a256  1824  27 Jan 89
AM-Salvador,0317
Gunmen Kill Provincial Governor
    SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - Gunmen on Friday assassinated a
provincial governor who was also the provincial leader of the
governing Christian Democratic Party, a judicial source said.
    Gov. Jose Ernesto Flores of Usulutan province was killed by machine
gun fire in Jucuapa, 68 miles east of the national capital, said the
magistrate of Jucuapa, who did not want to be identified by name.
    Ernesto Flores, 40, was appointed governor of the eastern province
last year by President Jose Napoleon Duarte after serving as mayor of
Villa El Triunfo in Usulutan.
    No individual or group immediately claimed responsibility.
    The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front rebel movement, known
by its Spanish acronym of FMLN, frequently has claimed responsibility
for assassinating local officials because of their cooperation with
Duarte's U.S.-backed government.
    The FMLN has been fighting since 1979 to topple the U.S.-backed
Salvadoran government.
    After killing eight mayors last year, the guerrillas sent death
threats to local leaders to demand their resignations. Since last
May, more than 70 among the nations' 262 mayors have resigned.
    Also Friday, guerrillas destroyed a truck used for transporting eggs
in retribution for the government's alleged detention of two union
leaders on Thursday. However, the government would not confirm that
it had arrested the union leaders.
    ''We demand the freedom of our two union companions,'' the rebels
said in a radio broadcast. They warned of further actions if Alfredo
Lemus and Margarita Navarro, leaders in the national labor movement,
are not freed.
    Sixty union members occupied San Salvador's Metropolitan Cathedral
on Thursday night through Friday morning in protest of the alleged
arrests.
    Union officials said they would increase their protests for what
they described as the ''illegal'' arrest of their members.
    The union leaders were taken into custody Thursday afternoon in
Soyapango, outside San Salvador, while distributing union leaflets,
according to various union activists who were with the two.
    
 
AP-NY-01-27-89 2113EST
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