Blackout Asked on Duarte Kidnap News

The Salvadoran government Monday appealed to reporters to stop revealing details of negotiations for the release of the daughter of President Jose Napoleon Duarte that are taking place by radio.

The request came after journalists monitoring short-wave frequencies Saturday reported an exchange between Duarte and his daughter’s captors. Duarte offered to free 22 rebel prisoners in exchange for Ines Guadalupe Duarte Duran, her companion at the time of the kidnaping and 20 small-town mayors kidnaped since April.

Duarte also asked his daughter’s kidnapers for help in identifying several alleged political prisoners whose release the abductors have demanded, although officials say they have been unable to find them.

Saying that negotiations are at a critical point, Minister of Communications Julio Rey Prendes called a press conference to ask reporters to withhold news of further negotiations for at least 24 hours. He said that the request comes from the president, not from the abductors of his daughter.

“This is a personal plea to try to continue the negotiations without making known all of the details, because this can jeopardize the negotiations,” Rey Prendes said.

Duarte Duran and her companion, Ana Cecilia Villeda, were abducted Sept. 10. The kidnapers have identified themselves as the Pedro Pablo Castillo Command of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the latter an umbrella organization of five guerrilla bands fighting the Duarte government. The Castillo group was unknown before the kidnaping.

The abductors have demanded the release of 34 prisoners, but the government says it does not have custody of several of those named.

The guerrillas repeatedly have demanded to know the whereabouts of colleagues they say were picked up by authorities. They accuse the armed forces of torturing and killing political prisoners.

Accounting for the missing people could prove difficult for the government if military or security forces are implicated in their disappearances. The Duarte government has been cautious about public criticism of the traditionally powerful armed forces.

So far, the military has backed Duarte in his negotiations with the kidnapers, agreeing to the release of prisoners.

In Saturday’s radio contact with the kidnapers, Duarte said that three prisoners already have been released and that the government is prepared to turn over 22 others. The president asked the abductors for more information to help identify missing people.

“We need from you as soon as possible photographs and the affiliations of the above-mentioned persons to facilitate the completion of the investigation we have opened into each one of them,” the president said.

The Farabundo Marti Front has never claimed responsibility for the Duarte Duran kidnaping, although the prisoners the Castillo Command is demanding are front leaders.