Salvador Rebels Demand Major Reforms for Peace

El Salvador’s leftist guerrillas Wednesday handed the government a sweeping proposal for an indefinite cease-fire in exchange for major political reforms to bring an end to their country’s decade-long civil war by next February.

The three-phase plan--the most detailed offer by either side since the war began--calls for a new Supreme Court, attorney general and Legislative Assembly but would leave in place the right-wing government of President Alfredo Cristiani.

The guerrillas also want reform of the constitution and military and government prosecution in human rights cases, particularly the 1980 assassination of the archbishop of San Salvador, Msgr. Oscar Arnulfo Romero. In turn, the rebels would disarm and form a legal political party to compete in elections.

Joaquin Villalobos and Schafik Handal, two of the five commanders of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, outlined the proposal at a news conference in Mexico City before entering their first peace talks with the 3 1/2-month-old Cristiani government.

“We are not asking the government of the republic to step down (or that Cristiani) give up the legitimacy he says he obtained through elections,” Villalobos said. “What we are asking is that, for the sake of peace, it be put to a test.”

The government delegates, led by the minister of the presidency, retired Col. Juan Antonio Martinez Varela, and Justice Minister Oscar Santamaria, declined to comment on the rebel offer.

However, El Salvador’s ambassador to Mexico, Sigfrido Montes Cruz, criticized the rebels for making their proposal public, saying it was “a form of pressure.”

The government was clearly unprepared for such a broad guerrilla plan and brought a smaller procedural proposal calling for two-day meetings every two months to be held alternately in Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Guatemala. The government plan would bar mediators and observers.

Santamaria described the nine-hour meeting as “positive” and said the government is satisfied with the results. In a separate press conference, however, the rebels complained about the government’s insistence on procedure.

“I think we need to discuss something more than whether we sit at a round or a square table,” Villalobos said.

The meeting, at a Mexican government complex in the capital, is to resume today.

The previous government of President Jose Napoleon Duarte met three times with the guerrillas but reached no accords.

The guerrillas’ new proposal does not call for direct power-sharing or an integration of the rebel and government armies--two issues that were major stumbling blocks in negotiations with the Duarte government.

Nonetheless, the proposal outlines such a fundamental restructuring of the Salvadoran government and society that it is likely to be rejected by hard-liners in Cristiani’s Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena party) and by conservative sectors of the powerful military.

Gambling on U.S. Stance

The rebels apparently are gambling that the Bush Administration is looking for a way out of the Salvadoran conflict and will find the plan workable. Their proposal emphasizes judicial reform, which the Bush Administration sees as key to ending the war.

The U.S. government has spent more than $3 billion to support the Salvadoran government against the Marxist-led guerrillas. The aid has prevented a rebel military victory, but the war is stalemated. U.S. officials estimate that the guerrillas still have 6,000 full-time combatants, plus an unknown number of part-time militia and civilian supporters.

The rebel plan calls for negotiating a cease-fire by Nov. 15 involving eight issues, including:

-- Initiation of judicial reform. The government and current opposition parties would have to agree on a new attorney general and members of the Supreme Court.

-- Prosecution of members of the so-called “death squads” believed to be responsible for killing Romero and thousands of students, church and union leaders in the early 1980s.

-- Implementation of the agrarian reform program begun by the Duarte government, and a halt to current court cases that would reverse the land reform already carried out.

-- An agreement to advance the date of the 1991 municipal and legislative elections. A new Legislative Assembly would then vote to ratify constitutional reforms.

-- The “self-purification” of the armed forces, and security guarantees from the military that would be verified by observers from the United Nations and Organization of American States. The cease-fire proposal effectively drops a previous rebel demand to recognize guerrilla-held territory.

“We have said we are willing to integrate ourselves into the political life of the nation, understanding that if the causes for the war cease to exist, then there is no sense to remaining armed,” Villalobos said.

Would Form Party

According to the rebel plan, once the basic agreement for a cease-fire is reached, the guerrillas would begin to send leaders back into civilian life to form a political party. The guerrillas’ radio station and other media would also become legal.

With a cease-fire in effect and rebel leaders working above ground, the final phase of the plan would go into effect. By Jan. 31, the Legislative Assembly would approve a package of negotiated constitutional reforms and agree to an election date. The country’s electoral laws and system would be restructured.

The government armed forces, now about 54,000 strong, would be “gradually reduced to a size strictly necessary for the defense of national sovereignty.” In a proposal last February, the rebels put that number at about 12,000.

The security forces, now several organizations under the command of the Defense Ministry, would be consolidated into one police force under civilian control.

Finally, the Salvadoran government would ask the U.S. Congress to convert its current military aid into a fund for the country’s economic recovery.

‘Made a Great Effort’

“In the past, they have said our proposals violated the (Salvadoran) constitution. We have made a great effort, despite the fact that we don’t recognize that constitution . . . so there are no obstacles to agreements and so that there may be a new constitution for peace,” Villalobos said.

He criticized the absence of military and other high-level government officials on Cristiani’s negotiating team, saying, “We are worried that the government has a concept of prolonged dialogue. Now, to prolong the dialogue in the framework of national pressure that exists, is to prolong the war.”

Before the talks, Gen. Rene Emilio Ponce, El Salvador’s army chief of staff, said he distrusted the motives of the guerrillas and believed they are using the talks “as a strategy to gain the political initiative and international recognition.”

Accused in Killing

The military, which allegedly participated in the early death squads, is sure to oppose the prosecution of any of its members for human rights abuses. The Arena party is led by retired Maj. Roberto D’Aubuisson, accused of masterminding the killing of Romero, who was shot down as he said Mass on March 24, 1980.

Romero has become a martyr to the Salvadoran left.

Msgr. Romeo Tobar Astorga, the conservative president of El Salvador’s Episcopal Conference whom Cristiani named as an observer to the talks, said the guerrilla demand to prosecute Romero’s killers is “partial.”

“The guerrillas have killed many people, too. Msgr. Romero is just one among 70,000 victims of the war. His life is not worth more because he is a bishop,” Tobar said.