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.