Salvadoran Rebels Offer New Truce Plan : But Official Calls Cease-Fire Proposal Tied to Vote Delay a ‘Trick’

Marxist guerrillas called Tuesday for a two-month cease-fire in El Salvador’s civil war if the government will agree to postpone the presidential election until autumn, but the minister of defense described the proposal as “a trick with little credibility.”

Officials attending an all-party conference to frame a response to an overall peace plan that the guerrillas had put forth earlier said they are working on a possible postponement of the elections, now scheduled for March 19, until the end of April.

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the umbrella organization for five rebel groups, had said in the earlier proposal that if the elections were set back to Sept. 15, it would take part in them and abide by the results.

The FMLN, as the guerrilla organization is known, dropped previous demands that the guerrillas be given a share of governing power and that their 7,000 fighters be integrated into the army.

Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, the defense minister, said the guerrillas’ proposal is aimed at disrupting the elections and dividing the political parties and the army. He said the military will not tolerate any violation of the constitution, which calls for a presidential election before the end of March.

The cease-fire offer was made in a statement issued to reporters Tuesday morning. It said that a truce could be arranged to begin 30 days before a negotiated new election date and continue for 30 days afterward.

The offer came after Salvadoran politicians and U.S. officials, who have privately expressed doubts about the seriousness of the earlier rebel proposal, criticized it for not addressing a number of issues. For example, it made no mention of a cease-fire except for five days at election time.

Question Remains

Tuesday’s statement, in addressing that criticism, left unexplained why a cease-fire would be necessary for 30 days after the election if the guerrillas were willing to accept the outcome.

And although previous guerrilla statements have said that the Sept. 15 date is negotiable, Tuesday’s statement said again that this date, which is the anniversary of Salvadoran independence, is of prime importance.

Nevertheless, the statement emphasized that “the FMLN has been enormously flexible” and will continue its effort to put an end to a war that has taken the lives of 45,000 or more people.

With the military opposed to extending the election past March on grounds that it would violate the constitution, a position largely supported by the U.S. Embassy here, the all-party conference has been struggling to compromise on a new date.

A Christian Democratic Party delegate said there may be a loophole that will permit a delay until April 30. All candidates would be asked to withdraw from the first round of voting and the voting would be rescheduled for the end of April, when there was to have been a run-off if necessary.

It is not clear that the FMLN would accept such a plan. Although the guerrillas said they are flexible on a date, a rebel spokesmen said they need time to organize their followers as well as to negotiate a reorganization of the electoral machinery to ensure a fair vote.