Cristiani Assumes Presidency; Salvador Rebels Step Up Drive

President Jose Napoleon Duarte today handed over power to his successor, rightist businessman Alfredo Cristiani, while Marxist rebels stepped up their campaign and threatened to make the country “ungovernable.”

It was the first transfer of power from one elected head of state to another in El Salvador.

Soldiers patrolled the capital and roads were deserted after guerrillas ordered a ban on transportation and set off bombs to protest the inauguration of Cristiani. His political party is blamed for poor living conditions of the peasants who make up most of El Salvador’s population.

“Our government will be based fundamentally on the principles of liberty, honesty, legality and security,” the new president said in his inaugural speech.

Cristiani, 41, a U.S.-educated coffee grower, was elected March 19. Voter turnout was the lowest in a decade, which was partly attributed to a ban on traffic ordered by rebels who have been fighting a nine-year war with the U.S.-backed government.

Cristiani’s right-wing Arena party was founded in 1981 by a cashiered army major and alleged death-squad kingpin, Roberto D’Aubuisson.