Word: guerrillas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...guerrillas' bold entry into the region, together with a sudden surge in F.M.L.N. urban violence, is a graphic demonstration of what even the Bush Administration privately acknowledges is the F.M.L.N.'s improved military prowess. Despite the infusion of $3.4 billion in American aid over the past eight years, the Salvadoran government is not even close to winning the civil war. Troops killed most of the guerrilla leaders in the west eight years ago, forcing the F.M.L.N. out of the area. The rebels' return underscores their new strength and the army's inability to vanquish them permanently...
...support was minimal. Today government troops dare only sporadic attacks, and they are frequently beaten back by peasant militias fighting alongside regular combatants. "We have established political control over the area," says "Raul," the rebel commander, "and now we are moving toward military control as well." He and other guerrilla leaders have lately obtained AK-47 assault rifles. They say the guns were bought from the Nicaraguan contras; U.S. and Salvadoran authorities insist that the Sandinistas supplied them. "The fact that we have these weapons is an indication of our development," says Raul...
...coming guerrilla offensive seems likely to prove a pivotal test of the government's military strength. U.S. officials doubt that the F.M.L.N. can inflict a major defeat. But a senior State Department official adds, "However real or illusory the chances for peace, they are now gone. Now the only alternative for El Salvador is more war." That is the last thing battle-weary Salvadorans want...
...called Duarte's offer for talks "positive" but criticized the cease-fire as unworkable. To underscore their point, rebel forces on Thursday attacked San Ramon, a town on the outskirts of San Salvador, killing three soldiers and two civilians before making their escape. The incident was the first serious guerrilla assault on the capital...
While the arch-anti-Communist Guatemalan government managed to trust Nicaragua to hold its part of the bargain, Ronald Reagan did not give them the chance. In urging further funding for the Contras, he explicitly violated a major provision of the treaty--that all outside help to guerrilla groups...