El Salvador medic speaks
By Bill Homans
Of the Emerald
Student apathy about Central
America may dissolve if the
U.S. becomes militarily involv
ed there, says an American
physician who spent a year
working in rebel controlled
areas of El Salvador.
Dr. Charles Clements, a
former Air Force pilot, talked
about his experiences in El
Salvador at a press conference
in Eugene Tuesday. Clements,
the author of “Witness to War,”
also spoke in Room 150 Geology
Tuesday night.
"As I watched the conflict in
El Salvador, I saw another
tragedy like Vietnam in the
making,” Clements said. “Hav
ing become a Quaker, I felt that
the best way to bear witness to
this was to treat the victims of
the war.”
Clements said his dissatisfac
tion with U.S. military policy
stems from his experience in
Vietnam. Clements flew State
Department operatives into
Cambodia in an attempt to
depose Prince Norodom
Sihanouk — supposedly a U.S.
ally.
When Clements refused to fly
further missions, he was com
mittted to a psychiatric hospital
and later received a medical
discharge.
After his discharge, Clements
studied medicine. While
treating Salvadoran refugees in
California, he decided to go to
El Salvador.
Clements said the private,
volunteer organizations involv
ed in the medical effort would
not permit him to treat people
in government-held areas
because of the danger from
death squads.
Consequently, he went to
Mexico City, obtained status as
a medical neutral party and
went behind rebel lines.
Clements said he often treated
torture victims — people
covered with cigarette burns —
as well as victims of napalm and
white phosphorus. The
Salvadoran military customari
ly uses white phosphorus “to
mark fixed targets" — often
people's homes, Clements said.
Clements added that he saw
no evidence of Cuban or
Nicaraguan infiltration or arms
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Charles Clements
among the rebel troops.
Paramilitary civil defense
units and out-of-uniform
regular military personnel are
responsible for death squad kill
ings, Clements said. He added
that their operations are coor
dinated with the Salvadoran
military intelligence units.
U.S. military advisors direct
Salvadoran military strategy
and teach the same tactics to the
Salvadoran military that failed
in Vietnam, he said. U.S.
foreign policy is enhancing the
possibility of an all-Communist
Central America, Clements
added.
“The cutting off of World
Bank funds, economic
blockades, and the like, are
liable to antagonize Central
Americans further, and they
may indeed turn to Marxism,”
he said. Clements also criticized
the Kissinger Commission
recommendations for Central
America.
"Economic development in
the context of a militaristic solu
tion is irrelevant, as it was in
Vietnam,” he said. “The Kiss
inger plan is only an endorse
ment of current U.S. policies.”
The American people need to
understand more about the
Third World in order to for
mulate an effective foreign
policy.
“If we can not formulate a
foreign policy which
distinguishes between
legitimate human aspirations
and the interests of military dic
tatorships, we must expect
more of the Third World to turn
to Communism,” he said.
After returning to the United
States last year, Clements
helped found the Salvadoran
Medical Relief Fund. In the last
year he has addressed
thousands of Americans on
campuses, in churches, and at
special events.
Clements said he is surprised
by the lack of student interest in
Central America. He warns that
in the event of direct military
intervention by the United
States, which he considers in
evitable, the draft will be
reinstituted — without student
deferments.
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