Willing to Talk, Salvador Rebel Leader Declares

A Salvadoran rebel leader said Thursday that he is ready to go to El Salvador for peace talks with the government, although he fears for his life if he does so.

Guillermo Ungo, president of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, said the Salvadoran rebels have accepted the offer of President Jose Napoleon Duarte on talks toward a possible truce. Ungo said, however, that the rebels want other issues placed on the agenda and are waiting for his answer to their proposal to meet in San Salvador with the Roman Catholic Church acting as intermediary.

The revolutionary front is the political ally of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the umbrella group joining the leftist guerrilla armies that have been fighting the U.S.-backed Salvadoran government for eight years.

Ungo said that if the talks could be arranged, he would return to El Salvador. But he said he feared that an attempt would be made to kill him. The government could claim “immunity” from responsibility by blaming right-wing extremists, he said.

Ungo also accused Duarte of threatening the chances of a successful dialogue by setting preconditions.

“The way not to have talks is to make conditions,” Ungo said in an interview with reporters at his home here.

“Talks are a means, not an end. There is a war going on. To ask us to lay down our arms is foolish.”