The results of the latest Salvadoran
The incident was politically very da- working on a plan for negotiating with che FMLN attracted a good deal of interest.
Assistant Secretary of State for InterAmerican Affairs, Thomas Enders, proposed a "two-track strategy," according to the Washington Post Service "in which the United States would promote negotiations with left guerrillas there while continuing to support the Salvadoran government's military efforts to suppress the rebels."
The negotiations reportedly would be carried out through a third party, probably the Social Democratic government in Spain.
Enders' proposal was in an internal State Department position paper, and was said to have run into opposition guerrilla offensive Gerry FOLEY The guerrillas January operations seem to have accomplished something like the Tet offensive in Vietnam - that is, make it clear to world public opinion that the government is losing and that there is no way that the guerrillas can be stopped without some drastic change in the terms
At the height of their offensive, the rebels occupied the small city of Berlin in Usulutan province. On February 1, they reportedly destroyed the police and then seized the local
The rebels held the town for four days, retiring only government armed forces
The government hit back with everything it had, at enormous political cost. It used the airpower provided by U.S. imperialism to devastate the city from the forcing the "moderate" archbishop of San Salvador, Monsignor Arturo Rivera y Damas to sound an alarm.
On February 6, the archbishop called on the government to end "indiscriminate bombings." He said that about 250 civilians had been killed in the bombings, although half the population fled when the fighting started. The army treated Berlin like an enemy city.
Agence France-Presse dispatch described the results of the bombing as
"Searching through the rubble, crowds wandering through the streets of a city city...which a few days ago was calm and prosperous, is now nothing but a pile of
What is more, in the rush to smash the rebels in Berlin, some of the U.S. advisors got too far up front. A sergeant was hit by groundfire while flying over the battle area in a helicopter.
maging to Washington. It linked the U.S. directly to a Vietnam-war-style massive terror operation - destroying Berlin to save it. Moreover, this was an
Washington's allies began to look like losers, also raised memories of a not-too-distant past that the U.S. rulers are anxious to
The fact that the wounded sergeant and two other U.S. officers were immediately shipped home, for overstepping the official rule against military getting involved in the fighting, how carefully the Reagan government has to tread.
Washington as of now is afraid of looking like it is getting involved in an escalation, and in fact the Berlin events placed an additional obstacle in the way of stepped-up U.S. intervention.
In the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings the first week in
Connecticut senator Christopher Dodd complained that Washington had given nearly a billion dollars in open military aid to El Salvador and : "What do we have to show for it? The military and political situations are not improving
Dodd's remarks were cited in the February 14 issue of the major U.S. magazine Newsweek, which went on to comment: "But the amount of U.S. aid that would be needed to make a substantial differgovernment's military performance remains staggering."
The news weekly pointed out that U.S. experts in El Salvador itself were showed the coming trend in El Salvador, one frustrated concluded...'Next month, it'll be a town bigger than Berlin,
U.S. advisors wounded - or
In this context, it is not surprising that the disclosure by a Latin-American from Reagan's ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick in particular. Kirkpatrick, an aggressive rightist, is one of the key figures for Reagan's foreign policy.
In fact, the doran military, backed up by Washing ton, to stop the spread of the guerriladministration's inability to rally to represent something of a crisis for
U.S. president's policy colonial peoples. On the is almost certain to divide and demoralize the local rulers, who fear granting any measure of democratic rights to the
At the height of the guerrilla offensive, Guillermo Ungo, leader of the Frente Democratico Revolucionario, a comof the FMLN, visited Paris. Le Monde of February 9 published an interview with him under the line: "We Solemnly Reiterate Our Offer of Negotiations."
Marcel Niedergang, Le Monde's Latin-American expert:
"We are making this offer when our forces are showing on the ground that they have the initiative. We are not making it out of weakness but we think that it is growing number of people in our coun-.
who want peace." "If the military balance is broken tomorrow, it could be too late."
Ungo said that the guerrillas' offensive had ushered in a new phase of the war: "The regular army has no offensive capactions of the guerrilla groups...Equality with the army has not yet been achieved, but we are getting there."
The FDR leader thought Washington would have big difficulties in intervening diplomats high-ranking military officers have just said publicly that the recent big American maneuvers in Honduras have at least proved that nothing serious can be done in the region without the United States. This is true in Honduras, where the maneuvers only served to prepare the way for direct U.S. intervention. It is true in EI
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STOP US AID EL SALVADOR DEATH SQUADS
The revolution
Salvador, where the army would collapse without the U.S. aid.
But is the public in the U.S. reagy to lose boys in an armed conflict in Central America?"
The FMLN respect for democratic and humanitaries values has helped to put it in a politically strong position both inside the gountry and international- in Central America, ly.
For example, even U.S. experts have its impact on Mexico had to acknowledge that the FMLN treats captured goldiers well and releases them as soon as possible.
In November, the Los Angeles Times quoted a U.S, psychological warfare expert as saying: "These freed men are more dangerous to the army than a 120millimeter howitzer. They will tell their fellow soldiers shey were treated well, which will encomtege more to surrender the next time they are surrounded."
In contrast to this, the UN Human Rights Commission report released February 9 pointed out that in 1982, about 5,000 people were murdered in El Salvador, mostly by security forces and rightists. It pointed out that not a single person has ever been convicted of violating human rights by a Salvadoran court.
At obvious pains to find signs of improvement, the muthors of an official U.S. report ep himan rights in El Salvador noted felt the counterinsurgency forces "are beging to take prisoners, although the saber "is still very small." That is, with very few exceptions, the army slaughters all resisters they overpower.
In this situation, even the leadership of the AFL-CIO, long closely linked to the U.S. government, and by no means to its more peral circles, has had to come out aginat continued aid to the junta. Reviving trede-unionist consciousness in the U.S. is certainly a factor in this, since the junta has suppressed union activity apd a good deal of the Salvadoran union movement is on the rebel side.
In this contest, the FMLN's proposals for a negotiated settlement based on democracy, without the people's die act that few be gominment and its defense disarming, highlight imperialist backers who are afraid to allow the people to organize freely and express themselves.
Such initiatives can help to gain the attention and sympathy of the masses in the larger countries in the region and in the imperialist centers, without which it would be extremely difficult to carry through a successful revolution in EI Salvador.
The impact that the Salvadoran strug. gle has had internationally testifies to its political strengths. The pressures created by a growing revolutionary struggle in a key area fer imperialism will continue to pose dillicult tests as well as opportunities for fae Salvadoran movement. In this sense, the strength of the movement of support for the Salvadoran people can weigh heavily in the outcome. 4
* FMLN FDR The following interview was given to Gerry Foley in Paris in early February
Sergio Rodriguez, a leader of the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores PRT -