Abstract

Feliz Ano Nuevo

In exchange for agreements to purge army officers guilty of human rights abuses, reduce the armed forces to less than half their current size, abolish security forces and form a new national police force that will incorporate some ex-combatants of the F.M.L.N., the rebels agreed to lay down arms and to compete for power through electoral means. The guerrillas will now have to demonstrate their popular support through votes. Land redistribution carried out in areas controlled by the guerrillas is to be legalized, and the accords obligate the Salvadoran government to implement a broader agrarian reform program and to modify economic policies that have increased unemployment and poverty. The United Nations will continue to play a key role in monitoring and verifying compliance with the cease-fire and other agreements and will also guide postwar reconstruction efforts.