High Communist Party Official in El Salvador Seized
The second in command of El Salvador’s Communist Party was captured by Salvadoran authorities and is providing police with “ample information” on the group’s terrorist activities, the National Police announced Thursday.
A police statement said that the official, Americo Mauro Araujo, was captured recently but did not give a date. The rebels’ clandestine Radio Venceremos confirmed Araujo’s arrest, saying he was apprehended Aug. 9 in San Salvador.
The statement said Araujo told police that guerrilla groups fighting to overthrow the U.S.-backed government “drew lots among themselves” to decide which organization would carry out a massacre at two sidewalk cafes here in June.
Thirteen people--four off-duty U.S. Marines, two American businessmen and seven Latin Americans--were gunned down June 19 by the guerrillas.
Unofficial reports have also said the rebels drew lots, but three jailed rebels believed to have participated in the ambush have insisted they knew nothing about it.
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