Local Activists Demand U.S. End Aid To El Salvador

Shirley McRae, Kathryn Savoie, Dean Baker and Don Coleman at Dec. 2 press conference.

Local Activists Demand U.S. End Aid to El Salvador

by Brian Burt

ANN ARBOR--On December 2, the eighth anniversary of the murder of four U. S. churchwomen by the Salvadoran military, four local Central America activists held a press conference to demand an end to U. S. intervention in El Salvador. According to the group, the political situation in El Salvador has intensified considerably since the elections in that country last March. Those elections, in which the right-wing ARENA party won a majority, took place during a very heated military and political period. It is widely doubted that the election results expressed the will of the Salvadoran people.

The four stressed that solidarity activists will play key roles in changing U.S. policy. They demanded an immediate cutoff of U.S. economic and military aid to El Salvador. According to Latin American Solidarity Committee (LASC) member Kathryn Savoie, the U.S. now sends around $500 million annually, an average of nearly $1.5 million a day, to prop up the civilian-military government.

LASC member Dean Baker noted that this aid constitutes the "entire annual budget of the Salvadoran government. He suggested that U.S. activists stress the half-billion dollars in annual aid to El Salvador during the budget cutting frenzy that will hit the Congress in coming months. "Congress should cut off El Salvador rather than Social Security, farms, medicine and other domestic social programs," said Baker.

Rcv. Don Coleman of Guild House Campus Ministry added that many of the 70,000 Salvadorans murdered by the military over the past eight years have been churchpeople. They were singled out because "they chose to side with the poor and impoverished" rather than serving the repressive U.S.backed government, according to Coleman. Given the second district Congressperson's consistent support for a government that systematically brutalizes its own citizens and murders churchpeople, members of the local religious community "will continue to oppose Carl Pursell and the policies he supports," said Coleman.

According to Shirley McRae of Friends Meeting House, the ARENA-led government is attempting to eliminate, through increased brutality and repression, the limited political freedom permitted by the Duarte govemment. McRae added that death squad activity has risen significantly in the past year. In the first six months of this year, there have been 91 political murders committed by death squads or uniformed forces, up from 96 in all of 1987.

However, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the guerrilla force fighting to overthrow the Salvadoran government, has been gaining more military and political power, according to Savoie. The FMLN now controls and governs almost 70% of rural areas and is able to carry out attacks on military targets in San Salvador in broad daylight.

Baker predicts the elections will be presented by the U.S. government and the mainstream media as proof of Salvadoran "democracy." LASC has planned a program of education and protest surrounding the Salvadoran elections. LASC's program will serve as an opposition voice to mainstream U.S. media coverage of the "U.S.-staged elections in a death squad 'democracy,'" Baker said.

Savoie noted that LASC activities will include a protest with a coalition of other local groups against George Bush's inauguration on January 20, and a series of actions during U-M's Central America/El Salvador Week beginning March 20. These events will be coordinated with other local actions across the country as part of the national Call to Action announced by the Committee in Solidarity with the people of El Salvador (CISPES).