The World - News from March 18, 1988

Leftist rebels burned down a government office in a northern Salvadoran town as the military pledged to guarantee Sunday’s election despite a new guerrilla offensive. A rebel unit burned down the mayor’s office and a telephone exchange in San Miguel Mercedes, in Chalatenango province, about 30 miles north of San Salvador, military sources said. The guerrillas, who dismiss the elections for 60 National Assembly seats and 262 mayors as a counterinsurgency ploy, will try to enforce a nationwide traffic ban starting today and threatened to fire on or burn any vehicles traveling on the roads. Salvadoran officials said that troops will be mobilized to keep the nation’s roads and polling stations open.