DUARTE REORGANIZING POLICE IN EL SALVADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 12, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-0055
WASHINGTON TIMES
12 September 1984
uarte reorganizing police
m El S"I
a vadl or
EL PARAISO, El Salvador (AP) -
President Jose Napoleon Duarte has
ordered the reorganization of the coun-
try's three principal police forces,
which human rights activists say are
linked to rightist death squads.
President Duarte told a group of
army officers during a visit Monday to
a military base in El Paraiso that the
reorganization of the National Police,
the National Guard and the Treasury
Police would help reduce human rights
abuses in the war against leftist rebels.
The three forces, 12,000 men, have
overlapping responsibilities and tasks
with no clearly defined jurisdictions,
and their commanders often are
criticized for evading responsibility for
abuses by shifting the blame on each
ARTICLE AP?EMBED
ON PAGE _
Mr. Duarte gave no details of the reor-
ganization other than to say the National
Police would be turned into an urban
force, the National Guard into a rural
force and the Treasury Police combined
with the tiny Customs Guard and
renamed the National Patrimonial
Police.
The National Guard and National
Police will divide functions that have
been shared by all three units, from
handing out parking tickets to helping
the 33,000-member military fight the
..,war.
A moderate Christian emocrat, NIn
Duarte earlier took action againsi the
Treasury Police, the most notorious of
the three. A few months ago, he dis-
banded its 100-member intelligence
unit, which has been accused of numer-
ous kidnappings, murders and extor-
tions.
Col. Nicolas Carranza was removed
as Treasury Police director by the mili-
tary as a gesture to the president a few
weeks before Mr. Duarte was inaugu-
rated June 1 for a five-year term.
Military u ces said Col. Carranza
was fired piTmarily because of U.S.
pressure after published reports
accused him of
having links to right
wing death squads and receiving money
from the CI_AH-ie has,denied both alle-
Rations.
On .Monday, Mr. Duane named the
colonel defense attache at the Salva-
doran Embassy in Spain to get him out
of the country, according to government
sources.
Mr. Duarte. the first civilian pres-
ident elected in El Salvador in more than
40 Years, has promised to curb human
rights abuses. Human rights observers
blame a majority of the =6.000 civilian
deaths since the war began five years
ago on the death squads.
They say the number of squad deaths
has diminished sharply since then, but
they report an increase in battlefield
civilian deaths because of increased
army operations against the leftist:
guerrillas.
In his talk with 4th Infantry Brigade;
army officers in El Paraiso, President'
Duarte said the police reorganization
would bring "order in the countn:" He:
urged the officers to "fight abuses
f
o
authority in order to gain the support of
the people.'
ILLEGIB
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100980001-4