Right-winger d'Aubuisson; Salvador's 'hottest political force'

It had all the trappings of a high-school pep rally with a bunch of kids cheerleading the crowds.

Three Mexican-style mariachi bands performed to the wild shouts of the swelling crowds. Vendors hawked mango slices, banana chips, and soft drinks. And everywhere there were blue, white, and red banners.

In another place, the scene could have been a high school basketball game. But here in El Salvador the scene was the campaign finale for Roberto d'Aubuisson, the former Army major whose Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA , for short) has suddenly become the hottest political force in campaigning before the March 28 balloting for a constituent assembly.

Enthusiasm in the national gymnasium here for d'Aubuisson was evident. When he appeared, and later when he spoke, he was wildly cheered by a crowd that represented in considerable measure what is left of El Salvador's traditional oligarchy and its supporters, who, after three years of civil war, are the country's most endangered species.

The huge gymnasium, which only four days earlier had held a rally for El Salvador's Christian Democrats, led by President Jose Napoleon Duarte, was nearly full - as it had been for the Christian Democratic campaign wrap-up.

But the ARENA rally had more show, more color, more animation. It was obviously well staged. In the hour and a half before d'Aubuisson arrived, the crowd was stirred with political fervor as a mix of music, oratory, and cheerleading kept emotions running high.

And the foreign press was there -- at least 400 strong. There would have been more reporters if a coup had not taken place in neighboring Guatemala earlier in the day; dozens of reporters are on their way there. And there would have been more reporters if President Duarte had not taken a number out into the countryside in a maneuver widely viewed as an effort to undercut the d'Aubuisson rally.

But it was evident that little could undercut the rally. With at least 7,000 people attending, it was a massive show.

It was a massive show of weaponry, too, with guns in evidence at every door and on the platform, particularly after Major d'Aubuisson arrived. A tension was in the air that all the hoopla of the rally could not hide.

Major d'Aubuisson -- whose right-wing rhetoric and strong-willed determination to do away with the leftist guerrillas who have held the country in civil war for three years -- wore a bulletproof vest and was obviously uncomfortable in it.

His bodyguards, several of them burly Salvadorans with rifles and pistols, openly displayed their vests, as they kept wary eyes on the crowd.

Major d'Aubuisson also showed a concern for personal safety, as did his wife at his side. His eyes darted back and forth and took on a most worried look as a bomb went off near the gymnasium. Then, as Army helicpters flew over the scene, he twice turned his eyes toward the domed roof of the gym and wore a worried expression.

But the rally went off without hitches and d'Aubuisson had his final opportunity before the campaign closed to outline his program for El Salvador.

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