US pilots bombing Salvador,
Swedish journalist says
"It was going on 6:00 in the evening, and the sky began to cloud over. There was only one military plane in the sky, and suddenly an American voice came over the radio: "It's hard to see, I'd better come back."
"U.S. pilots are involved in bombing the people of El Salvador."
That was what the journalist Monica Zak told us. She spent three months with the guerrillas in El Salvador in the spring. We talked to her about the time she spent
"It's a lot harder to fight in El Salvador than in Nicaragua," she began.
"El Salvador is very mountainous and the forests were cut down a long time ago. Now the government is destroying what woods remain by systematic incendiary bombing.
"El Salvador is very densely populated, and this also causes problems for the liberation struggle. El Salvador has an average of 238 persons per square kilometer. This compares for example with twenty persons per square kilometer in Sweden!
"I experienced this systematic fire bombing myself. There were fires nearly every day when I was in the Guazapa region, not far from the capital city, San Salvador."
There is strong support for the guerrillas in the Guazapa region, and during the time she was there Monica Zak saw no less than fourteen attempted invasions by government troops.
"The level of organization in the region is very high. The land is cultivated collectively. beans, maize, and sugar cane. people risk being murdered by the army if they leave the area, trade in kind is very well developed. The sugar-cane fields are divided into five parts, one each for the five organizations that make up the FMLN."
During her stay, Monica Zaks saw military planes drop incendiary and phosphorous bombs to destroy the crops just before they were ready to be harvested. Since the people's houses are close to the fields, there were heavy casualties.
"I photographed a little boy who had been wounded by a phosphorous bomb. It made deep burns going into the bone. The FMLN instructs the people to put mud on to shut off the supply of oxygen to the burning phosphorous. it's hardest for the children to do this."
Monica Zak was 6,000 government soldiers launched an attack. Artillery was landed on the mountain tops from the air, and from there the towns on the slopes were shell-
The FMLN's tactic is that major confrontations should be avoided and therefore the population has to be evacuated. People are getting used to this routine.
Some ahildren explained to Monica Zak that napalm bombs have a duller sound than phosphorous grenades.
"When the attack was over, the army did not dare stay in the region and retreated. Then the people came and began to rebuild what the army had destroyed The people cultivated yuca root, which grows fast, so as to have something to
But this tactic of the army of retreating after attacks has changed increasingly as the U.S. has gotten more deeply involved in the struggle. tactic involves more setting up of "strategie hamlets," a concept we are familiar with from the Vietnam war.
"So, the troops are staying more."
Monica Zak, Swedish journalist (DR)
This new tactic was tried out first in the San Vincente district. After an attack by the government troops during which the FMLN followed the usual plan of pulling back, 800 soldiers stayed put.
The materiel left behind by the FMLN was distributed to the population in an attempt to discredit the guerrillas. "The Communists stole this from you," they
During her stay with the liberation
Zak saw how deeply demoralization has affected the govern-
This is true even of the U.S. trained elite soldiers in the Atlacat
"After a clash with Atlacatl soldiers, we found an American fruit juice contain-
Inside it, there was a note: soldier with the Atlacatl Brigade, and I want to join you.'
The name was given so that the FMLN
This U.S.-trained elite soldier was one of the increasing number going over to the guerrillas. When they are ready to de-
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fect to the guerrillas, the soldiers give a special sign. They hold up their rifles in one hand and raise a clenched fist with
"The pattern is the same throughout the country," Monica Zak said. agers who do not belong to the ruling stratum do not dare leave their homes.
shanghaied into the They get three months intensive training, including a lot of indoctrination that is supposed to keep them from going
"These soldiers are never sent to their
They are told yourself be taken alive? People, don't let
At the start of the war, FMLN forces often executed captured now prisoners of war are treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention They are not mistreated. They get food and cigarettes.
"The treatment of prisoners has become part of the FMLN's milicary strategy. They are allowed to move around freely in the villages, and sometimes it is hard to tell who the prisoners
The guerrillas talk to them about why they are fighting."
Very quickly, the prisoners are sent back to the army. This has a powerful demoralizing effect on the forcibly recruited government forces.
In fact, released prisoners of war are often afraid to go back to the govern-
They are considered secur They often surrender willingly to the guerrillas because they know that they will get decent treatment.
"I interviewed a captured lieutenant.
*It is the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua that are behind the guer-
They are being led by Russians, who never get involved in the fighting
There is no food or medical care in the guerrilla areas."
"That's what I was taught during my training."
"So, what have you seen as a prisoner of war," I asked him.
"I haven't seen any Russians. weapons that are being used are not Russian, but the same kind we have," he
Monica Zak was also present when prisoners of war were being handed back. In most cases, the way that this is done is that two trucks meet, under the supervision of the Red Cross. Monica Zak saw how the FMLN tried to maneuver to get more contact with enemy soldiers."
was in connection with the fighting that was going on around Suchito, where twenty prisoners were to be hand-
The day and place were fixed A few kilometers outside the city of Suchito we climbed up a mountain. Since fighting had been going on, we were
When I looked down on the city, however, everything was quiet.
The group set up loudspeakers and appeals echoed over the city:
"We are soldiers from the FMLN here to hand back prisoners of war. Help us give them back without bloodshed by
Young Salvador guerrillas (DR) coming to the church yard."
Then, suddenly I saw people start to come out of their houses. tion that was to meet the prisoners came up with a white flag.
Even though we had a fighters concealed nearby, were afraid of a massacre. But we did not see any police or military. The presence of a lot of civilians also helped to prevent attacks from the air.
"I asked several of the prisoners why they did not stay with the guerrillas. Most of them were ordinary farmers, like the guerrillas. All of them said that they would stay but they had three children, responsibility for an aged mother, or similar personal problems. They were also about being ity risks by the army, an army that they occasion, I wore a scarf over my face and a wide-brimmed hat so that no one would see that I was a for-
A man from security group took me aside. He had heard that the FMLN had a good medical service and wondered if I had any medicine for Athlete's Foot!
At the end of February, Monica Zak was in the Chaletenango district. There she saw how the government's planes consciously bombed civilians. sand civilian refugees were found by a
Over the FMIN radio, tween the pilots in the plane:
"Here are some guerrilla supporters. ed with a lot of profanity.
"The people were terrified when the planes attacked. The FMLN soldiers tried to get them to run into the mountains out of the way. But they didn't go. They tried to hide under trees or bushes. A bomb fell nearby and they were all killed."
On three occasions, Monica Zak heard pilots speaking English.
"The FMLN people listening to the pilots' broadcasts could not understand English so they asked me to translate.
spoke with a marked American They rattled off numbers, which were probably some kind of code. There was an American women who answered at the planes' base. In two cases I'm not sure whether there were Americans in the bombers. On the other hand, in the
But the third time Monica Zak heard American voices, she was sure. In a densely populated area the guerrillas' hospital was bombed, along with a lot of civilian targets.
"It was getting on to 6:00 in the evening," Monica Zak said. "There was only one plane in the sky, and suddenly I heard an American voice over the radio. "It's getting hard to see, I'd better go back." Right after that, the solitary plane returned to its base.
Monica Zak is certain about it:
"U.S. pilots are involved in bombing the people of El Salvador."
(From the September 15 issue of Internationalen, paper of the Swedish section of the Fourth International.)