World

Despite a last-minute offer by Marxist guerrillas to talk directly with the government, El Salvador’s army chief of staff as well as President Jose Napoleon Duarte indicated that there is almost no chance that they would accept a rebel peace plan to end nine years of civil war. The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front said it will send a high-ranking delegation to San Salvador to discuss the plan. But Col. Rene Emilio Ponce, the nation’s most powerful military officer, said the plan is “aimed at creating chaos.” Duarte also was not optimistic, pointing out again that a key part of the plan, a postponement of elections now set for March 19, is unconstitutional.