Peace Talks to Start Today in El Salvador : Meeting Is First Between Government and Rebels in Three Years

For the first time in nearly three years, President Jose Napoleon Duarte and leftist guerrillas fighting to oust his U.S.-backed government will meet today for peace talks, a meeting brought about by the Central American peace accord.

Neither side was optimistic in advance, both saying that they do not expect any quick agreement on a cease-fire, which is supposed to be in effect by Nov. 7 under the regional peace plan.

Yet there was a mood of anticipation in the capital Saturday before the arrival of exiled political leaders from Panama and guerrilla commanders from the countryside.

The scheduled rebel arrivals were delayed, however, because of what the rebels charged was an operation by the Salvadoran army in the north. The army denied that any operation was under way and said the rebel leaders were expected to arrive this morning.

Public Skeptical

Public skepticism has been high because of the failure of three previous attempts since 1984 to negotiate peace in the country’s civil war, now nearly eight years old. And Duarte issued a public warning to the guerrillas that “each unsuccessful dialogue wears down the will of the people.”

The message was brought home to Duarte’s own Christian Democratic Party in a poll conducted by a Christian Democratic institute. Asked which of the nation’s political parties could best resolve the country’s problems, more than 65% of the Salvadorans interviewed said “none.” Only 5% said they thought the ruling Christian Democrats could do the job.

The peace talks are to begin this morning in the papal nuncio’s residence in San Salvador.

Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas of San Salvador will mediate, helped by Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez. Eight-member negotiating teams will represent the government and the rebels, and the nuncio, Bishop Francesco de Nittis, will sit in as an observer.

Neither the government nor the guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front have altered their basic positions since their first session of dialogue in the northern Salvadoran town of La Palma in October, 1984. The government insists that the guerrillas put down their arms and become a part of the country’s existing political system, while the guerrillas argue that Duarte’s government is sustained by the United States and that there are two military forces in the country, their own and the government’s. They say that guerrilla combatants and the armed forces should be integrated into a single military force, that a transition government should be formed with full rebel participation and that a new constitution should be drafted.

No Agenda

The two sides are meeting without an agenda. The guerrillas propose to put aside the larger issues that stymied previous talks to focus on smaller and possibly more attainable goals, such as agreements for further meetings and for a gradual de-escalation of the war.

“This may not be the moment for substantial issues,” Salvador Samayoa, a spokesman for the Farabundo Marti Front, said in an interview. “But it may be the moment to make advances we have not been able to make up to now.”

The rebels want to talk about an 18-point proposal that they offered last May for “humanizing” the war through such steps as eliminating the use of armed aircraft, artillery and mines.

Duarte, who will head the government team at the talks, has rejected the rebel plan, saying at a press conference late Friday that it “implies continuing the war.”

Duarte said his agenda is the one laid out in the regional peace accord, which was signed by the five Central American presidents in Guatemala City on Aug. 7 and which favors constituted governments over insurgent groups. The peace plan calls for cease-fires in the region’s guerrilla conflicts, amnesty programs for rebels and democratic reforms by Nov. 7. It also calls for an end to foreign aid to rebels.

Political analysts say Duarte appears to be caught between competing pressures as he approaches the talks.

On one side, the U.S. Embassy, the Salvadoran armed forces and political forces of the right want Duarte to take a tough stand. On the other side, the region’s presidents want progress toward peace and expect Duarte to make an earnest effort to achieve it.

Duarte must also think about the future of his party, which hopes to retain its majority in the Legislative Assembly in parliamentary elections next March and hold onto the presidency in an election due in 1989. During his campaign in 1984, Duarte promised peace and prosperity to his poor and working-class supporters, but he has been unable to deliver either.

President Reagan has said the Central American peace plan is “fatally flawed,” and his special envoy to Central America, Morris Busby, visited Duarte last week to reiterate the Administration’s belief that the plan will not work, according to a Salvadoran presidential aide.

Duarte will be accompanied at today’s peace talks by Defense Minister Carlos Vides Casanova and possibly another military officer. His team also will include Communications Minister Julio Rey Prendes, Planning Minister Fidel Chavez Mena, businessman Federico Block, pro-government union leader Jose Luis Grande Preza and perhaps the leader of a rightist political party.

The Farabundo Marti Front’s delegation will include Leonel Gonzalez, commander of the Popular Liberation Forces, one of five guerrilla organizations within front; Facundo Guardado, second in command to Gonzalez; Schafik Jorge Handal, commander of the Armed Liberation Forces, and Jorge Melendez, second in command of the People’s Revolutionary Army. Accompanying the guerrillas will be officials of the Revolutionary Democratic Front, an alliance of party and other civic group leaders that serves as the political arm of the guerrilla front. These will be Guillermo Ungo and Hector Oqueli of the Revolutionary National Movement and Ruben Zamora and Jorge Villacorta of the Popular Social Christian Party.