El Salvador: Fighting, with a Festive Interlude

The junta celebrates its land reform—as the skirmishes continue

One morning early last week, three members of El Salvador's ruling civilian-military junta were busy making surprisingly festive appearances at widely separated haciendas. At a rich estate in the San Isidro Valley, José Antonio Morales Ehrlich addressed a solemn crowd of peasants gathered on the soccer field. "In El Salvador, the exploitation of the peasants has definitely ended," he told them. "Today you work the land for your own benefit." Another junta member, José Ramón Avalos Navarrete, presided over ceremonies at a sugar and coffee plantation near the Guatemala border. At a...