The World - News from April 18, 1986

Three Salvadoran military officers have been accused of carrying out the abductions of prominent businessmen between 1982 and 1986. Two men arrested in connection with two right-wing kidnaping rings told a military judge that Col. Roberto Mauricio Staben, Col. Joaquin Zacapa and Maj. Jose Alfredo Jimenez were involved in at least five abductions. Staben, who has since been removed as commander of the elite, U.S.-trained Arce battalion, and Jimenez are being held in San Salvador. Zacapa left the country before he was implicated in the kidnapings and has not returned. None of the men has been formally charged.