The FMLN demanded that the ARENA party be banned from participating in the political life of the country, making the dialogue between the two sides difficult. During 1985, Duarte tried to improve the image of the state by banning the Salvadoran Air Force from bombing civilian areas without presidential permission, creating an Investigative Commission to investigate political assassinations and persecuting the right-wing death squads that were alleged to be embedded in the state security services. However, this attempt largely failed to influence the excesses of the death squads.