Fears Raised for Shultz’s Safety at OAS Meeting : Agenda Changes Sought After Rocket Attack on Salvador Site of Conference

The upsurge in guerrilla violence here, including a rocket attack on the site where the Organization of American States meeting will be held next week, has raised such serious security concerns that the State Department has considered canceling Secretary of State George P. Shultz’s appearance at the group’s opening session on Monday.

Although that possibility has been discarded, at least for the time being, the Americans are demanding that the OAS revise its traditional opening-day agenda so that Shultz will be able to attend a few meetings, hold a news conference and give a speech early enough to allow him to leave the country before dark.

Fears for Shultz’s safety were heightened by the firing of a rocket at the Sheraton Hotel over the weekend as well as an accelerating rate of violence by leftist guerrillas in the last month, carried out under the slogan “Death to Reagan’s policies, Yankees out of El Salvador.”

Threat Issued

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the umbrella organization for the five main rebel groups, has threatened to disrupt the OAS session in order to embarrass the Salvadoran government and to demonstrate that it has the capability to carry out substantial operations in the face of military claims that the guerrillas no longer present a viable threat.

Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, El Salvador’s defense minister, said Wednesday that the guerrillas have prepared a plan of economic sabotage and an attack against an unnamed major military post during the OAS sessions.

He said he has ordered intensified patrols, especially around major electrical plants--a favorite rebel target.

In addition to calling for a revised agenda to accommodate Shultz’s perceived security needs, the State Department and the U.S. Embassy here are trying to make certain that the secretary’s schedule and travel plans are as vague as possible.

He will be flown by helicopter from the international airport, a 40-minute drive from San Salvador, to an undisclosed location in the city and then driven in an armored limousine to the Sheraton, which sits on a hilltop in the wealthy Escalon neighborhood on the capital’s western edge.

At virtually no time will Shultz be seen in public, with nearly all his non-travel time spent inside the walled hotel complex.

The heightened security concerns were evident Thursday morning when all parking in the immediate area of the hotel was banned and dozens of army troops wearing steel battle helmets and carrying automatic weapons joined police in surrounding the hotel. Even vehicles carrying people with approved credentials were carefully searched before they were allowed to enter the grounds.

In spite of the heavy precautions, sources indicate that U.S., Salvadoran and OAS officials are clearly worried.

In just over a week and in the face of a strong military and police presence here in the capital, the guerrillas have mounted a mortar attack on the National Guard headquarters downtown, hit the Sheraton with a shoulder-fired, anti-tank rocket and placed bombs at the homes of two senior government ministers.

Most diplomats doubt that the FMLN, as the guerrillas are generally known, will directly attack the OAS during its weeklong annual meeting, particularly since its most militant leader, Joaquin Villalobos, and several other rebel spokesman have just completed a tour of Latin America to gather regional support for their cause.

‘Unlikely, Counterproductive’

“It’s unlikely and counterproductive for them to lob grenades over the Sheraton walls when they’ve just been talking about their desire for a peaceful negotiated settlement,” said one European diplomat.

However, the guerrillas have not always practiced rational public relations, and some other diplomats think the FMLN could stage several actions here this weekend and in other parts of the country during the coming week.

“The next couple of weeks could see a lot of attempts to steal the limelight from the government during the OAS (meeting),” said a Western diplomat, “and to convince people that they (the guerrillas) are not just confined” to their traditional rural strongholds.

“They would like to expose the government as not as solid as the government likes to say,” the diplomat added, “and they want to show the world that they still are a force here so that other countries might accept the idea that the only end to the war is through negotiations and power-sharing with the FMLN.”

One possible guerrilla tactic might come to light Tuesday, when unions and other groups sympathetic to the guerrillas have scheduled a mass demonstration in the heart of San Salvador.

Some officials say they expect the protest leaders to try to provoke the police into taking harsh security measures that could embarrass the government.