Salvadoran people face death squad government
ALL THE signs are that the end of this year will see a sharpening of the war in El Salvador and possibly the spread of conflicts throughout Central America. After the
ONTRARY to what is being written in most of the press, the
FMLN offensive is not over.
What is really happening is that the Salvadoran revolutionaries are using every possible means to force the govern-
EL SALVADOR assassination of the leaders of the National Federation of ment of the death squads to accept an out-
Salvadoran Workers (FENASTRAS) at the end of October come favourable to the historic needs of the Salvadoran people.
came the murder of the Jesuit priests and the strong offensive
On their side, Cristiani and the military launched by the FMLN on November 11, demanding a genuine along with the Bush administration, rather dialogue with the Cristiani government that could put an end than facing up to the reality of their political weakness and the collapse of their to the war and find a real solution to the terrible crisis in El plans to isolate the FMLN from the population, have opted to go all out for a military defeat of the FMLN at the same time tending to more and more generalize the conflict throughout Central America.
Cuba and Nicaragua have been accused of interfering in the internal affairs of El Salvador and of giving military help to the
FMLN.
US Green Berets discovered in Sheraton Hotel
The events surrounding the capture of the Sheraton Hotel by FMLN forces on
November 21 showed the cynicism of
Cristiani and Bush. The presence there of
12 US Green Berets in possession of high powered weapons, is a question that has not until now been clarified by either the Salvadoran government or the US. Nobody can believe the argument that they were only passing through. On the contrary, the presence of US military advisers, who have directly participated in the night-time bombardments in San Salvador, is becoming ever more obvious. Bush is spreading the idea that there is a danger of US citizens being attacked — a claim that could be used to justify direct military intervention by the United States
Salvador. ALFONSO MORO in El Salvador. In fact, the FMLN general command has publicly stated on a number of occasions that neither North American positions nor installations are to be attacked — a position that was maintained during the assault on the Sheraton hotel.
Feeling ever weaker, the Cristiani government has resorted to generalized terror against the population, not only through political assassinations and constant bombardments launched on the poor areas of the Salvadoran capital, but also - with the backing of the ultra-right ARENA party - by making 28 amendments to the penal code and judicial procedures and by extending the scope of the "anti-terrorist" legislation.
- MLN
Thus the minimum age at which a person can be punished has been lowered from 16 to 14 years. The maximum period for which a person can be held for investigation has been extended from 72 hours to 15 days.
Blatant attempt to institutionalize terror
Fascist-style articles have been added defining new crimes such as "justifying terrorism" or "being suspected of being a terrorist." The process of institutionalization of terror is so blatant that on the day when these reforms were passed, the parliamentary groups of the PDC and PCN withdrew from the assembly in protest against the "anti-terrorist" legislation.
In its attempt to keep the situation under control, the government of the death squads has used chemical weapons against the civilian population in urban areas. Between November 11 and 21 Some districs a tacks are a mer 3 poor districts of the capital. On November
International Viewpoint #75 • December 11, 1989
EL SALVADOR / USA 29 armed forces entered the offices of the United Nations, causing enormous destruction. We do not know as yet what happened to the people working there.
What all this amounts to is an irreversible change in the political situation inside El Salvador. The repeated refusal of Cristiani to negotiate a political agreement has moved the terrain for a possible solution of the conflict from politics to the military struggle. The Salvadoran revolutionaries have demonstrated that they have the strength to impose their terms on this terrain.
In fact, the FMLN relaunched its offensive on November 28 and 29 in Soyapango, Ayuxtepeque, Mejicanos, San Miguel and so on at the same time as taking positions in the rich districts of San Salvador, which the military will be more hesitant to bombard. With the development of new fronts in the west, north and east of the capital, the FMLN has succeeded in establishing what it calls the "Circle of Liberty" and already controls half of the city
The name used is significant, especially if we remember that the FMLN have given the names of comrades fallen in battle or murdered by the death squads to all their previous operations. The field of action of Cristiani and the high command continues to shrink.
Relations with Nicaragua severed unilaterally
The international situation is becoming increasingly complex. After the crash of an aircraft carrying arms to the FMLN, the Cristiani government has been trying to provoke an international scandal, accusing Cuba and Nicaragua of involvement in sending the material. Furthermore, breaking off of diplomatic relations with Managua is clearly aimed at putting still more pressure on besieged Nicaragua.
The aim may be to sabotage the meeting of Central American presidents that will be reassembling at the start of December in Managua with the aim of finding a global political agreement about the regional conflict, or to bring about an increase in military aid from the US to the El Salvado-
As the FMLN general command has indicated, the aim of Cristiani's action is to throw a smokescreen over the genocide being perpetrated by the Salvadoran army against its own people. But everybody knows that the first to escalate the war were the army who launched indiscriminate land and sea attacks against the population. It is really bizarre to hear Cristiani lament the use of anti-aircraft weapons by the FMLN at a time when the recent bombing raids by his own air force have been the cause of more than three thousand deaths in less than two weeks.
In this situation it is absolutely legitimate for the FMLN to get arms from 4 can, especially when this gives them the wherever and by whatever means they possibility of defending the civilian population from new massacres. Apart from government's airplane incident is increasingly coming into question, particularly given the fact that one of the Nicaraguan crew members alleged to have been killed when the plane came down has just appeared at a press conference in Managua to deny the version of events being put about by Cristiani.
The importance of the airplane incident is underlined if reports in Le Monde (November 30 and December 1) are to be believed. Here we read that in the middle of these events, a Soviet delegation met Cuban and Nicaraguan officials in Managua and called on these countries to cease their support for the Salvadoran revolution, in order to prepare the ground for the Gorbachev-Bush summit in Malta at the start of December.
Nobody has the right to restrict support of whatever kind to the revolution in El Salvador and much less to try to turn the countries in this region into bargaining chips for superpower deals.
Dangerous escalation of regional tensions
Finally, the victory of Rafael Callejas, candidate for the rightist National Party (PN) for the Honduran presidency and his immediate turn towards an "unshakeable union with the United States"; the recent declarations of Vinicio Cerezo, the Guatemalan president, accusing the Salvadoran ultra-rightist D'Aubuisson (suspected of being behind the murder of Archbishop Romero in 1980) of supplying arms and ammunition to the Guatemalan far right; and the possible increase in US military aid to El Salvador to some $1.4m each day (Newsweek, December 4) are leading the whole of Central America towards an explosion in the short term.
It is necessary to redouble our efforts to prevent Central American being drowned in blood. We need to demand: the removal from power of Cristiani; an end to United States material and economic sup port to the Salvadoran high command; the removal of all US military advisors from Central America; and for the people of El Salvador to be permitted to determine their own destiny. It would be unpardonable to prolong the sufferings of the Salvadoran people, or allow the crimes of the goverment of the death squads to go unpunished. It is necessary to support the FMLN's proposal for the immediate start of negotiations, in which all social and political forces in El Salvador are able to take part, on ending the war. This is the way towards a workable solution to the Salvadoran crisis and to lessen the dangers of the generalization of conflict throughout Central Ameri-
T HE MASSIVE outpouring
November 12 was a powerful proof of the strength of the aboranother sign of the militant role being played by the National Organization of Women (NOW). Immediately after the July 3 Supreme Court ruling upholding restrictive abortion laws in Missouri, NOW called for a national protest action in Washington DC. Leaders of other national organizations within the pro-choice movement, who favor statefocused lobbying action to influence legislators, opposed calling for a mass action with a national focus. But NOW's refusal to call off the national demonstration compelled other groups within the women's rights movement to organize events in cities across the country in what became a coordinated project entitled "Mobilize for Women's Lives — Across the the USA and Washington DC."
They couldn't have been more than eight or nine years old. They might have been sisters - or maybe best friends. They stood untiringly for hours at the edge of the reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. They smiled, posed for an untold number of photographs - and they inspired everyone who passed by. Their shirts were covered with buttons and ribbons and the name of their county's pro-choice coalition. Their signs read, simply, "Future Feminists, Here by Choice" These two young women were among the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators demand continued access to safe, legal, and affordable abortions for women in the United States and around the world. Contingents from around the