Salvador Rebels Call Holiday Truce; Army Refuses to Comply

Guerrilla leaders announced Friday that they will take no offensive military action during the Christmas and New Year holidays and urged the government to do the same.

But an army spokesman said the military will not agree to a cease-fire, as it did last year following highly publicized peace talks with the guerrillas.

“For us, there are no vacations,” an army officer said, asking not to be identified by name. “At no moment will we refrain from the pursuit of terrorists.”

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, a coalition of five rebel forces, and the Revolutionary Democratic Front, a political group allied with the guerrillas, said in a statement that their decision was taken unilaterally and is not conditioned on the army’s agreeing to follow suit.

Two 3-Day Recesses

The rebels said they will suspend military offensives for three days at Christmastime and for three more over the New Year holiday but added that they will fight back if attacked. The cease-fire is to be in effect from 1 a.m. Dec. 24 to midnight Dec. 26, and during the same hours from Dec. 31 to Jan. 2.

“Our forces will cease all military activities of an offensive nature against the government armed forces so that the Salvadoran people can all enjoy the peace that this will generate,” the rebel statement said, “and also to permit government soldiers to claim and enjoy the opportunity to return to the heart of their families.”

It said the rebels will guarantee safe passage to anyone who wishes to return home to areas controlled or contested by the guerrillas.

“During the period of the truce,” the statement said, “military activity will be limited to defensive, in case of an attack by the government army on our forces or the civilian population in areas under revolutionary control.”

Guillermo Ungo, a leader of the Revolutionary Democratic Front, or FDR, read the statement to a reporter by telephone from Panama, where he lives in exile.

Arrest Threat

He said FDR leaders had planned to make the announcement today at a National University forum on peace but that they will not be able to attend because President Jose Napoleon Duarte threatened to have them arrested if they enter the country.

The forum, to discuss a negotiated settlement to the six-year civil war, was to have been attended by representatives of the government and the guerrillas. The government declined to attend but the rebels had said they would like to send delegations from both fronts if the government could guarantee their safety.

Duarte said the rebels’ acceptance was a “provocation” and that members of the FDR and Farabundo Marti front would be arrested if they were considered to be responsible for crimes against the government.

Asked if the FDR leaders in exile were responsible for crimes, Duarte said: “Yes. They have to define themselves. Either they are with the guerrillas, or they are with democracy. If they support the guerrillas and their actions, then they must answer for their crimes.”

Many Kidnapings

In the past year, groups of the Farabundo Marti front have kidnaped the president’s daughter, an army colonel and about 33 municipal officials, and opened fire on an outdoor cafe, killing 13 people, including four U.S. Marines.