A Salvadoran colonel disappears

An ousted junta member, Col. Adolfo Armando Majano, has disappeared, members of his family reported. Monitor Latin America correspondent James Nelson Goodsell raises the possibility that Colonel Majano, the most outspoken of junta members, may have been detained by authorities after refusing to accept an exiling to Spain following his removal from the civilian-military junta he had helped form 14 months ago.

Colonel Majano was last seen in public at a press conference on Dec. 15 in which he accused the present government of tolerating right-wing extremists within the armed forces. The Majano ouster from the junta followed months of contention between the Majano faction and the majority of the Army, which tends to be somewhat more conservative.

In the ensuring struggle, the United States in early December suspended economic and military aid to the Central American country after four US women missionaries were killed. The US Dec. 17 announced that economic aid amounting to $20 million was being resumed, while military assistance remained suspended.

Meanwhile, El Salvador's new governmental structure, which has made junta member Jose Napoleon Duarte president of the country, has called on both rightists and leftists to bury their differences and cooperate in a government of national reconciliation.