HL Deb 22 May 1989 vol 508 c139WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What assessment they have made of the Salvador Government's move to democracy and its determination to remove foreign advisers, reduce its armed forces and stop the destabilisation of neighbouring countries.

Lord Trefgarne

The recent presidential election in El Salvador marked a further important milestone in the development of democracy in El Salvador. This will be the first occasion in the history of El Salvador that one democratically elected president has succeeded another.

A small number of foreign advisers are in El Salvador at the invitation of the democratically elected government. The armed forces of El Salvador have been increased in response to the insurrectionist civil war being waged by the FMLN with support from other states both in the region and outside it. But the armed forces are still substantially smaller than those of Nicaragua.

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