Guadalupe Martinez, a member of the FMLN delegation that has met poses the problem of alternative, nonwith the Salvadoran government.
oppressive forms of maternity. All this was certainly not on the parliamentary agenda — even despite the fact that abortion is one of the crimes "against the family order and public morality". Inside the women's movement this has always been an integral part of the discussion on abortion.
Let us return to everyday political reality in Belgium. Despite the fact that Belgium has just adopted the new law, the parliamentary debate is far from over. To console the CVP, parliament has voted to set up an Evaluation Commission. This commission is to assemble statistics and also give its advice on further legislation.
On the basis of this commission's reports, there will be a parliamentary debate every two years. Thus the next parliamentary session on abortion will be in the winter of 1992-93. Even if the CVP allies will find it difficult to and its
18 tove vigilant. * reverse the gains made, it is still necessary
International Viewpoint #188 • July 2, 1990
W HY has the Salvadoran
government finally agreed to meet the FMLN?
The government was not very happy to meet us under the auspices of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar — it was forced to do so in order to safeguard its military capability. There is a debate going on now in the United States on the continuation of military aid to the Salvadoran army — after ten years of war, the latter has not been capable of achieving the goals initially set for it by the US Congress. The offensive that we launched in November 1989' has then led to a debate in the United States - some observers have begun to ask why the FMLN has not been weakened by these ten years of war, and why the army continues to violate human rights. At the beginning, the United States wanted to make the army a professional corps and to contain "communism" -they have not succeeded.
The opening of the negotiations in the presence of the United Nations marks the victory of ten years of armed struggle in El Salvador. • In your opinion, the United States have put pressure on the Salvadoran government to participate in this meeting?
The army and the government did not wish to accept the presence of Perez de Cuellar - for them, the active role assumed by an international organization like the United Nations in such a process confirmed the recognition of the FMLN as a participant in this conflict and officially established the existence of another army
and another force in El Salvador. For if the United Nations is willing to play the role of mediator, it is because there are two armies fighting each other and not phantoms, as the government pretends.
If there is a mediation, it is because you have two powers which confront each other, without either being capable of victory. The MILN is not just an army, but also a representative social force which is at the source of an established duality of power — that is what explains its popular support. The Salvadoran government is today obliged to recognize that it is not in a position to defeat the FMLN and that is a
Some claim that this meeting implies the surrender of the FMLN — this is absolutely not the case, on the contrary. The Salvadoran left would never have won the legitimacy and the recognition which it enjoys today without our struggle. In Europe, the left is used to enjoying a certain political space, even if this is contested — its militants can agitate freely and different ideas coexist within even if they are not in a majority. In Central America, and above all in El Salvador, to be on the left was a "mortal sin", which people paid for with their lives, before the existence of the FMLN. Today, progressive, democratic and left ideas have some weight in our society. The legitimacy of the FMLN as a participant in political dialogue is admitted by international governments and organizations, and above all by the people of El Salvador. quest would have been impossible without these years of armed struggle. (...) • The principal theme of the next meeting will be the cease-fire. What will the position of the FLN be?
The document we have just signed at Geneva is clear — a process of negotiations is needed culminating in concrete agreements before a cease-fire is discussed. The thesis of the Cristiani government, according which the problem to resolve in El Salvador is the integration of the FMLN in the process of democratization, is thus contradicted.
The signing of this accord confirms that there is no democracy in El Salvador and that the cease-fire can only be concretized to the extent that effective steps are taken towards democratization. struggle remains legitimate, it is a guarantee for change. The accord implies then -and it is a leader of an opposition party who has underlined this — that the armed struggle guarantees and preserves this process of democratization.
It is necessary to be aware that the war will continue to be a determining factor in the negotiations. The FMLN also thinks that, in the situation today, the two parties are going to make efforts to maintain the relationship of military, political and social forces, with the goal of imposing their point of view at the negotiations. The FLN must then preserve its military capacities, the support which it enjoys and, above all, international solidarity -it is this which can make the government yield. The time has not come for the disarmament of the FMLN to become a political party, but rather for the battle for real change in El Salvador. The government will be obliged to make concessions.
Today, it is not necessary to limit oneself to demanding democracy for the countries of Eastern Europe, it is necessary to demand it also for the third world — in El Salvador, the whole society demands it. ARENA? and the Salvadoran government find themselves very isolated on this subject. If the "danger of communism" is no longer on the order of the day, why does the United States oppose an opening up of Salvadoran society? That is • In the document you have signed, it is clearly stated that the process of negotiation has opened. How will
The text says clearly that a democratization will be needed in El Salvador which will lead to the direct and legal participation of the FMLN in society. That amounts to saying that there is no real democracy in our country today - that is the first reading of the accords which it is necessary to make and which the government rejects. Then, the accords stipulate that, if there is no democracy, it must be created, and for this, changes are required, of which the most urgent concern the principal power in El Salvador, the army. One of the objectives of the negotiations is the transformation of the armed forces. The FMLN proposes first that all the officers linked to the high command must be retired, that is the group of the Tandona, which controls the
The FMLN then demands a purge, which is moreover accepted by virtually everybody. Then, the FMLN wishes that the army take on a professional character — to do this, it is necessary to transform its structures but also its way of thinking, and one can only change the ideology of the army by changing its source, the military school. At the end of the negotiations, the size of the army must be reduced. Finally, it is necessary that the police no longer depend on the army — they must be attached to another ministry with different and specific tasks.
In the domain of justice, it is good to remember that Salvadoran laws have always had a limited practical reach, to the extent that our judicial system is not independent and does not find itself free of pressures. It is necessary then to create a new independent system of justice, which is not linked to the ministry of defence. The judges must no longer be afraid, nor run the risk of disappearing, if they indict a soldier - they must have sufficient authority to bring criminals to justice, even if they are members of the
EL SALVADOR
We think that a law is also required to defend human rights and that those who violate them should be punished in an exemplary fashion.
In El Salvador, more than in any other country, economic reforms, and notably agrarian reform, must be discussed during the negotiations. The specific problem of the land has a historic link with the forms of social violence that we have known in our country. Inasmuch as agrarian reform is not realized and inasmuch as the peasants do not dispose of genuine legal guarantees on their land, the latter will be prepared to continue to fight — and there will always be people ready to take up arms in El Salvador, even if the FMLN was no longer to advocate it.
Reform of the electoral system will be another key element of these discussions The framework currently in position in El Salvador has the function of preserving the power of the party which is in government — the percentage of people who vote for the right in our country has hardly changed since 1982 (around 500,000 peo-
If the electoral system is changed so that people can register themselves on the electoral lists, a million new voters will arrive on the political scene. ARENA fears such a situation for it is convinced that this new electorate will vote above all for the left or the centre, and that they have not registered before now because of the influence of the guerillas — above all in the countryside. The youth who were eight years old in 1980 are already of voting age. The problem of registration on the electoral lists thus interests all the political parties. We want then to see a healthy development of the electoral system — in El Salvador, until now, international observers only arrive on election day
In 1991, there will be municipal and legislative elections. If ARENA loses its majority in the Assembly and the municipalities, it must face a society in its majority opposed to it, which will dispose of legal means to dispute the political terrain with it and which could put local self-management into practice. The government has said that the negotiations must not go beyond the framework fixed by the Constitution and that this itself cannot be reformed. It is necessary then to remove ARENA's majority in the Assembly, to be able to change the constitution and legalize the negotiations. In this context, the 1. See IV 174, November 27, 1989 2. The National Republican Alliance (ARENA) is an extreme right formation (led by, amongst others, Major l'Aubuisson, who was behind the assassination o Monsignor Romero in 1980) with known links wit the death squads — it has been in power since the presidential elections of 1989. 3. Some officers who today lead the Salvadoran army graduated from the same military class and are known as the Tandona. They are favourable to the pursuit of low intensity warfare, under the leadership of the Unitnegotiation thate declared themselves hostle to any 19 negotiation with the FMLN. July 2, 1990 • #188 International Viewpoint
EL SALVADOR elections of March 1991 are very important. • Will the FMLN definitely contest the next elections, and under what conditions?
It is necessary first to stress that our armed struggle for elections is finding new support — our arms have become guarantees for the holding of the elections and, whilst many thought that the armed struggle would lose its legitimacy in El Salvador, it has become the guarantee of the electoral process. The FMLN has appeared then as a necessary and even vital force for the democratization of the country.
The armed forces find themselves in a contrary situation. The counterinsurrection is losing its legitimacy and its justification - fighting the FMLN because it is anti-democratic and communist - is today no longer valid. The army has become the sole obstacle to political opening in El Salvador.
The United States sees this change in a negative way and asks itself if it should continue to unconditionally support the army in its continuation of the war. The army will suffer pressures form a number of directions, but above all from the US. We think that a certain goodwill exists on the part of the US, which by no means implies an acceptance of our positions — this creates a new political context, different from the counter-insurrection, if the US envisages reducing the economic and military aid to the Salvadoran government. We live then in a very important time - and these negotiations imply above all changes for the army.
It is important for it to play a determining role in the conflict and to establish a reign of terror. If there are political negotiations, a restructuring of the judicial system and if the image of the army as untouchable is shattered — if, for example, the soldiers who murdered the Jesuits are punished — the people will understand that they have the right to have left wing ideas and even to speak about them, without being menaced with torture or disappearance. All these changes would also constitute guarantees that the elections will take place with a real popular participation. The FMLN does not think that these negotiations will be easy, or rapid. It knows that very many things are still required — in the political as in the military terrain — so that the army accepts that it is no longer the centre of power. Even if new space is won before the elections [the electoral campaign begins in December 1990], the FMLN will not yet transform itself into a political organization. However, it could support the elections and establish certain accords with the government and the opposition so that the ballot is fair.
If these changes occur in the context of
20 the nato an one oral boyot, as id not
International Viewpoint #188 • July 2, 1990 until now — but, if things do not go forward, it is possible that Democratic Convergence* and even the Christian Democrats will put in question their participation so as not to run the risk of defeat. • You would consider supporting the Christian Democrats?
Who has spoken of that? • You seem to put them on the same plane as Democratic Conver-
History has twists and turns, it is not linear. A year and a half ago, the Christian were our principal enemy, when they were the government — but today, they have the same adversary as us, ARENA, and it would be foolish of us to fight against the government without coordinating ourselves.
It has not been easy for us to arrive at this conclusion. First, because the Christian Democrats had, at their origin, direct links with the United States in the counter-insurrectionary war and they obviously appeared in the eyes of Salvadorans as having responsibility — or in any case coresponsibility — for a difficult period in our history. But, today, they are also the victims of persecutions, some of their members have been arrested and they have suffered the same fate as we suffered at their hands when they were in government - its members have thus become very much more realistic.
If they lose the elections again, their party will break up - the demands for democratization made by the FMLN protect them then also, to the extent that they open up political space. (...)
The question of support for the candidature of the Christian Democrats does not even pose itself, for the FMLN has its own equivalent amongst the political parties, Democratic Convergence. If the latter reaches agreement with the Christian Democrats, we will see if we will support indirectly such a coalition, through not appealing for a boycott, for example. But we are not going to tell the people to vote for the Christian Democrats. However if such an alliance could beat ARENA, and if we wished to be consistent with our own positions, as a democratic left, we must establish or propose conditions to assist this electoral victory. • How is the military situation going to evolve in the context of negotiations?
The thesis of the government, according to which it was necessary to have a ceasefire before entering into negotiations — because, they say, the people want peace — has fallen to pieces; that is an important element. In developing this discourse, ARENA wanted to benefit from good conditions for governing, both by drawing out the negotiations and reducing our military pressure. Today the Geneva accords have recognized that a process of democratization is necessary to lead towards a cessation of hostilities. The war is going to be pursued then over a certain period, with the same intensity, until an agreement is reached - it could even revive itself if the army blocks the negotiations too much.
It is necessary to stress that the agreement for the negotiations is not contradictory with the pursuit of military activities by the FMLN. The army, for its part, will also try to maintain pressure on us. The discussions underway do not then imply an immediate peace, on the contrary, the military confrontation could be stronger, inasmuch as a definitive accord is not reached
At this moment, the FMLN must restore a legitimacy to its war and to the armed struggle. At the same time, it is obliged to take account of what the population thinks of its actions, if they wish to meet the aspirations of the masses. If some of our operations are misunderstood by the population, we will be obliged to change our tactics - but this does not mean that we are ceding terrain to our enemies, it is the proof of our will to respond to the aspirations of the people. It is in this context that we should analyze what the FMLN will or will no longer do. For example, because of the economic crisis, some demand that we steal trucks carrying food supplies to redistribute them - some operations of this kind could increase the popularity of the FMLN in the popular neighbourhoods.* 4. Democratic Convergence was created in 1989 at the Movement (MNR) of Guillero Ungo (a member of the Socialist Intemational) and the MPSC (Social Christian Popular Movement) of Ruben Zamora are involved. Democratic Convergence received 4% of the votes in the presidential elections of 1989 (see /V160, April 3, 1989). 5. The Christian Democrats were in power between 1984 and 1989.