The World - News from Jan. 27, 1989

Rightist extremists threatened to kill the leaders of five Honduran civic groups in apparent reprisal for the slaying of retired Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, the anti-Communist former chief of Honduras’ armed forces who was influential in organizing the Nicaraguan Contras on Honduran soil. The self-styled Anti-Communist Alliance of Action said in a broadcast statement that it has “judged” the five and “condemned” them to death. The threatened men include heads of political factions both in and out of government, a labor leader and two human rights leaders. The Popular Liberation Movement-Chinchonero, a leftist band that emerged in 1981, claimed responsibility for killing Alvarez.