The World - News from July 26, 1988

Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte called a year-old Central American peace plan a regional “declaration of independence” and said it has fulfilled many of its objectives. Duarte, 62, who is suffering from terminal cancer, appeared energetic and animated in his first news conference since he returned July 11 after six weeks of treatment in the United States. He said the peace plan “told the world that we Central Americans would make the decisions concerning Central America.” But Duarte criticized Nicaragua, accusing the leftist Sandinista regime of failing to live up to its obligations under the plan, signed last Aug. 7 by the five Central American presidents.