Rene Emilio Ponce

Reporting from San Salvador and Mexico City -- Rene Emilio Ponce, the once-powerful army general blamed for one of the most egregious atrocities in El Salvador's civil war, the killing of six Roman Catholic priests, has died. He was 64. Ponce died Monday at the Military Hospital in San Salvador, the capital, after being admitted last week in critical condition with heart trouble, El Salvador's Defense Ministry said in a statement. Ponce served as defense minister and army chief of staff in the last half of the Cold War-era conflict that ended in 1992, becoming one of the U.S.-backed government's most important military strategists.

Reporting from San Salvador and Mexico City -- Rene Emilio Ponce, the once-powerful army general blamed for one of the most egregious atrocities in El Salvador's civil war, the killing of six Roman Catholic priests, has died. He was 64. Ponce died Monday at the Military Hospital in San Salvador, the capital, after being admitted last week in critical condition with heart trouble, El Salvador's Defense Ministry said in a statement. Ponce served as defense minister and army chief of staff in the last half of the Cold War-era conflict that ended in 1992, becoming one of the U.S.-backed government's most important military strategists.

Despite a last-minute offer by Marxist guerrillas to talk directly with the government, El Salvador's army chief of staff as well as President Jose Napoleon Duarte indicated that there is almost no chance that they would accept a rebel peace plan to end nine years of civil war. The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front said it will send a high-ranking delegation to San Salvador to discuss the plan. But Col.

An international Commission on Truth, in a scathing report on the pattern of Salvadoran violence, identified prominent military and Establishment figures Sunday as perpetrators of assassination, massacres and other atrocities in the long civil war that has finally come to an end in El Salvador under a U.N.-mediated peace agreement. In some of the most prominent case studies, the U.N.

A U.S. probe into the 1989 killings of six Jesuit priests has concluded that there is evidence the crime was plotted by senior Salvadoran army officers, including the defense minister, a newspaper reported today. The inquiry by a panel of House Democrats concluded that Gen. Rene Emilio Ponce--the current defense minister and former army chief of staff--and other top officers planned the attack a day before it happened, the New York Times reported.

Gen. Adolfo Blandon, a key architect of restructuring and reforming the Salvadoran military, is being replaced as chief of staff by a field commander known for his effort to win the hearts and minds of the people through aid and not just with arms. Blandon, 50, went on national television late Saturday night to announce that as of Tuesday, he is being assigned as military attache in France and will be replaced by Col. Rene Emilio Ponce, currently commander of the army's 3rd Brigade.

A near-violent confrontation in which a Salvadoran army colonel ordered his troops to aim a loaded antitank weapon at U.S. Ambassador William G. Walker has led to the expectation by the American Embassy here that El Salvador's military leaders will send the officer out of the country--or face a damaged relationship. Walker has refused to discuss the incident. But according to various sources here and in Washington, it took place May 2 in the eastern province of Sonsonate and involved Col. Jesus Caseres, the volatile commander of the area's military garrison and a military-school classmate of the armed forces chief of staff, Col. Rene Emilio Ponce.

The most powerful military man in El Salvador offered his resignation Friday, on the eve of the limited release of a damning human rights report that is expected to name him and dozens of other army officers in connection with some of the worst atrocities of this nation's 12-year civil war. The resignation of Defense Minister Gen. Rene Emilio Ponce comes as a major blow to the government of President Alfredo Cristiani.

President-elect Alfredo Cristiani's handling of key decisions concerning the military and his Cabinet in the days before his inauguration today has raised serious concerns among diplomats and officials about his ability to control radical hard-line elements in his own party and the armed forces. Cristiani had gained support among Salvadoran moderates, the Bush Administration and even U.S. congressional liberals by arguing that he has the will and the strength to control the ultra-right wing of his party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance.

An international Commission on Truth, in a scathing report on the pattern of Salvadoran violence, identified prominent military and Establishment figures Sunday as perpetrators of assassination, massacres and other atrocities in the long civil war that has finally come to an end in El Salvador under a U.N.-mediated peace agreement. In some of the most prominent case studies, the U.N.

The most powerful military man in El Salvador offered his resignation Friday, on the eve of the limited release of a damning human rights report that is expected to name him and dozens of other army officers in connection with some of the worst atrocities of this nation's 12-year civil war. The resignation of Defense Minister Gen. Rene Emilio Ponce comes as a major blow to the government of President Alfredo Cristiani.

A U.S. probe into the 1989 killings of six Jesuit priests has concluded that there is evidence the crime was plotted by senior Salvadoran army officers, including the defense minister, a newspaper reported today. The inquiry by a panel of House Democrats concluded that Gen. Rene Emilio Ponce--the current defense minister and former army chief of staff--and other top officers planned the attack a day before it happened, the New York Times reported.

The investigation into the killing of six Jesuit priests has caused serious tensions in El Salvador's powerful military, with the confinement of two colonels in connection with the case--one as a suspect and another who allegedly fingered the suspect to U.S. officials. Col. Guillermo Alfredo Benavides, who was responsible for the zone where the killings took place, has been confined to his base at the Gen. Gerardo Barrios Military School, according to military and civilian sources.

A near-violent confrontation in which a Salvadoran army colonel ordered his troops to aim a loaded antitank weapon at U.S. Ambassador William G. Walker has led to the expectation by the American Embassy here that El Salvador's military leaders will send the officer out of the country--or face a damaged relationship. Walker has refused to discuss the incident. But according to various sources here and in Washington, it took place May 2 in the eastern province of Sonsonate and involved Col. Jesus Caseres, the volatile commander of the area's military garrison and a military-school classmate of the armed forces chief of staff, Col. Rene Emilio Ponce.

President-elect Alfredo Cristiani's handling of key decisions concerning the military and his Cabinet in the days before his inauguration today has raised serious concerns among diplomats and officials about his ability to control radical hard-line elements in his own party and the armed forces. Cristiani had gained support among Salvadoran moderates, the Bush Administration and even U.S. congressional liberals by arguing that he has the will and the strength to control the ultra-right wing of his party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance.

Despite a last-minute offer by Marxist guerrillas to talk directly with the government, El Salvador's army chief of staff as well as President Jose Napoleon Duarte indicated that there is almost no chance that they would accept a rebel peace plan to end nine years of civil war. The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front said it will send a high-ranking delegation to San Salvador to discuss the plan. But Col.

The investigation into the killing of six Jesuit priests has caused serious tensions in El Salvador's powerful military, with the confinement of two colonels in connection with the case--one as a suspect and another who allegedly fingered the suspect to U.S. officials. Col. Guillermo Alfredo Benavides, who was responsible for the zone where the killings took place, has been confined to his base at the Gen. Gerardo Barrios Military School, according to military and civilian sources.

Leftist guerrillas attacked the Defense Ministry compound in the capital with rocket-propelled grenades Monday, killing one government soldier and wounding eight people, a military official said. The defense minister, Gen. Rene Emilio Ponce, identified the dead soldier as Sgt. Raul Antonio Rodriguez. He said two more soldiers and six civilian employees at the ministry were also wounded.

Gen. Adolfo Blandon, a key architect of restructuring and reforming the Salvadoran military, is being replaced as chief of staff by a field commander known for his effort to win the hearts and minds of the people through aid and not just with arms. Blandon, 50, went on national television late Saturday night to announce that as of Tuesday, he is being assigned as military attache in France and will be replaced by Col. Rene Emilio Ponce, currently commander of the army's 3rd Brigade.