Alfredo Cristiani

President Bush on Wednesday praised Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani's efforts to end his country's long civil war and urged leftist rebels to "return to the negotiating table and stay there." A State Department official said the United States may move soon to free $42.5 million in military aid to El Salvador if the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) keeps up its attacks on Cristiani's government.

Leftist guerrillas lifted their four-day transportation ban Monday as violence subsided after El Salvador's national elections over the weekend, when more than 30 people died. Rightist Alfredo Cristiani, elected president in the Sunday vote, confirmed that he will seek negotiations with the rebels after taking office, and the Defense Ministry promised to investigate several of the weekend deaths.

Senators from both sides of the political aisle cautioned Sunday against immediately moving to cut off U.S. aid to El Salvador, warning that warring extremists from both the right and the left would benefit from such a decision.

President Bush welcomed President-elect Alfredo Cristiani of El Salvador to the White House on Friday, assuring him of U.S. support for his rightist government in battling leftist rebels. Cristiani and a White House statement issued after their Oval Office meeting said that the two discussed a shared commitment to democracy and protection of human rights in El Salvador.

Conceding that he needs more time to purge this nation's powerful armed forces of human rights abusers, Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani announced Wednesday that he plans to retain two of his most controversial officers in top government posts. Cristiani confirmed that he has asked the United Nations to allow him to dismiss senior officers gradually on a timetable that sources say could last until the end of his presidency next year.

President Alfredo Cristiani's efforts to sell an agreement he reached with the Salvadoran guerrillas are stumbling over resistance within the military and his own political party arising from his failure to quickly reveal a private understanding he signed separately with the rebels, according to diplomatic and other sources.

The United Nations has determined that Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani's formula for purging the powerful armed forces of human rights abusers is incomplete and fails to adequately punish 15 key officers. Cristiani has said his plan is a final offer and that he will not negotiate further--even if it means U.N. condemnation or losing vital U.S. economic aid.

Under pressure from domestic and international courts, Atty. Gen. Belisario Artiga announced Wednesday that he will investigate a former president and other public officials to determine whether they ordered the 1989 murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter. "We are asking [the court] for permission to investigate as masterminds former President Alfredo Cristiani and high-ranking military officers in the murder of the Jesuit priests," Artiga told reporters.

Excoriating El Salvador's military as "terrorists," some members of Los Angeles' exiled Salvadoran community marched outside the Central American nation's consulate Tuesday and demanded that President Alfredo Cristiani adhere to a United Nations plan to purge the armed forces of known human rights abusers. "There can be no real peace if the military and its worst elements remain in control," said Isabel Beltran, who was among those leading the chants of dissension.

Salvadoran government and rebel leaders Wednesday took a significant but still-incomplete step toward ending the 11-year civil war that has killed 75,000 of their countrymen, signing an agreement providing for "the re-integration into society" of the guerrilla movement. The accord, signed by President Alfredo Cristiani and members of the high command of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, was announced late in the afternoon by U.N.