Judge Convicts 31 in Illegal Protest : Demonstration Was Held on VA Land Over U.S. El Salvador Policy

Thirty-one activists opposed to the U.S. policy in El Salvador were convicted Thursday of holding an unauthorized demonstration on Veterans Administration property in West Los Angeles, despite their contention that it was necessary to prevent the breaking of higher law.

U.S. Magistrate Joseph Reichmann, who heard the one-day trial without a jury, allowed the defendants to avail themselves of the so-called necessity defense, although defense attorneys Arthur Goldberg and Gail Ivens said they believed that it was the first time a federal court in California has permitted it.

He sentenced each of them to pay a $50 fine or devote 25 hours to community service, observing that it might be appropriate for them to give that service to organizations helping Latin American refugees.

The 31 members of Pledge of Resistance, a national organization that claims a membership of more than 90,000, were arrested last Oct. 15 after they refused to leave the National Guard armory on federal property.

They were among about 500 activists marching that day to protest U.S. support for the government of El Salvador, which they accuse of death-squad assassinations and other human rights violations.

‘Not Sufficient’

Assistant U.S. Atty. Martin J. Murphy contended that the necessity defense was not applicable, because the defendants were not in danger nor was civil disobedience their only recourse.

“Mere disagreement with the process is not sufficient for the necessity defense,” he said.

Murphy asked each of the defendants who testified whether he or she was in personal danger at the armory and whether the orders to leave were clear.

One after another, they freely admitted trespassing and defying orders to disperse, declaring their conviction that American policy in El Salvador and the rest of Central America is the greater sin.

“I think that what we’re doing in El Salvador--murdering innocent people--puts us all in danger,” insisted Cynthia Anderson Barker, a UCLA Latin American studies student who said she has worked for eight years with Lutheran Church Social Services, helping Latin American refugees obtain legal aid.

She said she was convinced that Salvadorans have been discriminated against in requests for asylum here and that members of Congress have shown “an incredible ignorance . . . on what’s going on in El Salvador.”

She said that shortly before the West Los Angeles demonstration, she visited the Central American country and saw soldiers prepare to shoot a group of protesting students, then settle for beating them when they realized there were witnesses.

“I felt I had no choice but to join the civil disobedience,” she testified. “If I don’t, I’m really guilty of murder, because I’m not doing anything to stop the policy.”

Asked to Leave

Army Maj. Jeffrey Kramer testified that the demonstrators were asked to leave because their presence was disruptive. He conceded on cross-examination, however, that no one did anything physical to interfere with training.

In the end, the magistrate said he had to find the defendants guilty, despite their sincere belief in their cause, because they failed to meet the requirements of a necessity defense.

The courtroom was filled with supporters of the defendants. During the morning, they held a demonstration outside the Federal Courthouse, displaying three coffins to symbolize Herbert Anaya, Imelda Medrano and Rigoberto Orellana, three anti-Salvadoran-government figures they said were murderered by rightist death squads.