El Salvador: Baptism of Fire

The guerrillas return in force

When a reported 70% of Salvadoran voters defied death threats from guerrilla forces to participate in national elections last March, the U.S. and the leaders of El Salvador's major parties interpreted the turnout as a stinging repudiation of the left-wing insurgency. While the rebels fell back to ponder the fate of their crusade, the Salvadoran high command exhorted them to lay down their arms and "join the fight the people want, the struggle for peace." But the unspoken truce did not last long. After a two-month lull in...

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