It’s Manipulation of Opinion, Not Justice : El Salvador: The arrest of churchwoman Jennifer Casolo is a naked attempt, after the murders of six priests, to influence the United States.

To kill priests and church workers is no longer enough in El Salvador. To discredit those who are alive is seen as more effective.

Churchwoman Jennifer Casolo, accused by the Salvadoran military of storing arms for the rebels in the yard of the house she rented in San Salvador, is the coordinator of Christian Education Seminars and a chief organizer of U.S. congressional and church tours of El Salvador. She is innocent of the outrageous accusations, which constitute another example of the judicial farce known as the Salvadoran justice system. Prosecutors cannot even decide under which law to charge Casolo.

But why is she so important?

People on the Christian Education delegations could see for themselves the poverty, hunger and destitution of El Salvador and conclude that its current problems go far beyond a struggle for political power. Casolo provided speakers who represented both sides in the civil war, and her educational tours included talks with government, army and opposition officials.

For many people these tour-seminars have been the turning point in understanding U.S. involvement in the civil war, which currently costs the United States $1.4 million a day in military aid sent to prop up a weak government bent on war. Delegates came to realize that humanitarian aid must take precedence and that U.S. involvement should be a force for a negotiated political solution. In short, the message the delegates brought home is that the status quo in El Salvador is no longer acceptable; change is mandatory.

Polls indicate that most Americans do not support U.S. military involvement in El Salvador. Much of the credit for this belief goes to the eyewitness reports from church observers. Thus Casolo’s arrest is not meant simply to stop the delegations from arriving. It is a concerted and symbolic message that attacks the credibility of the church’s honest attempt to assess the civil war as a whole.

For those laboring in church work, there is another parallel. This week marks the ninth anniversary of the murders of U.S. missionaries Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford and Dorothy Kazel. In 1980 these brutal murders rallied American citizens to argue and win in Congress a temporary halt to U.S. military assistance to El Salvador. It is difficult to discredit dead churchwomen. One live churchwoman allegedly caught with arms for the guerrillas sows seeds of doubt in the minds of the American public.

So now in 1989 we have before us six dead Jesuits, their housekeeper and her young daughter--and one live, discredited churchwoman. Which church message will the American public believe? Each time new martyrs are created, U.S. policy is questioned. However, each time church workers are described as leftist subversives, U.S. opinion shifts. This is a sinister and despicable ploy on the part of the Salvadoran government.

For that government, winning its war is not simply controlling the capital, but winning votes in Washington. Many of these votes are based on the credibility of the church’s message.

Last month the barbaric murders of the six Jesuits and two women rallied American churches to demand a halt to military aid to El Salvador. The congressional vote to cut aid was 194 in favor and 215 against, with 24 not voting. This was a close call for a Congress in a frenzy to pass a huge appropriations budget and in a rush to recess for the holidays.

It does not take much to realize that the balance of power is in the non-voting members of Congress. When they reconvene in January, how will those 24 cast their votes? Will they listen to the authentic message of the churches, which are saying “no more military aid to El Salvador”? Or will they fall for the false image created by the Salvadoran government, of an allegedly discredited churchwoman?