Rebels Bomb Power Lines, Darken Half of El Salvador

Bombings by leftist guerrillas left nearly half of El Salvador without electricity Sunday on the third day of a new campaign to sabotage the nation’s economy.

The rebel-run Radio Venceremos called on civilians to “take precautions since we have begun to blow up electric poles and towers as part of our sabotage, which is accompanied by a national transportation blockade.”

Six of El Salvador’s 14 provinces were left without electricity Sunday. The capital, San Salvador, was not affected.

High-Voltage Towers Hit

Guerrillas claimed they destroyed 12 high-voltage towers and 20 electrical poles, bringing down power lines, mostly in the eastern area of the country, where four provinces have been without electricity for two days. The central provinces of San Vicente and La Paz were also without power Sunday.

Rebels said they made an agreement with workers of the state hydroelectric commission that workers would not repair the damaged poles and towers.

Also on Sunday, traffic was substantially reduced throughout the country by the rebels’ highway blockade. No violence was reported. Army troops were guarding the roads, the Defense Ministry said.

The sabotage and the blockade marked the first such campaign this year.

Last year, guerrillas staged seven traffic “boycotts,” as they are called in El Salvador, and succeeded in paralyzing ground transportation in the eastern and northern regions of the country.

At least 50 civilians were killed during the 1986 campaigns, when guerrillas destroyed about 100 cars and trucks on the nation’s roads.

The insurgents have repeatedly called for establishment of a new government in which they would have some role.

President Jose Napoleon Duarte’s U.S.-backed administration has insisted that the rebels must first lay down their arms and join the “democratic process” to gain a share of power.