Help for Refugees in El Salvador

On behalf of the Salvadorans living in the United States, I want to thank The Times for publishing the editorial.

However, I totally disagree with Duarte’s views and want to emphasize that our plea to the American government is different in nature. His plea is purely economic; he knows that without the money we send periodically to our relatives back in El Salvador, our country will be in a greater financial burden.

Our plea is mostly humanitarian. I have seen the despair and sadness on the faces of the people who, due to the new immigration law, will have to go back, most of them empty handed.

I want to present some facts about the reality in El Salvador so that the American people can judge for themselves if our reasons for not wanting to go back are justifiable or not. Our country is only one-third the size of California and up to this date almost 70,000 people have been violently killed. Furthermore, El Salvador has an army trained by the United States; people hide away from it for fear of its brutal acts and its well-founded reputation for violating human rights.

This is the same army that drafts 12-year-old children against their own will.

Furthermore, according to the lastest figures, unemployment has reached 50% in El Salvador. If we are forced to return, this percentage will go even higher. Consequently, El Salvador will become even more dependent on the charity of the American government than today; we will become just another statistic. This is the sad reality we will have to face if we return to our country.

I took an informal poll among my friends and relatives and the results for a voluntary departure when the war is over are very encouraging; approximately 75% plan to go back. The other 25% is divided among those who are uncertain and those who do not want to return to El Salvador at all.

Finally, I want to restate that the constant war going on in El Salvador has forced most of us to abandon our country and to come to the United States. Nevertheless, we are not economic refugees as some Immigration and Naturalization Service officials want to make everyone believe.

I want to express my gratitude to the Americans who have embraced our cause and remind them that even though the future and hopes of a million Salvadorans are on the hands of the lawmakers, they, the people, can make the difference.

NELSON F. PERAZA

Los Angeles