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Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network
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## author     : duendemaya@SAKER-TI.GUATEMALA.ORG
## date       : 09.12.97
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La Nacion

EL SALVADOR

FMLN denies training Peruvian guerrillas

SAN SALVADOR - Representatives of the former guerrilla
organization denied yesterday that members of that group are
training commandos of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
(MRTA in Spanish) of Peru for an attack to commemorate the
occupation of the embassy of Japan in Lima, which took place
a year ago.

``I believe it is high time they stop telling tall tales,''
asserted Gerson Martinez, a congressman of the Farabundo
Mart� Front for the National Liberation (FMLN in Spanish),
when referring to rumors that member of the former
Salvadoran guerrilla were training MRTA rebels.

On December 17, 1996, an MRTA commando force assaulted the
embassy of Japan in Lima and kept 72 people hostages until
last April 22, when an elite Peruvian army force released
them and killed the 14 members of the rebel group, who were
led by Nestor Cerpa.

AIDS to infect 25,000

SAN SALVADOR - In the year 2000, some 25,000 Salvadorans
will be infected with AIDS and between 630 and 1200 in every
100,000 will be HIV carriers, according to official
estimates.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, from
1984 to September this year 1741 carriers have been
recorded, while 2099 people have developed the disease. Of
the latter, 26 have died this year and the overall death
toll since 1984 currently stands at 295.

According to the coordinator of the anti-AIDS program, Dr.
Maria Elena Avalos, the current figures are alarming and the
future dark because the prevention campaigns have failed to
raise awareness among adolescents and adults.

HONDURAS

U.S. troops take part in exercises

TEGUCIGALPA - Some 2,000 U.S. soldiers will join a similar
number of their Honduran colleagues in exercises to be
developed in the department of Intibuca, near the Salvadoran
border.

The exercises will begin next month and will extend through
June 1998, according to a press release from the Honduran
military.

The operation, called ``New Horizons Honduras 98'', will
require a $9 million investment from Washington and will
have a social side; namely, the construction of eight
schools, three health centers, three water wells and a
15-kilometer (9.4-mile) road.