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Though isolated from its main coalition partner on this issue, ARENA refused to give up the fight for a right-wing President. According to some Salvadoran observers, D'Aubuisson saw the struggle as a "machismo" exercise to prove that he was tougher than the generals and the U.S. embassy combined. The boyish-looking former intelligence officer was encouraged by the gaggle of mostly female supporters who packed the assembly gallery each day to shout their support and hoot down the opposition. Before Magaña's selection, ARENA Leader Mario Redaelli boasted that he had told the U.S. embassy's political counsellor: "Maybe we should set up special ballot boxes for [U.S.] Senators and Congressmen to come down and vote directly."
D'Aubuisson's forces got their way at the assembly's first working session on Monday. After teasing and baiting the Christian Democrats for 6½ hours, the rightists rammed through "Decree No. 3," granting broad governing powers to the assembly. In addition to naming the top provisional government officials, the right-dominated assembly will ratify all Cabinet appointments, exercise all legislative authority, write a new constitution and organize new national elections, perhaps as early as next year. In effect, the decree seemed likely to make D'Aubuisson and his coalition partners in the assembly the country's dominant power, reducing the government to a subordinate role.
Meanwhile, the army commanders stepped up their pressure in favor of Magaña's election. On Tuesday, D'Aubuisson and other political leaders were summoned to high-command headquarters and bluntly warned that the military might mount a coup if the right did not go along with the army's demands. Faced with that ultimatum, the politicians quickly hammered together the deal that led to the election of Magaña and his three Vice Presidents.
El Salvador's new President is a short, balding man with black horn-rimmed glasses and a reputation for political shrewdness that belies his gentle, unassuming manner. He studied economics at the University of Chicago from 1951 to 1955, and subsequently worked for the Washington-based of American States. Magaña's nomination by the army reportedly stems from his practice of giving preferential interest rates to military officers during his 17 years as president of El Salvador's Banco Hipotecario. Said to have a flexible attitude toward the land-and banking-reform programs and a willingness to negotiate an end to the country's civil war, Magaña sees his new role as that of an "administrator" and "adviser."
Just how much real power Magaña will wield from the Presidential Palace will become apparent as he begins to assemble his Cabinet. With only two months remaining before Congress again reviews El Salvador's human rights record, Washington policymakers were hoping that Magaña's election would bring real improvement. Said one State Department official: "The government will look good. The nagging doubts are whether it will act well . "— By Thomas A. Sancton.
Reported by Timothy Loughran/San Salvador and Johanna McGeary/ Washington