Position of the
workers'
movement A LEADER of the independent union movement in El Salvador for 14 years, Bernabe Recinos is a bete noir for Duarte, as he was for the country's successive military governments. Imprisoned from 1980 to 1984, he was only released as a result of the international pressure brought to bear on Duarte. He is a member of FENASTRAS and in the leadership of UNTS. We have translated the following interview with him from the February 1987 issue of the Nicaraguan magazine Pensamiento Propio.
Question. In view of the war situation, what are the objectives of the Salvadoran workers' movement?
Answer. From our standpoint, the main problem in the situation is the government's refusal to respond to demands for dialogue and the policy it has followed since 1981, which consists of stepping up the war
4. Joaquin Villalobos, "The present stage of the war and its perspectives," 1986.
Ibid.
International Viewpoint 4 May 1987
qualitatively and quantitatively. As a condition for opening up dialogue the government is making the absurd demand that the FMLN lay down its
It is clear that the guerrillas are not going to do that, because they are an army, just like the one that they face. In El Salvador, there are two armies, and neither of them can demand that the other surrender.
This intensification of the war has resulted in a growing aspiration on the part of the Salvadoran people to be able to live in peace. The people are demanding peace, but the call for dialogue is not an isolated demand. It is wrong to think today that if there were dialogue it would soon
This demand by the people is reflected by popular organizations at all levels, in the same way as the people chose other forms of organization after having been denied for many years any way of expressing themselves by electoral means.
If the rulers do not let the workers choose, the latter are forced to resort to violence, because violence is the workers. As the workers improved their organization, the government responded by stepped-up repression.
For the workers, therefore, the question is one of self-defence, of a better form of organization. And in El Salvador, there is a tradition and an experience of armed defence of the masses. It is hardly surprising, then, that in view of the denial of any political road and of the increase workers' militias reappearing in the urban zones.
Q. The government accuses UNTS of being terrorist, a characterization that it also makes of the FMLN. What are the possibilities today for the development of the workers' moveeconomic crisis is very grave in El Salvador. It is hitting the workers directly and hard. With this worsening of the crisis, poverty is on the increase, but along with this, more and more demands are being made on the government.
The workers' movement has grown stronger, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and its united efforts are reflected in the formation of UNTS. The political consciousness of the workers' movement is increasing because this government's political alternatives have brought nothing for the people.
The government has always tried to discredit the united organizations of the workers' movement in the opposition, trying to portray them as mere appendages of the FMLN. This campaign has no other aim
International Viewpoint 4 May 1987 than to justify the repression.
We think that the government is stepping up repression trade-union movement because its political plan has failed. If it has any room left for propaganda on the international level, it can't be much. But despite that, UNTS is a strong alternative, able to compete for the Christian Democrats' social base.
Our policy is to seek alliances with other organizations around common objectives and thus to reinforce the unity of the workers' movement.
the UPD, which left UNTS for of organizational independence, we maintain unity in action around a platform of demands.
We also have broad points of agreement with UNOC, which is close to the Christian Democracy. From our standpoint, the decisive element is the gravity of the situation, which is the same for all working people.
Q. How do you see the Salvadoran
Q. Are there real possibilities at the present time for establishing dia-
For the moment, we see no possibility of dialogue. But we think that in view of the deteriorating position of the Christian Democracy in El Salvador, the Reagan administration is going to try to recompose the political power by giving more room to private enterprise and the agrarian oligarchy.
The Christian Democratic government is in a grave state, since it no represents anything in the internationally it is completely discredited. It is going all out to inflict a military defeat on the FMLN, which is out of its reach. In the working class, among the working
EL SALVADOR people, this attitude on the part of the government can only increase organization directed at achieving
Q. Besides the government and the guerrillas, the two belligerent parties present, people talk about a "third force." Could it be a political alternative?
A. The third force is not a political option, but it is important for broadening alliances, giving impetus to action platforms and enriching the political life of the nation. But since it has no definitive program and since it does not represent a military force, it cannot offer an alternative in the war, because in El Salvador the situation is polarized between the armed forces and the United States on the one side, and the FMLN-FDR on the other.