El Salvador: Bombs and Broadsides

As the guerrilla war drags on, a propaganda battle erupts

The attack was carefully timed and perfectly executed. Members of the Marxist-dominated Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front last week slipped under cover of darkness among the open hangars at El Salvador's heavily guarded Ilopango military airport. They placed explosive charges around some of the country's fleet of venerable fighter aircraft and 14 U.S.-built UH-1H "Huey" helicopters and then escaped undetected. At 1:30 a.m., the bombs went off and parts of the airport became an inferno.

The exultant guerrillas quickly issued a communiqué claiming that they had destroyed 28 aircraft. A tight-lipped General...

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