U.S. Must Change Policy Regarding El Salvador

The Reagan Administration continues to claim that there has been steady progress in El Salvador with regard to improvements in human rights and the advancement of the democratic process. Our recent delegation there, whose members also included Assemblyman Tom Bates (D-Oakland), Fathers Luis Olivares and Michael Kennedy of La Placita Catholic Church, Rev. Don Lewis of St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church, Prof. Terry Lynn Karl of Stanford University and staff members from Proyecto Pastoral, found the situation very different from that assessment.

We spoke with numerous people during the visit, including President Jose Napoleon Duarte, Defense Minister Vides Casanova, U.S. Ambassador Edwin Corr, Alfredo Christiani of the ARENA party, Archbishop Arturo Rivera Damas, and Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez. We also visited a refugee camp run by the archdiocese, a re-population community in a rural area and various human rights organizations.

Although it is generally conceded that human rights violations seem to have decreased since the highs of 1981 and 1982, it is clear that the official mechanism is in place for these violations to continue.

Kidnapings and torture still occur, although more selectively and behind a facade of legality. Under Decree 50, people who publicly challenge government violations of human rights, or are generally suspected of being “subversive,” can be arrested and held for up to 15 days without being charged with a crime.

Our delegation investigated the case of Miguel Angel Rivas Hernandez, only one of many hundreds who was last seen being picked up by security forces and who has now “disappeared.” Although evidence showed he was last accounted for in a military garrison, we were told he could not be located.

Due process and an effective judicial system simply do not exist. Although the Salvadoran constitution guarantees an independent judiciary, the constitution has been effectively suspended by Decree 50 and military courts have all jurisdiction over crimes “against public peace.”

In our meeting with President Duarte, he told us himself that the judicial system needs to be reformed. It is our belief that such reform cannot and will not take place as long as Decree 50 is in effect and the constitution is suspended.

As part of present strategy, the military has engaged in forced relocation of civilians in violation of the Geneva Convention (Protocol 2, Article 17). Access to food, medical supplies and public services for civilians living in conflict zones are severely restricted, and in some cases conditioned on their participation in governmental “civil defense” programs. We were able to visit people in conflict areas and received this direct testimony from them.

Everyone who spoke to us, without exception, taked about the need for a negotiated settlement to the conflict presently taking place in El Salvador. Dialogue was on everyone’s agenda, it seemed. But it was not clear what, if any, concrete steps were being taken for the dialogue process to continue.

The war has raged on for six years with no end in sight, and Ambassador Corr told us that he actually expects the war to continue for at least another six or seven years. El Salvador is already the third largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, and President Reagan is seeking another $441 million for El Salvador in fiscal year 1988 to add to the $467 million that will be given this year. Is this the best we can do?

We believe that the present U.S. policy regarding El Salvador is both morally intolerable and fiscally irresponsible. Our country is the most powerful participant in the conflict, and make no mistake, we are participants. Rather than funding a a seemingly endless war, we should be helping to lead the way toward the dialogue and negotiations that everyone, including President Duarte, spoke to us about. There are concrete ways to help bring this about.

First of all, we should cut back on military aid. We will be working in Congress this session to demonstrate that such massive amounts of money are doing nothing to bring about peace in El Salvador. The military aid we have sent during the last six years has not brought the country any closer to peace, nor will it in the future. We cannot afford the six or seven more years that Ambassador Gorr foresees.

Secondly, any aid we do send should be conditioned on the repeal of Decree 50. The arbitrary arrests, detentions and forced confessions must cease if El Salvador would claim to be a democracy. The United States must do whatever it can to see that human rights are respected and that the Salvadoran constitution can once more prevail.

Finally, we must not forget Miguel Angel Rivas Hernandez and the many hundreds like him. He has not “disappeared” from the minds of his family and friends, some of whom are here in Los Angeles. He will not disappear from our minds in Washington either.

EDWARD R. ROYBAL

Member of Congress

25th District

Los Angeles

JIM BATES

Member of Congress

44th District

San Diego