SALVADOR REBELS MAKE GAINS AND U.S. ADVISERS ARE GLUM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00443R001404100131-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 10, 2008
• Sequence Number: 131
• Publication Date: November 4, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/06/10: CIA-RDP88B00443R001404100131-0
THE NEW YORK TIMES - 4 November 1983
Salvador Rebeis Make Gains
And U.S. Advisers Are Glum
SAN SALVADOR, Nov. 3 - Leftist
insurgents have taken the initiative in
the four-year-old civil war, killing
more than Boo Salvadoran soldiers in
the last two months, capturing 400 and
greatly extending the country's con-
tested zone, according to United States
military advisers here.
The advisers said that since the sum-
' mer, when they interpreted a lull in
fighting as a sign that the army had im-
proved its fighting ability, the,guerril-
las had launched attacks against more
than 60 towns from central El Salvador
to the Honduran border.
The fighting since September, they
said, has affected nine of the country's
14 provinces.
Army's Problems Persist
The advisers added that the insur
gents often met little resistance from
the Salvadoran Army. The army, they
said, seemed to be struggling with th
same problems that have plagued
four Years: low morale
over the last i
-
e
t
,
weak logistical support and divisions
among its commanders.
Some troops have fled their positions
without putting up a fight, the advisers
said As a result, the advisers are now
By LYDIA CHAVEZ
speds,l to The New York Ttmee
pivm are making one hell of a chal-
lenge. of whom say
The advisers, many
hey are discourageand anxious to
finish their assignments here, have ex-
discauragement with the
a my'ss inability to overcome its com-
mand problems and with setbacks to an
operation in San Vicente planned and
monitored by the Americans.
-The guerrillas have the initiative
now, no one can question that," one ad-
viser said. Another just shook his head
in agreement when asked if he would
recommend that on United States more diligently.
sueapo
In the past, military advisers criti-
cized the army's 24,000 men for staying
in their barracks and not patrolling the
countryside. Now the complaint is that
while they are in the field, they are
staying in one place and not pursuing
the 7,000 guerrillas or setting ambu-
shes.
The 'army's tactical deficiencies
have been aggravated by political ten-
sions within the high command. Ameri-
can Embassy officials were hoping this
week for changes that would eliminate
some of the ineffective field and staff
commanders as well as some men con-
nected with death squad activities.
painting a gloomy picture of the coon- But the only changes in orders issued
try's military situation. Tuesday were insignificant ones at the
They said guerrilla gains had in ef- , junior officer level. to Salva-
fect opened a northern corridor from Perhaps most demoralizing
o e~... a u .,. silt American ad-
September, guerrilla forces had to take
oundabout route from their bases in
a r
the central province of Cuscatldn to
Morazdn province in the east. Now they
can move virtually unimpeded straight
across northern El Salvador.
Guerrillas More Mobile
Moreover, military advisers said,
the guerrillas are more unified, have.
better intelligence and are much more
mobile than they were before the sum-
mer, moving in daylight by trucks
lather .+
? They sure are conducting them- adviser said.
selves in a very effective manner," one
American adviser. said. --The subver-
v sers has been iwo L w" ---
istinct
which the army showed a dresistence
ngness to put up strong
and had difficulty in sending reinforce-
ments.
On Sunday, the guerrillas attacked Tejutepeque, a town of 8,000 people
some 37 miles north of the capital. The
town was guarded by 180 soldiers,
many of whom fled to the nearby town
of Ilobasco and changed into civilian
clothes, according to military advisers.
--A 180-man unit in a defense position
should be able to hold- out itfith} they ~h one
The problem was complicated when
two companies sent to reinforce the
troops in Tejutepeque were ambushed
on the way.
A simfar sitution evolved on Mon-
day in Ciudad Barrios n, a towno~~~
in the eastern p
The town was defended by some 80 na-
tional guardsmen, who fled
unwittingly
after the attack began
headed toward guerrilla territory.
..It doesn't look like there was much
effort to keep the place", another mili-
tary adviser said.
Reinforcements Pinned Down
Two companies sent to reinforce the
national guardsmen were pinned down
by an ambush less than a mile from
from their starting point. The compa-
cen were from battalion a weeks of
eerily returned
t training at the new American-staffed
I training base in Honduras.
Military, advisers are further wor-
ried because the guerrillas are slowly
encroaching on San Vicente, which has
been billed as the make-it-or-break-it
example of what the Salvadoran mili-
tary is capable of doing.
The San Vicente program, planned
by American military advisers, was could
designed to show that and then
p province on while the Gov-the ernment undertook redevelopment
programs-
improve-
There have been signs
ment in San Vicente since the plan
began in June, but already two towns
have been attacked and many of the
guerrillas who left before the offensive
began have returned.
Approved For Release 2008/06/10: CIA-RDP88B00443R001404100131-0