Salvador Detains 2 Californians

Police detained and questioned two Southern California women working in a Salvadoran resettlement camp and then turned them over to the American Embassy, officials said today.

An Episcopal minister, the Rev. Donald Lewis of San Marino, Calif., identified the two as Kathleene Hoy and Mary Parmenter of Pasadena. He said their detention was a part of increased harassment of lay U.S. church workers by Salvadoran authorities in recent months. The two women were detained “for entering restricted areas without authorization,” Treasury Police agent Orlando Ramirez said, and were released into the custody of U.S. Vice Consul Mark Schall after several hours of questioning.