Decisive Moment Approaches in El Salvador
By Vincent Kermel
Despite their military advisors, their financial and material aid, and the various pressures they have been bringing to bear on Nicaragua and Cuba in an attempt to isolate the Salvadoran guerrillas, the American imperialists have not succeeded in consolida-. ting the power of the military and Christian Democratic junta in San Salvador.
Not only have the forces of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front not been subdued. Their recent operations show that they are resuming their advance at a level higher than they had reached before their January 1981 offensive.
Signs of demoralization are also appearing in the repressive forces. Two companies based at the San Carlos barracks in the capital recently refused to go into battle. One of the two FMLN radio stations, Radio Venceremos, announced that soldiers in the San Miguel barracks had been put before a firing squad for refusing to fight.
THE FMLN ADVANCES
As the March 23 elections draw near, the objectives of the FMLN's military actions become more and more clearly defined. At the beginning of February, two towns were temporarily occupied, Tonacatapeque, eighteen kilometers from the capital; and Usulutan, the country's fourth largest city, about 100 kilometers from San Salvador.
### Commandante Juan Antonio
Medrano, who led the operations in Usulutan, said on February 6 that for several days his forces had conducted "preinsurrectionary" actions in preparation for urban guerrilla warfare.
On February 8, almost half the country was deprived of electricity after an attack on the generator at San Rafael de los Cedres, north of the capital.
The breadth of the FMLN's military activity is certainly going to revive the debate among the various tendencies in the front about the prospect of a new large-scale offensive. The perspective of insurrection has 2 already been advanced in some statements by FMLN leaders.
The FMLN leader in the Guazapa volcano region north of San Salvador said recently: "We are now in a decisive phase, and what we are interested in now is accelerating the war." (International Herald Tribune, February
The capital itself has not been secure from FMLN actions. After burning about twenty buses over a period of a few days, guerrillas launched a bazooka attack on February 10 against the main telecommunications center in San Salvador.
Even if the involvement of the urban masses in such actions is still small, these operations testify to the fact that the FMLN is reorganizing its network in the
In view of these facts, it is harder and harder to present the scheduled for March 28 as a credible and lasting "politi-
The U.S. ambassador in San recently admitted that the elections would not end the war.
More explicitly still, Jorge chairman of the National Electoral Commission, has said that in the event of a victory by ARENA (the Republican National Alliance led by the fascist-like Major Roberto d'Aubuisson), "this would mean a bloodbath, a real civil war." It is obvious that these elections can in no way resolve the internal dissensions in the junta and the formations that support it.
Aware of the deterioration of the military situation for the junta, the imperialist leaders are now openly considering direct military intervention. A number of them regard this as the last chance to stop a victory of the FMLN. Moreover, Ronald Reagan is not additional military aid to E1 Salvador and dispatched his destroyers to patrol the Gulf of
In order to prepare the political ground for a military escalation, the U.S. Secretary of State, General Alexander Haig, has developed a long argument trying to show that the situation in Central America is different from the one in Vietnam. In substance, he says that the stakes are higher now because Central America is decisive for U.S.
While Washington is getting more and more deeply involved in backing the Central American dictatorships, divisions have appeared even among the representatives of the American ruling class over the policy the Reagan administration is now following. These criticisms are impelled above all by the strong feeling of opposition to new military adventures that exists among the American population itself.
It is in this highly-charged context that the Mexican president, Jose Lopez Portillo, made his proposals on February 21 in Managua for "a realistic alternative" in Central America.
Any U.S. military intervention, Lopez Portillo said, would be "a historic error that would touch off a continent-wide convulsion and the resurgence of deep anti-Americanism among the finest people throughout Latin America." (Le Monde, February
The Mexican president offered himself as mediator in negotiations on the three key questions of U.S. relations with Cuba, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.
In his "Appeal from Managua, " Lopez Portillo proposed that the U.S. stop its military threats against the Sandinista regime, that the counterrevolutionists being trained in Honduras and Florida be disarmed, and that a regional nonaggression pact be signed. In return for such a formal guarantee from the U.S., Nicaragua was supposed to reduce its arms imports.
No concrete proposal was advanced for El Salvador. But Lopez Portillo envisaged a compromise between "elections without negotiations" and "negotiations without elections."
The Mexican president's opposition to imperialist intervention and his taking his distance from the Salvadoran elections represents
an important diplomatic success for the FMLN. On the other hand, his offer to mediate reflects the Mexican government's desire to avoid a general revolutionary conflagration, which would certainly have consequences for Mexico itself.
A few days after Lopez Portillo's "Appeal from Managua, " Reagan announced a development plan for the Caribbean and Central America.
This program provides for opening the U.S, to imports from Central America for ten years--in fact, 87% of products from this area already enter the U.S. tariff free. It provides for fiscal aids for companies investing in these countries, for 350 million dollars more aid in fiscal year 1982, and 644. 4 million dollars for fiscal 1983, as well as for technical aid to the private sector.
This new "Mini-Marshall Plan" seems strangely to ignore the reality of the armed conflicts it is designed to defuse. "If we do not By François Vercammen act rapidly and decisively to defend freedom, " Reagan said in presenting his plan, "new Cubas will arise from the ruins of today's conflicts."
Such aid cannot solve the problems created by the civil war in Salvador or even moderate the social contradictions that are at the root of the revolutionary upsurge in this region. To the contrary, this aid, which is to go primarily to the private sector, can only increase the social distortions and reinforce the local financial oligarchies. What is more, this plan is a cover for what amounts to increasing military aid.
The scheme in fact provides for 60 million dollars more military aid for the region in the form of shipments of arms, helicopters, PT boats, as well as transportation and radio equipment. Thus, for the current year military aid will be increased to 182 million dollars, with a large part being earmarked for El Salvador.
The determination of the Reagan regime to push its aggressive policy in Central America must not in any way be underestimated. Alexander Haig himself illustrated this when he explained the way in which he thought the situation in Central America differed from the one in Vietnam:
"This is located at the heart of American interests in the hemisphere." He continued: "A military threat on our doorstep raises a different sort of problem. "
Therefore, the date of the Salvadoran elections must be the occasion for the largest possible anti-imperialist demonstrations throughout the world. In particular, such demonstrations are being built in the United States. International Forum of Solidarity with the Salvadoran People that will be held March 26-28 in Mexico must be utilized to organize international and to lay out new perspectives for building mobilizations in support of the Salvadoran people.