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
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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
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