Salvador Home of Key Cristiani Backer Attacked

The home of one of President Alfredo Cristiani’s closest friends and advisers was attacked Thursday in what some sources said was a signal by extreme right-wing elements that the government of El Salvador has gone too far in pursuing murder charges against army officers.

The machine-gun assault occurred just after noon at the luxurious home of Saul Suster, head of the nation’s telephone company and a lifelong friend of Cristiani. Suster, who is American-educated, is considered a political moderate if not a progressive influence on the president.

Suster was not at the home in suburban Santa Tecla, but two of his security guards were killed and two others were wounded in the attack, in which nearby homes sustained large gouges in their walls.

The Salvadoran military press office immediately blamed the country’s Marxist guerrilla movement, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN. Rebel sources denied the attack.

“It’s not impossible that the FMLN did it,” one diplomat said, “but it’s not their style. They usually go after hard-line right-wingers who won’t get much sympathy.”

Diplomatic and government sources said the attack most likely was ordered by radical right-wing members of Cristiani’s own political party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena), and elements of the military.

The sources said Suster was being blamed for influencing Cristiani to vigorously pursue members of the military for the November murders of six Jesuit priests, their cook and her teen-age daughter.

Under pressure from the U.S. Embassy, international human rights groups and other governments, Cristiani has promised to find and punish the killers. Suster was described as pushing for prosecution in order to head off any movement in the U.S. Congress to end the massive American aid program and to establish Cristiani’s power over the right.

An army colonel, Guillermo Alfredo Benavides Moreno, and eight other officers and enlisted men have been charged with the murders.