Salvadoran land policy defended by US envoy

Deane Hinton, the US ambassador to El Salvador, called allegations that El Salvador had stopped or suspended land reform ''a bum rap.''

Although former Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte said land reform had been halted, Mr. Hinton said he was in Washington to convince Congress that it was a mistake to threaten to cut off US aid, since land reform was continuing in the Central American country. He said reforms had only been revised to allow rental of farmland.