The pattern would be tedious if it were not so deadly. Every time the government of El Salvador announces that, yes, the rebel offensive is finally over and the capital of San Salvador is safe again, the guerrillas pop up in yet another neighborhood.
Last week the troops of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (F.M.L.N.) embarrassed President Alfredo Cristiani by seizing control of the wealthy Escalon district and then melting away again. As rebels burned several luxurious homes and sniped at slowly advancing government troops from windows, hundreds of foreigners and wealthy Salvadorans fled the country. The F.M.L.N. even carried...