El Salvador Test for Duarte

By Hunter R. Clark.

A confident President Jose Napoleon Duarte strode into his country's Supreme Court in San Salvador early last Monday to try to convince the tribunal that his partial veto of a proposed election law was constitutional. Court President Francisco Jose Guerrero escorted Duarte, flanked by three of his chief ministers, up four flights of steps to the court chambers. As it happened, the court elevator was not working because hours earlier a bomb, planted by leftist guerrillas, had left sections of San Salvador, the capital, without power. The scene aptly symbolized the twin crises faced by Duarte. On the one hand, continued guerrilla warfare threatens to undermine the country's economy, institutions and hopes for democracy. At the same time, a rightist- authored election law is threatening to rob the moderate Duarte of effective power.

The legal dispute arises from a bill adopted last December by El Salvador's 60-seat Constituent Assembly, which is controlled by the right-wing opposition to Duarte's Christian Democratic Party. The bill would permit opposition parties to appear separately on the ballot for legislative and municipal elections, originally scheduled for March 17, but for their votes to be tallied as a coalition. The effect would be to increase the overall amount of government campaign funds that the rightists could receive, as well as to give them greater vote-getting power. According to a local political analyst, "It could mean the difference between whether the Christian Democrats control 85 of the 203 larger municipalities or only 45 of them." The legislation would also prohibit Duarte's son Alejandro from seeking a second term as mayor of San Salvador.

Duarte responded by vetoing what he considered to be objectionable parts of the bill. However, El Salvador's 13-month-old constitution does not make an allowance for such line-item vetoes by the chief executive. Thus the assembly ignored Duarte's action and went ahead and published the original version of the bill. As the country waited for the court's ruling, which could come within days, on Duarte's claim that he has the right of selective veto, the elections were postponed until March 31.

The political fracas was viewed optimistically by some foreign observers, who noted that it was still a relative novelty for Salvadorans to settle their political differences by making recourse to the rule of law. As one political analyst put it, "You don't have to go to the military for a solution." On the other hand, any subsequent election gains by the political right would be a serious setback to the progress that Duarte has been making since his inauguration last June. Since then, the number of murders attributed to death squads has dramatically decreased, and extreme right-wing opposition to civilian rule has appeared to diminish. In addition, last October's meeting at La Palma between Duarte and Marxist guerrilla leaders, followed six weeks later by a second round of talks in Ayagualo, held out hope that the bloody Salvadoran civil war, which has claimed upwards of 50,000 lives over the past five years, might just be ended.

But recent indications are that Duarte's momentum has been halted. Since the new year, there have been at least eleven assassinations, nearly all by leftist gunmen. Further negotiations between the government and representatives of the leftist guerrilla groups are unlikely until after the elections. Reason: mounting right-wing opposition to a negotiated settlement. Rebel leaders, of course, contend that the breakdown of the peace talks means the Salvadoran military is now effectively back in control. According to Ruben Zamora, the bearded vice president of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, the guerrilla movement's political arm, "Duarte has no power."

The only pressure for future negotiations comes from Zamora's fellow rebel leaders, who say that on Jan. 11 they met privately with members of the San Salvador Episcopal Conference and presented a proposal for holding a third round of discussions before the March elections. At a press conference in San Salvador last Thursday, however, Duarte rejected what he called the "tactical dialogue" that the guerrillas are using "to seek publicity." At the same time, he insisted that he is "disposed to do anything for the sake of peace in Central America."

With reporting by Ricardo Chavira/Mexico City and Tom Johnson/San Salvador