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Salvadoran Unionist Asks For Continued Support

Salvadoran Unionist Asks For Continued Support image
Parent Issue
Month
April
Year
1990
Copyright
Creative Commons (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-alike)
Rights Held By
Agenda Publications
OCR Text

ANN ARBOR - North Americans who concern themselves with human rights in El Salvador don't have a lot to feel good about these days. The right wing - personified by ARENA party leader Roberto D'Aubuisson and the country's titular president, Alfredo Cristiani - has stepped up repression since taking power early last year.

The murder of six Jesuit priests last November was only the most publicized of many killings and disappearances aimed at stamping out El Salvador's nonviolent opposition, particularly the independent trade union movement. U.S. aid to El Salvador's government - about $1.5 million a day - continues unabated.

As if he were aware of a growing sense of hopelessness in the U.S. about his country, Salvadoran labor leader Pedro Cruz, during a brief February visit to Ann Arbor, pleaded for continued solidarity with his people. "I want to tell you that the support that you give us is very important," he said. "I want to encourage you to continue your efforts and not to lose heart. Every small effort matters. It Iets us know we are not isolated and that there are people in solidarity."

For Cruz- a leader of the STISSS health care union and the FENASTRAS labor federation - solidarity takes on more than abstract meaning. When he was abducted by Treasury police last September, he was subjected to continuous beatings and torture. Massive street demonstrations by fellow hospital workers and an international outcry led to his release after three days in prison. "It was only the support of my union, and the international support, that kept me from signing a confession," he said.

Cruz's Ann Arbor visit was part of a 15-city tour aimed at strengthening ties between Salvadoran and North American labor unions, and at informing the U.S. public about the escalating atrocities in El Salvador. The biggest of these was the October 31 bombing of the FENASTRAS offices in San Salvador which killed ten trade unionists and wounded 35. Many of them were close friends of Cruz.

The FENASTRAS bombing is only part of a widespread campaign of indiscriminate terrorism against union leaders which escalated after the November rebel offensive in San Salvador. "The government took advantage of the offensive to implement their plan for total extermination of the opposition," says Cruz, who says massacres of workers and peasants have been ignored by the international press, which has focused exclusively on the Jesuit killings.

Cruz cites two main goals for his tour. First, he is trying to stir the American labor movement to force the U.S. government to pressure Salvadoran officials into investigating the FENASTRAS bombing and the recent wave of assassinations and disappearances (international human rights groups count 133 civilian assassinations and 27 disappearances in the month of January alone.) "This must not be left unresolved," he said.

Second, he hopes to raise enough public support to aid the passage of two Congressional bills which would end U.S. military aid to El Salvador and place conditions on economic aid. "We believe it is very important that you help us with this," he said. "It's the working people of the U.S. who pay the taxes that are sent to El Salvador to finance the murders that take place."

"We believe that we have the right to live in peace, but not the peace of the cemetery," added Cruz. "We want a peace with social justice, where people don't live in fear of losing their lives just for demanding their basic rights."

To help support the families of those killed in the FENASTRAS bombing, contributions may be sent to the Febe Elizabeth Velasquez Memorial Fund, 421 Seward Square SE, Washington D.C. 20003.

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