DUARTE VOWS TO BAR US COMBAT ROLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201630002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 30, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 24, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ARTIC Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201630002-9
ON PAGE ;2- 24 March 1984
uarte vss to bar
S combat role
By Julia Preston
Globe" Correspondent
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Jose
Napoleon Duarte, candidate for press-
dent of the Christian Democratic Party,
said yesterday there will be no military
coup in El Salvador. no US combat
troops and no army officers on the CIA the United States on Thursday. Villacorta, a spokesman for the Demo-
payroll if he wins tomorrow's election. Asl:ed if he thought the CIA should cratic Revolutionary Front, the political
Duarte, 58, a moderate conservative.' develop paid informants in El Salva- wing of the opposition front, said there
who is the front-runner, also said he dor's armed forces, the candidate had been no decision by rebels to at-
will not open direct negotiations with'
said,"I would not allow it, definitely." tack the elections.
guerrillas of the leftist Farabundo " Duarte said he will not negotiate He denied recent press reports that
Marti National Liberation Front with the FMLN because "we don't be- guerrilla fighters had been confiscating
(FMLN). lieve in negotiating with the rifles over identity cards from travelers on the
"l don't see any possibility for a the table." highways. He said it had been "a per-
coup d'etat," Duarte said in an infor- Instead, he said, he will try to reacti- fectly planned plot" by the Salvadoran
mal press gathering.."There may be a vate El Salvador's economy, which reg- armed forces "disguised as our forces,
few [military] personalities who will be istered zero growth in 1983. He prom- to discredit our. front." Salvadorans
uncomfortable, but I don't think they ises to invite the rebels to a "national must have the identity cards in order to
will go so far as to destabilize the coun- dialogue Including all political sectors, vote.
try. without any .selfish propositions of But rebel regulars in the northern
In tomorrow's race, Duarte is run- power." town of Tejutla, Chalatenango prov-
ning against his -nemesis, rightist Ro- He said he has had no contact with Ince. told reporters yesterday they
berto D'Aubuisson, 40, of the National-
rebel diplomats up to now to explore, would allow people to cast ballots, but
ist Republican Alliance" (ARENA), and the chances for the proposed dialogue. would not allow elections authorities to
. Francisco . Jose Guerrero, 58, 'of the Having been robbed of the presiden- remove the boxes from the town to
moderate rightist National Conciliation J cy in 1972 in a fraudulent election, count them.
Party (PCN), as well as five other minor Duarte" says this time, "if some me- In his radio broadcast Wednesday,
d to
rit
t
i
e
d
did
t
A
y vo
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s n
e
e
a
majo
can
es.
chanical things get worked out, the
win: otherwise, a "runoff will he held pimple will have the structure and, the
within 30 days. possibilities to vote."
When Duarte headed a ruling junta But a crisis developed yesterday in
from March 1980 until April.1982 the ;logistical, preparations for tomor
which included two army officers, he ow's vote. Technicians at the Central
was regarded with suspicion by many Elections Council discovered -'that 70
military men and denounced as a com- out of 363 polling places were in schools
munist by a few hard-line rightists. that had b&n:either closed or de-
But now Duarte, making his second stroyed.
and probably last try in ] 4 years' at be- As council members scrambled late
coming El Salvador's fairly elected head in the day to find substitute polling
of state, says: "if we get in-we will goy- places,-. the Christian Democrats pre-
ern and we will be obeyed.
Duarte also said, "In my govern-
ment there will be no [military] Inter-
ventiou by the United States." ,
Speaking on the rebels' radio station
Wednesday morning, Joaquin Villalo-
bos. a top FMLN commander, rejected
the elections tomorrow as "an imperial-
ist p-oject which is a cover for a plan
for direct American intervention." ,
Not informed ; Serious differences
Duarte said that as a member of the The army's pre-election offensives
junta, a was not in ormed that of have provoked serious differences be-
Nicolas Carranza, now head of the . tween diplomats and military comman-,
Treasury Police was receiving pay- dants on the leftist side.
meats from the CIA as was reported in In an interview Wednesday; Jorge
rebel chief Villalobos said the 25th will
be "just another day of war for us."
But there remain obstacles. In an in-
terview last week, a retired high-rank-
ing military officer with close ties to the
right wing warned that some radicals
in ARENA have been stockpiling arms
to prepare to combat Duarte if he wins.
Duarte warned that he expects the
armed forces to step in to '.'controI any
outbreak of violence" directed at his
party if he wins.
Duarte, whose face is lined with
ture by police when he was imprisoned
casting bail.ots.
In an effort to keep leftist guerrillas ' after the 1972 election, says he will put
from disrupting the balloting, 2000 ?any man, civilian or military" on trial
army troops of the 5th Infantry Brigade for death-squad crimes if there is suffi'
fanned out through several towns in _cient evidence. .
the northern province of Chalatenango
which the guerrillas claim to be hold-
ing. Hurling mortars ahead of them.
the troops encountered no resistance in
the first hours.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/30: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201630002-9