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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1981)
Paga 0 Portland Observar March 6 . 1001 El Salvador leader charges government oppression has the dubious record o f having the longest military regime in the world- 50 years o f uninterupted m ilita ry rule in El Salvador, since 1931. In this period, at the end o f 1979 there was a general crisis - a social, economic and political crisis. This crisis was attempted to be solved through a Coup de etat that in Oc tober, 1979 took place. The objec tives were the dcmocraticization of the country and social reform. The democratic - civilian sectors of El Salvador went into the govern ment when they saw that may be the last opportunity to have a peaceful way out of the crisis. But very soon the democratic sec tor understood and came to realize that there was not a way out because the military continued with the real control. The military continued with a pattern o f repression that is traditional in El Salvador and the attempts at social reform were broke by the m ilita ry and the Oligarchy. In fru stra tio n those people resigned at the beginning o f January last year and that’ s how the present government o f the m ilitary and the C hristian Democrats came to power. What is the com position o f the government? This government is made up of an alliance o f the armed forces of El Salvador and a sector of the C hristian Democrat Party, because the m ajority o f the party renounced that party at the begin ning o f last year because they were not in agreement to go again into the government with the military. This government has been im plemented a model o f repression that we call in El Salvador “ repression con re fo rm a .” That means ‘ repression with reform ,” or the “ reformation o f death.” The name is very appropriate because we can see how clearly - during last year - month by month, week by week, the level o f repression in the country increased. Beginning o f the year there were around 10, 12 people kille d - assassinated - per day. Now we are around 45 people assassinated per day in El Salvador. Now in El Sajvador there are no RUBEN ZUMORA Ruben Zumora, representing the Democratic Revolutionary Front, spoke in Eugene last week. Dr. Zumora is an attorney and political scientist, a form er lecturer at the National University o f El Salvador and the C atholic University o f El Salvador. He was Chairman o f the Department o f Political Science at the N ational U niversity o f El Salvador and a member at the Commission o f Peace and Justice of the Catholic Church. He is a former member of the C hristian Democratic Party and currently is one o f seven members o f the P o litica l and D iplom atic Com mission of the FMLN and the FDR. Following are excerpts from Dr. Zumoras’ talk. “ We are a small country - 25,000 square kilometers, about 4.5 million people, an underdeveloped country that has been under the social, economic and political control of a small group of families that we call in El Salvador, the Oligarchy. They are the owners o f most of our land - the best land. They are the owners o f the banks; they are the owners o f the foreign com merce, and therefore they control the country. As well, El Salvador civil rights for the population. There are no free newspapers. The last one in o p positio n to the government was destroyed by the security forces a week ago and its personnel put in ja il. Our comrades from the trade union movement have said there are no rights fo r unioniza tion in El Salvador. The government o f El Salvador is characterized as being the most cruel and b ru ta lly repressive government in the whole o f our history. That twelve thousand and seven ty-five people were killed in one year is just a dem onstration o f the character o f this government. Here in the United States it has been said that the situation in El Salvador is an extreme right and an extreme left that are fighting each other and destroying each other and that in the center is the government tryin g to advance a process o f reform. These have been the ideas that the State Department and most o f the media have been selling to the American people. But if we look at the facts we can see that the situation is com pletely d iffe re n t. There is no such a thing as a right wing terrorist group that is different from the government. On the con tra ry, right wing terrorism , assassination by death squads, are a fu ll part, an integral part, o f the strategy of the government. Everybody in El Salvador knows that the people who com m it these barbarous assassinations, k illin g and to rtu rin g people in civilia n clothes, are the same people who during the day wear uniform s as policemen, as members o f the security forces, as members o f the Army. This is the con d itio n in El Salvador. I f it is not, why is the government saying it is combating the right wing element and never - up to now - has put in prison, never up to now they have killed one right wing terrorist in El Slavador? This is the situ a tio n , but the government tries to cover itself with a window dressing o f reform and tries to ju s tify an fro n t o f the democratic sector, in fro n t o f the Amrican people and other people of The 'White Paper' A report called “ Communist In terference in El Salvador” was carried to Mexico and the nations of Western Europeon February 13th, and released to the American press on February 23rd. The report begins, “ This report presents definitive evidence o f the clandestine m ilitary support given by the Soviet U nion, Cuba, and their Communist allies to Marxist- Leninist guerrillas now fighting to overthrow the established govern ment o f El Salvador.” The evidence drawn from captured guerrilla documents, and war material and corroborated by intelligence repor ts, underscores the central role played by Cuba and other com munist countries, military direction, and arming of insurgent forces in El Salvador. "The United States considers it of great importance that the American people and the world community be aware o f the gravity o f the actions o f Cuba, the Soviet U nion, and other Com m unist States who are carrying out what is clearly shown to be a well-coordinated, covert ef fort to bring about the overthrow of ( „( -7 - XX - i±*7.?**B <5 » « p t i.a o n « t a r l a an EamaraXia — pillai«« 9 B=rz:. xx L5 l i a d o g«a n 33 pesadas a o r t s r o s de —J.* s o r t e r o s de « a a s a e o ñ e t e s an t i - t n a c u « 0t c a r t a c o o a de 9 3=3 BW, - a . . • 3 r a . i i r a 1 2 .7 3K 2-57 6« « U • p a ra a a e t r a . . s d o r a m 23 M 60 (7 .6 2 ) • 7» ia » * - » . - a d o r » « 50 ( 1 1 .7 ) ? < r s a c r t e r s s de * * ' i: T a n t l - t a n q u e s 0 X 3 -« “ 60 eng .alai To“ P»3n « n gÒQTjSa'1*!*3" 45 **** »O ea rja d o ra a . T=W.cn ■■■*'■ > H"*X4 con 200 ca rd a d o res. P ie ta s de r ep u esto S* i-5 de a g o sto s a l l e e s t e ea rg a a en to para Hacana. g äsgu vr* ia î “ x l M e ^ » * -« * --.• « n ea i-tara 10 eon So.ooo tersa I was a sharp increase in o ffic ia l violence against the very peasants who are the supposed beneficeries o f the processes.” The present government is not a centrist governm ent. It is a very right wing government. It is an anti dem ocratic governm ent. It is the most repressive government that we’ve had in all our history, and it is an ille g itim a te government and therefore we have the right to rebel against that government. W ho are the rebels o f El Salvador? The alternative to the C hristian Democrat - m ilita ry government is the Democratic Revolutionary Front. The FDR has come from a process o f unity that never before has been achieved in the political history o f El Salvador. The FDR is composed o f all the popular organizations, all the revolutionary organizations, o f all the democratic political parties, the Social Christians, the movement o f Independent Professionals and Technicians that is economists, lawyers, engineers, - that means the best technical equipment that our country has. In the Front are all the trade unions - 92 percent o f all the organized workers; an organization of the private sector, an organization o f trucks and busses. That means the front is composed o f the whole o f the p o litica l spec trum. The Oligarchy is not in the Front because for it is very clear that we are fighting against the Oligarchic system, that the system is respon sible fo r the su ffe rin g , fo r the poverty, fo r the missing o f our people. As a show o f proof o f our unity we have put forward a program for a democratic revolutionary govern ment. We call for a democratic society. We want in our country, fo r the firs t tim e in the whole o f our history, that human rights w ill be respected in El Salvador. Maybe for you who can come more or less freely in the street this is not so valuable, but for us El Salvadoreans we know that sometimes when we leave home we don’t know if we will come back home again because if we find the police we are going to be finished. It is very important to have human rights in El Salvador. A program that calls fo r respect fo r the c iv il liberties o f the population - fo r the freedom o f religion and an end to persecution against the C atholic Church and the Protestant Churches. Our program in the economic and social theater call for a profound socio-economic reform, an agrarian reform, a real nationalization of the financial commerce, and to form a system o f mixed economy. That means an economy that w ill funct ion w ith three basic sectors. A state sector - run by the government - the banks are going to be included. A social sector that is going to be run by the people themselves while producing there, especially in the area o f the agrarian reform - a system o f cooperations, self - management, or co-management. We are going to develop an agrarian reform that w ill serve the needs o f our peasants and allow them to par ticipate fu lly, without fear, in the construction of the country. Finally, a third sector, that is going to be a privately owned sector. Our program calls fo r the defense and help for the medium and small size enterprise. In the internation al area our program calls for a strict policy o f non-allignment. We believe that the only solution for countries like our country - a small one and under developed - to survive in such a con tradictory world now is to follow a policy o f non-allignment...We don’t want to be servant o f one super power, neither o f another super power. Our program calls for building an army o f new type. We believe it is necessary to have completely new security forces. There are so many torturers, so many assassins, so many violators o f human rights that it is impossible to reform . Therefore, we call for a new security force that are going to be there protecting the people. An Arm y is to be made o f the dem ocratic o f ficers that now exist in the A rm y and the freedom fighters. Our cause is just, we will win. The FMLN- FDR response Guns reportedly captured from El Salvador's established govern ment and to impose in its place a Communist regime with no popular support.” The State D epartm ent’ s case is >em»U p « « , „ .1 Iw « l.r » s ra rh *« „( re **« IX « . ... r t r r x » „1 ths lu ll rw w te w s .» ihr w n i.n« .( ,h , •» «!»« **•»» r w m l l M the w orld that they are a good government because they arc doing reform. But if we look at the reform we are going to see what is the real nature o f this reform. L e t’ s take only the agrarian reform being represented by the State Departm ent as the most radical agrarian reform is all o f Latin America. A recent study made by Foxfarm o f the US has shown that the agrarian reform o f El Salvador affects only 15 percent o f the arable land o f the country, that this agrarian reform excludes 60 percent o f the rural population. It excludes all o f the landless peasants. This agrarian reform has not touched what in El Salvador is the land o f the O ligarchy - coffee production. Coffee production is mostly developed between 100 and 500 sectors and that range o f land has been not touched at all. That means more than 60 percent o f cof fee production has been excluded from the agrarian reform. This agrarian reform is not ad dressing the fundam ental land problem . It has been linked w ith repression in the countryside. Maybe El Salvador is the only case in recent history which at the same time that the government was declaring the agrarian reform , the peasants were fleeing from the countryside to the towns. They were leaving the agrarian reform. This is not because the peasant doesn’ t want land. The peasant wants land. The problem is the peasant values most his own life than land. And they knew from experience that the agrarian reform is being used to for repressing the peasants in the coun tryside. Let me quote from the resignation o f the undersecretary o f agriculture who was the man most important in d ra ftin g the agrarian reform . He resigned three weeks after the agrarian reform was beginning to be implemented. “ I resign from my position because I believe it was useless to continue in a government not only incapable o f putting an end to violence but a government that it self is generating the p o litic a l violence through repression, agrarian reform began what we saw IO S.000 El Salvador guerrillas. based on documents it claims wei captured from guerrillas by the I Salvadoran m ilitary. The typewri ten page shown, lists equipment thi was supposed to be delivered b various socialist nations - Vietnan Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Checkolovokii and Bulgaria. Also pictured o various rifles and small arm; m ostly U.S. made, but includin Israeli, Belgian and German rifles. Additional "evidence” is what reported to be a letter w ritten t Fidel Castro, signed by the thre leaders o f the El Salvador Freedot Movement, thanking him for “ th help o f your party comrades...b signing an agreement whic establishes very solid bases upo which we begin building cooi d ination and u n ity o f ou o rg anizatio ns.” A lso, severs guerrilla leaders met diplomats c the German Democratic Republic Bulgaria, Poland, Vietnam H ungary, Cuba and the Sovie Union in Mexico City, and “ mad certain requests (possibly fo arms).” This evidence has been presente to the U.S.’s traditional allies, bu has been rejected by all but Grea Britian and France. i Exerpts fro m the response to the "W hite Paper" by the FM LN-FDR: The F M LN -F D R em phatically denies that it has received arms from the governments o f Vietnam , Ethiopia, Cuba, Russia or any other governm ent. It has taken the Salvadoran people more than ten years to acquire and develop all the resources which now allow it to suc cessfully carry out its p o litic a l- military struggle against tyranny. In the course o f these years, the means used by the Salvadoran people to acquire their instrum ents o f war have been very diverse. Many o f the arms have been m anufactured by our own com battants. Others, o f U.S. m anufacture have been recovered by our peole’ s army in combat against the arm y o f the Salvadoran governm ent. Others have been acquired on the in te r national m arket, depending on a broad s o lid a rity o f peoples and organizations throughout the world to facilitate such transactions. To involve governments in the provisioning o f resources fo r the Salvadoran peoples’ forces is something which reveals, besides bad intsent, an excessively simplistic analysis o f the facts on the part o f the United States government. U ntil now, the only incontrover tible truth before the international conscience is the growing providion o f arms and m ilita ry training with which the United States government has helped the army o f C hristian D e m o c ra tic-M ilita ry Junta o f El Salvador. This is re a lity and not mere speculation, a reality which the U nited States Governm ent has created and continues to create each time in greater proportions! being fu lly aware o f the fact that its m ilita ry aid is used to k ill El Salvador’ s civilian population and North American Nuns. For our part, we are open to p o litic a l solutions which do not betray the interests o f our people. But we are not intim idated by the threats o f the Unied States. Our peoples' w ill to struggle and the s o lid a rity o f the peoples o f the world w ill once again defeat unjust imperialist aggression. It is the U nited States, not the government it accuses, which is really intervening in the internal af fairs of El Salvador and threatening the peace o f the continent. The Reagan adm inistration, therefore, lacks the moral credibility to accuse other governments o f providing m ilita ry aid to the Salvadoran people’s forces. By pointing this out, we do not detract from the legitim ate right which the Salvadoran people have to avail themselves o f support from any people or government to carry out their just struggle, as much at the political and diplomatic levels as in any other dimensions o f this same struggle. The fact that we have this right, nevertheless, does not mean that we have used it to secure m ilita ry aid from governments which are in s o lid a rity w ith our struggle. To do so would have meant that we would be serving up on a platter to U.S. imperialism a reason to launch accusations o f all kinds, which as a matter o f fact, is now happening. They turned to launching such accusations when the moment had arrived to justify a more direct and massive in volvement in the internal conflict of El Salvador. It makes no sense to think that we would have fallen into the error o f compromising ourselves and com prom ising other gover nments, when actually we have depended on many other possibilities to resolve our logistical problems in the military sphere. The lack o f c re d ib ility o f the United States government, as well as the inaccuracy and insconsistency of the evidence by which it is attem pting to ju s tify its accusations against the governments mentioned, tu rn the maveuver o f the State Department into a genuine insult to the intelligence and dignity o f the peoples and governments to whom its diplom atic delegation has been sent. . . As was to be expected, the lirst reactions of those governments give evidence o f their correct vision o f the Salvadoran conflict and their growing lack o f confidence in the rationality o f United States foreign policy.
