy

The Popular Liberation Forces have traditionally pursued a dual strategy: organizing political support among the rural population as well as conducting military operations.

The People’s Revolutionary Army, on the other hand, has focused on conventional warfare. It pursued large-scale military victories until the government’s army improved and began to use U.S.-supplied helicopters and gunships, forcing it to break into smaller units.

The political and military objectives outlined in the radio broadcasts appear to combine elements of both groups’ strategies.

They say they will continue to pursue a war of attrition through economic sabotage and by inflicting casualties on the army. They plan to fight an urban war as well as to step up their rural campaign.

On the military front, the rebels said, “our objective is to bleed to the maximum the living forces of the enemy . . . (and) to deepen economic and political destabilization. . . .”

Although the insurgents have said they want to pursue a dialogue with the government of President Jose Napoleon Duarte, the broadcasts made only one ambiguous reference to discussions as a political goal.