Salvadoran Rebels Halt Demobilizing

Leftist rebel leaders said Friday that they had indefinitely suspended the demobilization of their guerrilla forces as El Salvador’s peace process floundered.

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, said it would not meet Friday’s deadline to demobilize the second 20% of its 8,000 rebels, and it accused the government of violating the peace accords that ended 12 years of civil war in January.

Four days of intense U.N.-mediated negotiations and the approval late Thursday of legislative changes allowing the FMLN’s legalization as a political party within 100 days failed to defuse the crisis.

The murder of a leftist trade union official, Ivan Ramirez, by gunmen early Friday added to the tension.

The FMLN says the government has failed to draw up economic assistance programs for demobilizing rebels and that the formation of a civilian police force including former rebels is running months behind schedule.

“The central element of the peace process is to transform this country, it is not to simply disarm the FMLN,” said rebel leader Joaquin Villalobos.

“They want to walk through the peace process while we fly. This is not possible,” he told reporters.

Government ministers say economic assistance programs are in place and that delays in the peace process are caused by the FMLN’s failure to present accurate lists of beneficiaries and the slow arrival of international aid.