El Salvador: Headaches for The Chief

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Rumors flew last month that unnamed right-wing politicians in San Salvador were hard at work trying to persuade senior military officers to overthrow President Jose Napoleon Duarte. The flurry of speculation quickly fizzled out when Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Adolfo Blandon publicly reiterated his support for the President.

Now Duarte is confronted by another challenge, this time from right-wing parties that are loudly demanding his ouster. Their primary beef: a new government war tax aimed at the rich and big business. Whether or not they can inflict damage on Duarte is unclear, but the campaign could backfire. Since the new tax is intended to aid the military in its six-year-old struggle against leftist rebels, right-wingers may soon find themselves pitted against the army, a former ally they can hardly afford to antagonize.