MARCH 2, 1983 hite Paper (the Post and Journal stories) besides the anipulation, the half-truths, the lies and the falsif- ations but the most important part is what is not id: What kind of a struggle is going on, who is sponsible for that, what are the main causes of that, Nmehe people have chosen the right to insurrection, is a constitutional right, why we are not ‘‘free- bm fighters’’ (in the media), why there are training mps for Somoza’s people (former Nicaraguan dict- or Anasio Somoza’s National Gaurd) in the United ates, which has been proven. Its a big manipulation d everyone understands that.”’ We asked if Ungo felt, given the U.S. efforts to uence the media against the opposition, an accur- e story ofthe struggle in El Salvador will eventually bme out. ‘Well I hope so’’, he answered, ‘‘I hope so.”’ But I iess there is a trauma after Watergate. They don’t ant to discover more Watergates, one is enough. ut perhaps as time goes on, and this warmongering olicy fails, the truth will start to come out.” In 1972 there seemed to be signs that El Savador’s hilitary and oligarchy were willing to loosen their gip control of the country rather than face the protra- ed guerrila warfare that was going on in neighbour- hg Guatemala. Three of the countries legal oposition ies, the Christian Democrats (PDC), led by Duarte e National Revolutionary Movement MNR), of whi- _Ungo was secretary-general, and the National emocratic Union (UNO) formed a coalition called the ational ‘Opposing Union (UNO) to contest the elect- bn against the military candidate of the official gove- nment party. In a close vote, the opposition coalition bst amid allegations and strong evidence of electoral aud on the part of the government and the army. _the opposition parties began a challenge to the Mae election, some sympathetic army officers atte- npted a coup to overthrow the government. The oup, backed by Duarte, was abortive, and led to his rest and subsequent seven-year exile, as well as the. exile of many other opposition leaders. ° 1980, after Ungo had left the new junta because of ts inability to control the army or oligarchy, Duarte eturned to El Salvador to join the junta, subsequently ecoming its president. We asked Ungo how it felt to e fighting someone who was once a close friend and inning mate in the 1972 attempt to democratize El alvador. “I don’t look to the past’’, he began hesitantly, ‘‘just o learn or not to. Not to have emotionalism...That appens in history. Mr.Reagan was a Democrat once yasn’t he? General Petain was a hero in the First World War and was judged to be a traitor in the ond World War, no matter how much good will he ad or not. It’s not a matter of good will in politics, "s not a matter of if you’re a good guy of a bad guy. t’s just what you do, what role you play in politics, what intrests you serve.- *“The problem with UVuarte is that he was always a brimative anti-communist and anti-communism has aused hundreds of thousands of deaths in Latin merica for decades and has just more polarized the Situation. Mr.Reagan is trying to make true Che evara’s statement that there will be more Viet- h’s in Latin America. He doesn’t want that but fe s producing that.”’ “So, he (Duarte) changed. He played an important ole in the struggle for demacracy’’, Ungo says in a ad, resigned tone, but apperantly without bitterness. ‘He was considered a subversive, he was considered communist’’, The oligarchy said that against him, beainst me. Well, now he’s doing the exact opposite bf that which he criticized’’. Ungo concluded. leaving h long pause afterward in which he seemed to be ondering what lessons the betrayal of ideals held for The constant toll the rebel forces extract from the balvadorean military dooms the Duarte regime, creat- ng a slow tide of victory even American aid cannot verse, according to Ungo. The junta’s ability to rule THE OTHER PRESS OTHER FEATURE was even eroded by the so-called defeat of the ‘‘final offensive’ launched in January by the rebel militia, the Fabarundo Marti Front for National Liberation, Ungo said. “Tt was a failure since it did not become a Tal offensive, the final steps toward a political-military _ solution, but the junta and the United States govern- ment say say it was a victory for them. Well, they took a hell of a beating. If you recieve a hundred blows, _ you cannot say ‘‘Well, I won because you didn’t knock me down, when you are bleeding all over the face. That was a propaganda deal.”’ ‘‘We don’t believe we are going to reach just a military solution or just a political solution in pure terms. The main aspects are that we want to work out a democratic political solution, to put all factors yo work in favor of a political solution, even the army factor...because you have to have power in order to have a solution that’s going to be guaranteed.”’ ‘You need a political will to put all your political tools to work on that. That means the United States’ will too. They are giving a lot of arms, a lot of military equipment, economic aid to keep on strengthening the rightist sector of the army. Well, if you want to weaken that you have to do just the opposite. But we don’t believe it is just in the hands of the United States. They by themselves don’t want to do it - they Out On El! Salvador cannot do it - so we have to work out also, among other factors, the balance of forces, to have a much better balance of forces - it’s improving - international soliderity, international isolation of the junta, the fascist people, so we can search for a political solution that was not there at the beginning of the war, that is there at the end of the war.’’ , ‘‘Today, there are virtually two El Salvadors. The vast malority of the country, including the capital city, is still under the junta’s military command by day. The rest is without constant borders, as the rebels consolidate their control over mostly mountainous. lands on the border with Honduras. It is in these areas’, Ungo said, ‘‘that the Front has established its own local government, while an immense network of supporters in the junta controlled areas aid the armed rebels.”’ “If you have several thousand people armed and fighting on a full-time basis you need a big infrastruc- ture and big aid from the civilian population. People that feed them, clothe them, keep them, guards them, watches the enemy, so that means tens of thousands of peoplr in those areas. The civilian pop- ulation, that’s the ‘water’ the ‘fish’ need and that’s why the government is fighting to dry off the water in order to kill off the fish. That’s why you have almost 10 per cent of the population displaced or refugees through compulsory measures, by force, because they want to dry off the water. ‘‘They are have more than refugee camps. They are becoming concentration camps because that’s the population helping with political activity, economic activity and military activity (for) the regular popular forces (guerrillas)’’. Several of Ungo’s colleagues have been assass- inated since he left his home for Mexico City, where he now leads the FDR. We asked Ungo if he fears for his and his family’s lives, and whether he worried that the junta would send someone to Mexico City to kill him. Ungo grinned shyly. ‘‘Well, there are always risks. For example, the Pope was shot and Reagan, so it’s. not a luxury just for us. We cannot work just thinking about it all the time. And I believe that the agencies are not fools. I don’t believe they want (eliminated) alternatives that would help for a democratic so- lution’’. Allowed To Do More Killing Saskatoon (CUP)The Ameri- can administration’s recent certification that El Salvador has improved its human rights record will allow it to give that country ‘‘more war machines to do more killing’ according to Salvadorean student repre- sentative Armando Parades. Parades told students at the University of Saskatchewan recently that although the cer- tification document concluded. that the. Salvadorean govern- ment is ‘‘making a concerted and significant effort’ to prot-: ect the rights of its citizens,_ the same document cited ‘‘co- mpelling evidence’ that the Salvadorean army was respo- ansible for 450 to 850 disappe- arences last year. The U.S. congress requires the administration to prepare _ a human rights certification every six months as a condit- ion for continuing militaty aid to the Salvadorean govern- ment. Parades condemned human rights records that are measu- red in numbers of killings as ‘ta kind of politics, a kind of strategy’’ that seperates one from the reality of individual human deaths. “‘Human beings are more than statistics, A human life is a human life,’’ he said. Parades is on a Canadian Federation of Students-spons- ored tour to speak with mem- bers of church and youth gro- ups, and with students. Parades, who was a fifth-year medical student at the Natio- nal University of El Salvador, said that the university was invaded five times while he was a student there, and was finally shut down by the milit- ary in 1980. Students of the once-public university must now study “‘underground.’’ Space is se- cretly rented in high-school basements and chapels. ‘In this way 5,000 out of more than 40,000 students ha- ve been able to continue their studies on an irregular basis,”’ Parades said. Parades praised the role of local Salvadorean preists and lay clergy for their active part- icipation in’ the struggle agai- nst the government, but was critical of the bishops and the church heirarchy. Many bishops continue to play the middle ground and are careful of their relation- ships with the government, he said. Several bishops are also land owners and, according to Par- ades, their line is: ‘‘the rich should be rich forever and the poor should stay there.’’ “‘One of the bishops is even _ an army chaplain.”’