The War’s Not Over Until It’s Over : But unilateral leftist move raises possibility of real Salvador peace for first time

With luck, the fighting is over in El Salvador today, even though the war is not. Certainly the decision by the five rebel commanders of the Faribundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) to put down their weapons midnight Friday provides more hope for permanent peace than at any time since fighting started nearly 12 years ago.

President Alfredo Cristiani should respond with a cease-fire of his own and get down to the last few items that stand between armistice and formal peace. Whether or not he does so, however, the rebel move at least increases the chance that right-wing elements will fail in their attempt to foil peace talks.

The FMLN decision was obviously prompted in part by Cristiani’s own threat this week to break off negotiations because of rebel military actions in which power lines were sabotaged and several Salvadorans who strayed into combat zones were killed. As rebel commander Joaquin Villalobos, thought to be the chief guerrilla strategist, put the terms of the cease-fire: the rebels would fight only “in case of an extraordinary attack.”

Now two major questions stand between the government and the guerrillas. How many rebels, if any, would be allowed to join a new national police force? How much of the land that rebels occupied during the fighting could they keep? The FMLN also wants assurances that officers accused of civil-rights violations will be brought to trial.

These are important and intricate questions, but they are not insoluble, nor are they so important they should lead to more slaughter.

An estimated 75,000 Salvadorans have died in this war, either in battle or at the hands of guerrillas, army death squads or private armies organized by members of El Salvador’s oligarchy to help it fight off land reform and hang onto power.

The United States has spent $4 billion helping the Salvadoran Establishment hold off the rebels, whose forces were never big enough to win but always too big to be defeated.

The Salvadoran government has carried on hit-and-run negotiations for many years. But in September the government acceded to a U.N.-sponsored agreement in principle, to end the war and hold bilateral talks. This has been the closest the government has come to real peace negotiations.

Peace in all five of the region’s countries is essential to any hope for ending poverty in Central America. It is time to set aside this remnant of the Cold War. It’s time to strike compromises that are relatively small compared with the immense benefits that are possible--if the shooting finally stops for good.