Joaquin Villalobos

When he was the ruthless military commander of El Salvador's leftist guerrillas two decades ago, Joaquin Villalobos was a big fan of body counts. The higher the death toll, he would say, the closer to victory, because it meant the enemy was being eliminated. Today, the man U.S. officials once called "the baby-faced killer" has emerged somewhat improbably as one of the key advisors behind conservative Mexican President Felipe Calderon's military crackdown on powerful drug cartels.

When he was the ruthless military commander of El Salvador's leftist guerrillas two decades ago, Joaquin Villalobos was a big fan of body counts. The higher the death toll, he would say, the closer to victory, because it meant the enemy was being eliminated. Today, the man U.S. officials once called "the baby-faced killer" has emerged somewhat improbably as one of the key advisors behind conservative Mexican President Felipe Calderon's military crackdown on powerful drug cartels.

Joaquin Villalobos, one of the most militant guerrilla leaders in the Salvadoran civil war, says he is easing his once total opposition to leftist participation in this country's electoral process, according to various diplomatic sources.

A decade ago, the search for Joaquin Villalobos required a bone-grinding jeep trip past hostile army checkpoints, across a mined riverbed and into the rough mountains of El Salvador. Even that might come to naught if one of Latin America's ablest and most ruthless guerrilla leaders refused to show his face to outsiders, as he often did for years at a time.

El Salvador's leftist guerrillas Monday said that their leading military strategist, Joaquin Villalobos, and another top commander will head the rebel delegation in peace talks this week with the new right-wing government of President Alfredo Cristiani. The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front guerrillas also declared an 11-day cease-fire beginning Wednesday "to create the best environment possible" for the dialogue. They already have suspended the use of mines and curtailed sabotage.

The Bush Administration hopes to seek a U.S. indictment of Salvadoran guerrilla leader Joaquin Villalobos for the killing of two American airmen who fell into rebel hands in a helicopter crash on New Year's Day, officials said Monday.

For nearly a decade, guerrilla commander Joaquin Villalobos operated out of a remote mountain base in northeastern El Salvador, earning himself a reputation as the rebels' best and meanest military strategist. He was a communist wolf to the country's right-wing elite and an enigma to the rest of El Salvador. Villalobos let years go by without talking to the press and often refused to leave his post even to meet with his own civilian allies on the left.

The leftist guerrillas of El Salvador, pursued by increasingly large and well-armed government forces, appear to be changing tactics and returning to a style of warfare they had abandoned as slow and ineffective. The guerrillas--there are five separate factions allied in the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front--have broken up their relatively large concentrations and reorganized them as smaller, more maneuverable fighting teams.

Salvadoran guerrilla commander Joaquin Villalobos, who has built Latin America's strongest rebel army and steered it through nearly a decade of civil war, said Saturday that he now believes the way to make revolutionary change is through peace. Villalobos said that the rebels of the Farabundo National Liberation Front realize they cannot achieve their revolutionary goals alone and, instead, must ally themselves with centrist political sectors.

More than two decades after his death, Roque Dalton, one of El Salvador's best-known poets and revolutionaries, is once again calling his countrymen's attention to the violence and poverty that caused a 12-year civil war--and which still exist.

More than two decades after his death, Roque Dalton, one of El Salvador's best-known poets and revolutionaries, is once again calling his countrymen's attention to the violence and poverty that caused a 12-year civil war--and which still exist.

For nearly a decade, guerrilla commander Joaquin Villalobos operated out of a remote mountain base in northeastern El Salvador, earning himself a reputation as the rebels' best and meanest military strategist. He was a communist wolf to the country's right-wing elite and an enigma to the rest of El Salvador. Villalobos let years go by without talking to the press and often refused to leave his post even to meet with his own civilian allies on the left.

The Bush Administration hopes to seek a U.S. indictment of Salvadoran guerrilla leader Joaquin Villalobos for the killing of two American airmen who fell into rebel hands in a helicopter crash on New Year's Day, officials said Monday.

Salvadoran guerrilla commander Joaquin Villalobos, who has built Latin America's strongest rebel army and steered it through nearly a decade of civil war, said Saturday that he now believes the way to make revolutionary change is through peace. Villalobos said that the rebels of the Farabundo National Liberation Front realize they cannot achieve their revolutionary goals alone and, instead, must ally themselves with centrist political sectors.

El Salvador's leftist guerrillas Monday said that their leading military strategist, Joaquin Villalobos, and another top commander will head the rebel delegation in peace talks this week with the new right-wing government of President Alfredo Cristiani. The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front guerrillas also declared an 11-day cease-fire beginning Wednesday "to create the best environment possible" for the dialogue. They already have suspended the use of mines and curtailed sabotage.

El Salvador's guerrilla commanders, currently engaged in a dual military and diplomatic offensive, say they hope that President-elect George Bush will pursue a "more pragmatic" Central America policy than his predecessor, one that allows for a negotiated solution to their country's eight-year civil war.

After nearly two years' interruption, the Salvadoran insurgents and the government of President Napoleon Duarte agreed in Mexico City last week to hold their third round of talks in the small El Salvador village of Cesori on Sept. 19. This comes as good news to the people of that beleaguered country, but the bad news is that the discussions will probably advance no further than the previous ones.

El Salvador's guerrilla commanders, currently engaged in a dual military and diplomatic offensive, say they hope that President-elect George Bush will pursue a "more pragmatic" Central America policy than his predecessor, one that allows for a negotiated solution to their country's eight-year civil war.

Joaquin Villalobos, one of the most militant guerrilla leaders in the Salvadoran civil war, says he is easing his once total opposition to leftist participation in this country's electoral process, according to various diplomatic sources.

After nearly two years' interruption, the Salvadoran insurgents and the government of President Napoleon Duarte agreed in Mexico City last week to hold their third round of talks in the small El Salvador village of Cesori on Sept. 19. This comes as good news to the people of that beleaguered country, but the bad news is that the discussions will probably advance no further than the previous ones.