Word: palmas
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...Casanova, who was included as a further gesture of good faith to the guerrillas. As Duarte later told it, the emotional high point of his roughly two-hour trip to the talks came as his red Toyota pulled away from the last army checkpoint, 16 miles south of La Palma. Two officers stepped up to say goodbye. Recalled Duarte: "They said, 'God bless you, and may you bring back peace.' That means I had convinced them of what I was trying...
...Palma meeting seemed to uncover a craving in almost every sector of Salvadoran society for an end to the bloodshed. Evelio Sorto, a teacher displaced by the war from his home in the northern department of Morazán, was among the crowd that trekked to La Palma. "If this opportunity is lost, we may never have another," he observed. Said Oscar Martínez, a local peasant: "This is a beautiful country, but the war is destroying it. I hope the leaders can forget their differences and think about what they are doing to El Salvador...
...peace mission. The secret Anti-Communist Army, one of El Salvador's death squads, named Duarte as a target for execution. The President was bitterly criticized by Roberto d'Aubuisson, leader of the ultraright Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and a former presidential candidate. The La Palma meeting, D'Aubuisson said, was "a monologue between old buddies for the same cause: socialism." But D'Aubuisson is increasingly the odd man out in Salvadoran politics: conservative business elements in ARENA supported Duarte's initiative...
...Duarte had anticipated the popular support that his peace mission would win, so, to a certain extent, had the rebels. In the past, the guerrillas have made offers of their own to negotiate; when they agreed to the La Palma meeting, said Zamora, it was in recognition of "domestic pressure. We know that if we separate from the people, it means we lose the war." Even so, one important guerrilla commander, Joaquín Villalobos, head of a faction known as the People's Revolutionary Army, was unable to attend. The reason: difficulties in traveling from his remote stronghold...
...Palma talks, the F.M.L.N. representatives were still demanding satisfaction on the lengthy agenda that they had carried into the session. Among the items: the cutoff of U.S. military aid and training assistance for Duarte's government, the freeing of all "political" prisoners and an end to alleged government bombing of civilian targets. But some people present at the discussions were encouraged by the civility of tone. Said a government participant: "There were no hugs and kisses, but there was much more cordiality than expected. We had feared [the guerrillas] would be cold and formal, even hostile, but they were...