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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1983)
I opinion Out of El Salvador The Reagan administration couches our presence in El Salvador in terms of the Cold War domino theory: "If we allow a government that is reforming itself ito a democracy... to be knocked off by guerrillas who don’t have the people with them, then no government in the isthmus will be safe, ” says Thomas Enders, assistant secretary of state and considered a major Central American policy maker. The administration has been willing to settle for token increases in democracy, such as the scheduling of an elec tion — moved from 1984 to later this year by papal pressure — and a “Land-to-the-tiller” program designed to shift land from a few ruling families to the farmers. There is no proof that El Salvador is reforming itself since last year’s election and the placement of Gen. Alvaro Managa as president. On the contrary, journalists, diplomats, and con gressmen find the current “elected” regime corrupt and terroristic. The administration continues to support the govern ment led by Roberto D'Aubussion, current president of El Salvador’s National Assembly. Robert White, ambassador to El Salvador until Reagan ousted him in 1981, gave senate committees information implicating D’Abussion in the murder of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, a leader in the resistance of government oppression. The administration is misled by the labeling of leftist and rightist in El Salvador. “Left,” in the words of writer Joan Oidion in her account of a two-week stay in El Salvador, has come to mean anyone in opposition to the government — from the Marxists to the Catholic Church to those who resist seeing members of their family killed. Reagan’s concern with the label of the regime in El Salvador only prevents chances of working out a broad-based coalition of moderate and center groups. Many congressmen, including Oregon Rep. Les AuCoin, D-Portland, and Sen. Mark Hatfield, denounce the Salvadoran government. AuCoin says U. S. government aid is preventing negotia tions. “It’s leading the government to think they can continue to mutilate and murder and wage war against their own political opponents and innocent bystanders.” Newsweek claims 200 citizens are murdered or “dis appeared" each month in El Salvador by the current re gime. The United States has committed more than a billion dollars since 1979 to keep El Salvador out of the hands of lef tist guerrillas. More than direct military aid, Reagan placed a spy net work in Central America in 1981 that is causing concern among both House and Senate intelligence committees. The committees say the spy network may end up increasing U.S. participation in El Salvador's and Nicaragua's civil wars. Military advisers in El Salvador could become the targets of attacks — drawing the United States into more direct military involvement — despite Reagan's insistence that he will not send troops. The Reagan administration supports the D'Aubussion regime because it tells us it is non-communist and that it will protect business. The United States increases its involve ment by sending military advisers and increasing military funding. We have little say in the social and economic welfare of the people of El Salvador, and liUle, if nothing, has been done to promote a regional settlement despite the fact that Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama — the very countries we don’t want the communist domino to fall on — have lobbied for one. Instead of listening to the voices of moderation, Reagan is calling for another $60 million to be sent in military and economic aid to El Salvador. The Senate Foreign Relations committee, in charge of policy, not funding, recently voted to halve the $60 million in military aid to El Salvador. The appropriations committee already has approved the $60 million. Among the thousands of letters to Congress protesting the aid should soon be Oregon Senate Joint Memorial 6, which asks "The government of the United States... to stop all further military aid to the government of El Salvador, until such a time as there is substantial and widely verifiable proof that the present policy of violent suppression of funda mental civil liberties and human rights has been termin ated.” Support of negotiations of a neutral party, such as the Mexico-Venezueia peace initiative, would be the first step toward righting our course in El Salvador. Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Oregon, has submitted a bill that requires the president to divert military aid to humanitarian efforts If the El Salvadoran goverment refuses to negoti ate. There still is a chance to negotiate a peace in El Salvador but only If the U.S. government rethinks its support of the current regime. That means stopping aid to El Salvador «Pr. rrm*-*jknr I letters Dog lover Everyday I see dogs all over campus. Some are running free, some are tied to posts only a few are actually with owners. Some look lost, some look underfed... but they are all out of place there unless their owners are beside them. This is my third year here. I grow weary of dog fights, ac cidental leash hangings, lost dogs, dogs cooking in cars. How selfish it seems to me that this goes on each day. I love animals enough not to take a responsibility — a pet — I can’t live up to. I must plead with you, my fellow dog lovers... to stop this injustice by leaving your pet at home. If you have no home to give your pet, then find one for them. At least think about it. T. Lewis graduate, counseling/ psychology Not funny Question: Is rape funny? Ap parently so in the minds of those responsible for the April 1 edition of the "Immorald." It's one thing to make a fee ble attempt at satire jour nalism (though this April 1 edi tion was the least funny of any I've seen in the last four years) but it's quite another thing however to portray rape in your section entitled "litter" as a subject open for humor and enjoyment. Whoever wrote that section, and may I add those who ap proved it, are either complete idiots or just plain sick! Perhaps both! Rape is a terrible act against r women of all ages. The staff of the Emerald has tried to por tray itself as “pro-women’s rights" yet any group of "jour nalists" which allows such degrading articles to appear (in any publication) destroys its entire credibility. I feel the staff of the Emerald owes the entire stu dent community an apology for its insulting and non humorous “satire.” Michael Cross senior, political science Referendum Having been an actively in volved member in the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group for the past two terms, I am writing to en courage student support for the OSPIRG funding referen dum that will appear on the ballot in the primary elections on April 13 and 14. OSPIRG has been an established group and student voice on the University cam pus for the past 12 years and has concerned itself with such issues as the bottle bill, the lemon law, old-growth forest reclamation, and many other consumer-related and en vironmental issues. OSPIRG also provides students with a great variety of surveys dealing with such things as banking, bicycle and auto repair, optometrists, and film processing as well as distributing renters' hand books and providing informa tion to students involved in tenant-landlord disputes. OSPIRG will be unable to carry on with such current pro jects or begin new ones without reinstating its tradi tional funding system of $1 per student per term. Because of this, I strongly encourage all students to take the time to vote and to show their support for OSPIRG by voting "yes” on the funding referendum. Students need an organiz ed, politically active, non partisan voice speaking out for them and that is precisely what OSPIRG provides. So I implore students to show more support and less apathy by casting a "yes" vote for the funding referendum in the up coming election. Mike Rivers junior, journalism/ psychology Informer Michael Lysne, you would have thought it was your moral obligation to inform on Jews for Hitler. I hate to be so base and personal but I’m sick of these neo-Nazis hiding behind their American flags. You’re right, our freedoms were acquired by the sweat and blood of our forefathers; but they were volunteers, fighting an oppressive govern ment, as are today's patriotic draft resisters, who are risking their freedom and careers by fighting an oppressive law. You call them woodticks but the real bloodsuckers are a few fat old white men in America and the Soviet Union who use false patriotism and massive armies to keep a world under their thumb. Sick people like you play right into their hands. I feel sorry for you Michael; nobody likes a stoolie, not even Will Rogers. Bart Baenziger junior, language arts Oregon daily emerald Th« Oregon Daily Emerald is published Monday through Friday escepl during e»arn week and vacations, by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co a! the University of Oreoon Eugene. Qfl, 07403 The Emerald operates independently of the University erith offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and Is a member of the Associated Press ■r*r C'CCVVWMM WspMf Advertising and Business 000 5511 #•0-3712 000-4343 000-5511 Editor Managing Editor News Editor Assistant News Editor Editorial Page Editor Photo Editor Sports Editor Associate Sports Editor Entertainment Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Higher Education Departments and Schools Student Government Features Politics Student Services/Community General Staff Advertising Manager Classified Advertising Production Manager Controller sirs Harry Esteve John Heaiy Marian Green Cort Fernald Joan Nytand Bob Baker Mike Riplinger Paul Danger Jonathan Siegie Cort Fernald Sandy Johnstone Frank Shaw Richard Burr Sean Meyers Michele Matassa Aieta Zak Darlene Gore Sally Otjar Victoria Koch Jean Ownbey
