American to Be Freed in El Salvador : Central America: No evidence that Conn. woman helped hide weapons, President Cristiani says.

President Alfredo Cristiani said today that an American accused of storing weapons for leftist rebels will be released from prison because there is no evidence that she helped conceal the weapons.

Cristiani said that Jennifer Casolo, 28, of Thomaston, Conn., will probably be released later today and deported Thursday but that she will be asked to remain available as a witness in the case.

However, Cristiani told a news conference that he thought Casolo probably had in fact cooperated with rebels of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, who launched a major urban offensive in San Salvador last month.

Cristiani said she is being released only because of lack of evidence.

“I am morally convinced that Miss Casolo is guilty,” Cristiani said.

The president said he had not been pressured by the government of the United States to order Casolo’s release. The United States is a key financial supporter of the rightist government in its war with the rebels.

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) said earlier today that he had been told in telephone conversations with Salvadoran officials, including Cristiani, that Casolo will be released and expelled from the country by Thursday afternoon.

Cristiani “informs me that the judge in her case has ultimately concluded the charges against Jennifer were not fully supported by the evidence, and that she could not thus be fairly prosecuted under Salvadoran law,” Dodd said.

Casolo went to El Salvador in 1985 to work for Christian Education Seminars, a group that organizes tours for Americans to learn about the 10-year-old civil war.

Casolo and two Salvadoran friends were arrested Nov. 26 after a police raid on her house in San Salvador. From the walled garden behind the house, police said, they uncovered 103 mortar grenades, 213 blocks of dynamite, 405 detonators, 150 feet of slow-burning fuse and 21,945 rounds of ammunition for Soviet-made automatic rifles.