El Salvador Peace Talks Reopened
Salvadoran rebels and the U.S.-backed government opened a new round of talks Friday under a rebel threat to start a new offensive unless significant progress is made.
This is the third round of peace talks since President Alfredo Cristiani’s administration took office in June, 1989. So far, there has been no substantial progress in ending the decade-long civil war.
Similar efforts in 1984 and 1987 by the previous Salvadoran administration ended in deadlock, but both sides said they had hopes of reaching some agreements.
Schafik Handal, a guerrilla leader, said the rebels planned to press for a reduction in El Salvador’s 54,000-man military force, and demand that the military be purged of officers who violated human rights.
Human rights groups estimate more than 72,000 people have been killed since the war began in October, 1979.
In San Salvador, the army increased security to deter a repeat of last November’s monthlong rebel offense that killed more than 2,000 people.
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