Deputy, not Enders, met Zamora

The US denies reports that Thomas O. Enders, assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, met recently with Ruben Zamora, a representative of the political arm of the Salvadoran guerrillas.

Although a meeting did in fact take place Dec. 15 in Washington between high-ranking US officials and two Salvadorans connected with the guerrillas, the Department of State said Dec. 22 that Mr. Enders was not present. A story appearing Dec. 22 in The Christian Science Monitor said that Mr. Enders was at the session. Articles appearing in other newspapers also put Mr. Enders at the session.

Monitor Latin America correspondent James Nelson Goodsell writes that the department confirms that Everett E. Briggs, Mr. Enders's deputy, was the ranking US official present.

The meeting was held at the request of the Frente Democratico Revolucionario (Democratic Revolutionary Front; FDR), to which Mr. Zamora and Francisco Altschul, the other Salvadoran attending, belong. The department, in a statement , said that the US representatives at the session urged the FDR to renounce violence.

Mr. Briggs has spent a good deal of time recently working on the Salvadoran situation. In September, for example, he was in San Salvador meeting with leaders of six political parties.