For 2 Key Salvador Leftists, Going Home From Exile May Be a Dangerous Journey

Two Salvadoran leftist leaders will begin a risky return home from seven years in exile today, taking advantage of the Central American peace plan that opened the door to amnesty for opponents of the U.S.-backed government of El Salvador.

Diplomats and political observers in El Salvador warned that rightist extremists might try to kill the returning leaders of the Revolutionary Democratic Front leaders, Ruben Zamora and Guillermo Ungo.

Msgr. Arturo Rivera y Damas, Roman Catholic archbishop of San Salvador, has suggested that they postpone their trip because of the danger.

Seven years ago this month, five other leaders of the Revolutionary Democratic Front, known by its Spanish acronym FDR, were assassinated by clandestine death squads. Political killings in El Salvador have increased in recent months.

But Zamora and Ungo said that the regional peace plan, signed Aug. 7 by presidents of the five Central American nations, has created an opportunity they must seize for open leftist political organizing. They said violence by the far right is a “logical” response to their return.

“What should we wait for?” asked Zamora, who went into exile in 1980 after his brother, Mario, was killed. “I have been in politics for 26 years. It is my life. Either I do this now or I change my life.”

Aquino’s Slaying Recalled

Recalling the Manila airport assassination of returning Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. in 1983, however, Zamora and Ungo are traveling in the company of international delegations and will fly separately and on different days. Zamora scheduled his flight from Mexico City to San Salvador for today. Ungo scheduled his arrival there Monday.

Both leaders have refused to accept an amnesty offered under the peace plan or to break their alliance with the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the military arm of the leftists.

The FDR officials had said they have never taken up arms so they need not accept amnesty. Their ties to the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front are not negotiable, they said.

Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte declared amnesty for guerrillas Nov. 5, the day the peace plan went into effect. In addition to amnesty, the plan calls for cease-fire, political dialogue, democratic reform and a halt to outside aid to rebels.

While the plan has prompted the return of some Salvadoran political exiles, as well as about 4,500 refugees, it has been unsuccessful in the broader goal of bringing peace to the country.

The guerrillas ended a brief cease-fire dialogue last month to protest the slaying of an opposition human rights leader, and the army broke a unilateral cease-fire called by the government. Diplomats hold little hope for a renewal of cease-fire talks soon.

Guerrillas Kill 17 Soldiers

Fighting in November has been heavy. The army launched an operation to rout guerrillas from the northern province of Chalatenango, and a series of guerrilla attacks on an army base in the central province of San Vicente killed or wounded at least 17 soldiers.

In one of their most extensive sabotage efforts of the war, guerrillas caused $14.5 million damage to El Salvador’s electrical system and, at one point, knocked out half of the country’s power. They also interdicted highway traffic for three days, paralyzing transportation and destroying five buses and vans. They reportedly wounded five civilians in one bus attack.

“Both sides have been inflexible,” said a political analyst in El Salvador. “With the possible exception of Ungo and Zamora, no one wants peace. Everyone is thinking about winning the war.”

Rightist political parties withdrew from a national reconciliation commission set up under the peace plan, saying that the government did not take the commission seriously.

Although more than 425 political prisoners were released from jail under the amnesty, the armed forces have not reported any guerrillas turning themselves in. The amnesty also covered thousands of rightist death squad killings committed in the early 1980s.

The amnesty offer for guerrillas is scheduled to expire Sunday.

Duarte Defines Conditions

Speaking at a military base earlier this month, Duarte warned that Zamora and Ungo could be jailed.

“If they come to say they reject violence as a means to taking power, that they completely disassociate themselves from the (guerrillas), . . . they will have no problem in returning to the country. But if not, . . . they risk that the law will be applied.”

“It is their problem,” Duarte said.

Zamora, who has been living in exile in Nicaragua, and Ungo, who has been in Panama, each represent a small party, which together make up the bulk of the FDR. Zamora’s party is the Popular Social Christian Movement, Ungo’s the National Revolutionary Movement. The return of the two social democratic politicians might create a problem for Duarte. If they successfully organize a peaceful leftist opposition, they could attract poor and working-class people disenchanted with Duarte’s Christian Democratic Party. If they are assassinated, Duarte’s assertions that democracy exists in El Salvador and that death squads have been dismantled will be shown to be false.

Military officials and rightist businessmen have said privately that they believe Zamora and Ungo are returning to create a legal political arm for the guerrillas.

Zamora and Ungo are taking extreme security precautions, including hiring a 24-hour bodyguard service. Hector Silva, a Revolutionary Democratic Front activist who returned quietly in 1984, said he had received a telephone threat last week warning that Ungo and Zamora would not “get away with this.”

Politicians and observers interviewed last week said unanimously that Ungo and Zamora’s return is extremely dangerous.

“They are terribly conscious of the value of their own deaths,” a Latin American diplomat said.

Zamora and Ungo said they have no desire to become martyrs.