by DONNA FORBES

A few days ago, | had the great
privilege of meeting Estela Ramirez,
‘a Salvadorean teacher who is pre-
sently living as a political refugee in
Nicaragua. She lived in El Salvador
all her life, until 1980, when she was
forced to fléé with her- family, into
neighbouring Nicaragua. Such is the
case for over 1 million Salvadoreans
who share Estela’s fate. The reason
for this mass_ self-exile becomes
clearer with a closer examination of
the dictatorial forms of government,
historically and presently, in El
Salvador.

During the period of European
Imperialism throughout the Amer-
jicas, the native peoples in_ this
region were forced to live under
colonial dictatorship. These colonies
represented a _ hinterland to be

exploited for cheap raw materials

and labour, by such countries as
France, Spain and Britain. Coffee,
cotton and tropical fruit production,
as well as the mining of such ores as
gold, silver and copper, became the
major activities of the peoples in
this region. They were enslaved and
were forced, often at the expense of
their lives, to produce for the
conquering nations whose home
treasuries swelled from the sweat
off the backs of these people.

In the early 1800’s, when_ it
became fashionable in Europe to
grant colonies their independence,
aristocratic families living in these

countries soon came to power. Such

is the case of the 14 families in El
Salvador, who have formed an
oligarchic elite which presently con-
trols all the economic activity within
El Salvador. With the exception of
the tracts of land now controlled by
the freedom-fighting guerillas, the
FMLN, all the land is owned and
operated by this oligarchy. They
control the majority of the produc-
| tion of coffee and cotton, which are
this country’s major exports. In
addition, they control the banking
‘system, the transportation system,
much of the media services and
most of the commercial activity.

Since 1932, El Salvador has usual-
ly been governed by military re-
gimes supported by the 14 families.
These families have such control
that the present president, Alvarez
Magana, is nothing more than a
puppet ruler. The real power is the
United States, which helps to main-
tain the government, the military
and the economy. The foreign aid
that is given to El Salvador from the
United States is mainly military;
that which is monetary is filtered
through the businesses owned by
the oligarchy. This further helps to
support the repressive condition
that exists within this country.

El Salvador’s government is ex-
tremely militaristic and very op-
pressive. This oppression of the

a
-

people is seen in the existence of an
almost unbelievable system of law
and order enforcement. Within El
Salvador there is a National army, a
National guard, a National police
force, a Hacienda police fo:ce, a
‘Municipal police force, a Custom’s
police force, and a_para-military
army which is composed of the
civilians in the country. Out of the
ranks, the government has_ also
formed death squads which are
solely responsible for killing over
46,000 people in El Salvador since
1980. These death squads have
killed teachers, media people, Cath-
olic Church officials including 13
priests and Archbisop Monseigneur
Oscar Romero, and. anyone else
suspected of fighting for progressive
reform. The atrocities committed by
the criminal degenerates in these
. death squads begin to remind one of
the Spanish Inquisition. The victims
are often found dead in the streets,
battered and bruised, in many
instances having their arms, legs or

that in the 1980’s acts like these are
being committed. What is even
harder to believe is how the Amer-
ican government can support a
regime capable of these atrocities.

_ American foreign policy in this
‘region is designed to insure that El

heads cut off. It is hard to believe

 

Salvador does not fall prey to the |

Thursday, February, 16, 1984.

EI Salvador:

 

A History —

of Hardship

Soviet expansionism they believe to
be occurring. What the Reagan
administration fails to realize is that
the people in El Salvador do not
want to be controlled by the Soviets
anymore than they want to be

controlled by the Americans. They.

want to be free to form a govern-
ment of their own choosing: propos-
ing a democratic government which

would help the people to develop:

their country rather than a govern-
ment which helps the aristocracy
‘exploit the people. It is for this very
‘reason that ciVil war is being waged
within this country in order to free
the people from tyranny.

The FMLN is the popular govern-
ment in El Salvador. Several count-
ries in Europe recognize it as. the
official
Chalatenango and in El Paraiso, the
two major Liberation strong holds,
newly implemented health and edu-
cation systems and the use of
Agrarian Socialism (co-operative
farming) have greatly increased the
standard of living of the Salvador-
eans in these regions. The popular
government which is elected demo-
cratically, has established Agrarian
Socialism because it is the most
effective way to farm the mountain-
ous land in El Salvador. Because the
people are uneducated, they find it
difficult_to_utilize technology, for

 

voice of the people. In’

 

their experience is one of communal
farming due to the hundreds of
years spent working on haciendas.
Agrarian Socialism is a home-grown
socialism inspired from the experi-
ence of the people, not socialism
inspired by Cuba or the Soviet
Union, as the Americans would have |.
us believe.

Henry Kissinger’s whirl-wind tour
of Central America, late last year,
has only served to reinforce Ronald
Reagan’s already paranoid attitude
toward this region. This commission
recommends an increase of $9
billion in economic and military aid
to El Salvador in the next five years.
This would mean more helicopters,
planes, guns and ammunition for a
regime that is responsible for killing
46,000 people. The American ideal
of ‘making the world safe for
democracy’ must really be chal-
lenged if 46,000 lives must be taken
in order to achieve this goal. The
irrationality of this foreign policy
must be realized and stopped if El
Salvador is to have any civilians left
alive. If the Americans help to
escalate the civil war in El Salvador,
it will only be a matter of time
before all the people in this country
fighting for freedom are brutally
annihilated. If this is what the
Americans call ‘making the world
safe for democracy’, stop the world,

‘cause | wanna get off.

 

   

 

 

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