No Breach in Terrorism Policy, U.S. Asserts

Bush Administration officials insisted Wednesday that the U.S. role in helping free Americans trapped in El Salvador did not breach a longstanding U.S. policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists.

They would not confirm whether there had been a deal allowing the Salvadoran rebels to go free along with the Americans and other foreigners caught in the Sheraton Hotel on Tuesday after a pre-dawn assault by Salvadoran guerrillas.

“I don’t know that there was an agreement to let them go,” Assistant Secretary of State Bernard Aronson told reporters at a State Department briefing. He said that during negotiations, the Salvadoran forces withdrew from around the Sheraton Hotel. “The terrorists probably took advantage of that opportunity and other opportunities to get out,” he said.

He and other State Department officials confirmed that a U.S. Embassy official arranged for the open phone line over which the Salvadoran government conducted negotiations with the rebels. However, the officials sought to avoid giving the impression that the successful outcome had been the result of a deal between the United States and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).

President Bush acknowledged that he had dispatched special U.S. troops to El Salvador on his own Tuesday, before either obtaining a request from Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani or seeking his approval.

“I told him (Cristiani) what we were going to do, and he acquiesced,” Bush said.

Talking to reporters aboard Air Force One on a trip to Memphis, Tenn., Bush said: “When you see Americans held hostage like this, there’s a message in all of this: the President, backed by our defense secretary, is going to protect the lives of Americans however we can and go to any ends to protect the lives of American citizens.”

U.S. aides attempted to portray the rebels’ seizure of the Sheraton Hotel as an attempt to divert public attention from the “military shellacking” they have taken during their offensive in San Salvador.

“The FMLN failed totally in this offensive,” Aronson said. “They probably lost, in terms of wounded or killed, somewhere between 15% or 20% of their forces--maybe more.” He estimated that more than 1,000 of the leftist guerrillas were killed.

“So now, what they’re going to do and what they are doing, is simply trying to do something that’s unexpected (so they can) get on television. . .,” he said. “They will do something else in the next few days if they can. They will grab some embassy, they will grab some individual, if they can get away with it.”

State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler gave the following official U.S. account of the hotel incident:

At least a dozen rebels sneaked into the Sheraton Hotel before dawn Tuesday, at a time when at least 15 U.S. officials and some private American citizens were inside. The guerrillas did not occupy the entire hotel but succeeded in taking custody of 17 people, including “several” contract employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development and an American spouse.

At the same time, an armed U.S. military contingent of 12 “trainer-evaluators,” said to be on temporary duty in El Salvador, barricaded themselves inside the hotel.

“They warned the guerrillas that they would use their weapons only if forced to do so in their own defense,” Tutwiler said. “The guerrillas did not try to break into their area.”

During the telephone talks, the government arranged to have the FMLN turn over the foreigners to a team of Red Cross and Roman Catholic Church aides. The civilians were released Tuesday night. The rebels also disappeared from the hotel Tuesday night, and the U.S. military contingent walked out Wednesday morning.

Times staff writer David G. Savage contributed to this report.