Duarte Negotiating by Radio With His Daughter’s Kidnapers

Two weeks after his daughter was kidnaped, President Jose Napoleon Duarte is personally conducting painstaking negotiations by radio with her abductors.

Sources say that leftist guerrillas holding the president’s daughter, Ines Guadalupe Duarte Duran, 35, are demanding the release of a number of political prisoners in exchange for her freedom.

Duarte is said to be seeking a consensus among a variety of national organizations on what concessions might be made to the kidnapers.

The president reportedly has spoken by radio with the kidnapers on five occasions since they abducted his daughter and a companion, Ana Cecilia Villeda, at a private university here Sept. 10. The most recent radio contact was Monday, and another is expected today.

In at least three of the contacts, the kidnapers played tape recordings of Duarte Duran’s voice.

The kidnapers have claimed to be members of a previously unknown organization called the Pedro Pablo Castillo commando group.

The kidnapers first demanded that the government suspend all anti-guerrilla military operations as a precondition for negotiating. The government did not meet that demand, but negotiations have begun anyway.

Sources said the kidnapers have demanded the release of captured guerrillas and other political prisoners. The list contains a “large number” of names, one source said, but he refused to be more specific.

One potential problem in the negotiations is that the government denies that it is holding some of those listed.

Duarte is said to be aware of a potential conflict of interest between his roles of president of the nation and father of the kidnap victim. As a result, he is seeking a consensus among national organizations such as labor unions, political parties and the press on how far the government should go to meet the kidnapers’ demands, a source said. The president met Tuesday with the leaders of several of the organizations.