Foreign Visitors Greeted by Clowns, String Band : Salvador Rebels Stage ‘Fiesta’

Rebels gotten up as circus clowns danced in the town’s main square. The guerrillas-in-whiteface performed soon after Mass was celebrated by a rebel priest, accompanied by a rebel string band and filmed by a rebel television crew.

It was a fiesta day of sorts in the nearly abandoned town of Perquin, guerrilla capital of El Salvador. The occasion was the visit last week of a U.S. peace delegation and a group of foreign correspondents, all of whom met with top guerrilla commanders of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front.

Rebel representatives brought farm folk from all corners of Morazan province to Perquin for political demonstrations, a religious ceremony and a beans-and-tortilla lunch.

Battered Region

Between doses of down-home spectacle meant to demonstrate popular support for the guerrillas, who are battling the U.S.-backed Salvadoran government, the day offered a look at life in one of the most battered and contested regions of El Salvador.

The Farabundo Marti Front, which groups five bands of armed rebels, calls northern Morazan “controlled territory” and considers it an important rear guard for battlefronts elsewhere in the nation. The army periodically sweeps into the territory in pursuit of guerrillas but has yet to declare itself back for good.

Perquin itself commands high ground in a nub of Salvadoran territory that juts northward into Honduras, and the rebels boast of the town’s importance.

Strategic Point

“Perquin is a strategic height,” Joaquin Villalobos, the unofficial guerrilla commander in chief, once said. “He who dominates this position dominates practically all the north of the province.”

The consequences of Perquin’s military importance are evident among its scarred buildings and overgrown fields. The city hall is roofless, a victim of guerrilla sabotage. The telephone office is battered, struck by a 500-pound bomb dropped from a government plane.

For the edification of last week’s visitors, the rebels organized a demonstration to protest bombing by the Salvadoran air force.

Just as the foreign reporters entered Perquin on Thursday afternoon, the chants began: “Bombs?” asked an organizer. “No!” responded demonstrators of all ages.

Interviews with civilians in Perquin indicated that the bombing was frightening but that it took place mainly in the hills. Among several people interviewed, no one knew of bombing having caused a death within the last 18 months.

Several peasants did tell the story of a family in El Volcancillo that hid in the corner of a house as a government helicopter strafed the flimsy adobe dwelling.

“It was a miracle that no one was hit,” said Father Miguel Ventura, a priest who ministers in rebel territory.

Killed by Shrapnel

A woman in the town of San Fernando told reporters about the death last year of her daughter, who was hit by shrapnel. Farmers who live near the Torola River complained of mortar fire from government troops stationed south of the river.

Refugees from the nearby village of Sabanetas voiced many complaints.

Their homes straddle a frontier territory disputed by El Salvador and Honduras. The Salvadoran army recently ordered them to leave the village because they were suspected of giving support to the guerrillas, and they are now staying with friends and relatives in La Tijera, a village south of Perquin.

Their evacuation seemed to be part of an incipient program to remove civilians, and thus potential civilian backing for the rebels, from guerrilla-dominated territory.

“They (government officials) think anyone who lives here cooperates with the guerrillas,” said Angel Sorto, 62.

The Sabanetas refugees have suffered just about every tragedy and indignity of the war.

Last month, the Honduran army shelled Sabanetas, forcing the villagers to seek safety in the hills. While they were gone, Honduran soldiers entered the village and helped themselves to whatever of value they could cart off: wood, roof tiles, food and clothing. The Salvadoran government sent a protest note to Honduras over the raid.

Trapped in Province

Now, some of the Sabanetas refugees want to travel farther south, to points behind government lines, to live with relatives there until things calm down in this area. However, the guerrillas forbid them to take along their chickens, water jugs and other personal property, so they stay put in La Tijera.

The refugees have complaints against the rebels, too. They say they had little contact with them until a year ago, when the guerrillas forcibly took many of the young men of the town to the hills. Almost all the unwilling recruits returned.

“I just ran off after a week,” said Gaspar Chica, 33. “It’s too dangerous to fight.”

Now, the refugees say, the guerrillas force them to work one day a week in the fields, helping the rebels grow food and coffee to sell.

Liberation Theology

In Perquin, Father Ventura, one of about six priests known to work in rebel territory, officiated at the Mass from the doorway of the town church, framed by pine branches. He spoke the language of so-called liberation theology, a controversial philosophy that links biblical teaching to social and political issues.

“Help us to construct a more just society,” Ventura prayed.

The clowns lightened the mood of the day with a sort of guerrilla black comedy. They sang lusty songs about the death of Col. Domingo Monterrosa, a government combat commander who died in a helicopter explosion last year.

The guerrillas told reporters they sabotaged the helicopter, hinting that they used a booby-trapped radio transmitter.

The clown act was up-to-date. In an acrobatic performance, a couple of guerrilla performers acted out a mock helicopter rescue, making fun of the recent rescue of a downed Salvadoran helicopter by a U.S. helicopter flying out of Honduras.

It was all filmed with a Sony videotape recorder operated by a rebel crew from “Venceremos System,” which includes a clandestine radio station that broadcasts guerrilla news and propaganda daily.

That may soon be the only way to get news from Perquin. A guerrilla named Gustavo said that rebels will shoot at reporters who wander in uninvited.