El Salvador--a Big Question : How Much Longer Do We Support the Civil War?

How much longer should U.S. tax dollars be spent to keep the civil war in El Salvador alive? Congress will soon have to come up with an answer to that tough question.

The Bush Administration, in its 1990 fiscal budget, is seeking $86 million in military assistance and $229 million in economic aid for the right-wing government of President Alfredo Cristiani. Congressional critics argue that it’s time to cut El Salvador off because--despite $4 billion in U.S. aid since 1980--its ruling elite is no closer than it ever was to reforming the repressive conditions that caused the fighting in the first place.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III argues that the recent renewal of peace talks between the rebels and the government is evidence that a conflict that has claimed 70,000 lives may be close to an end. This, he says, is no time to undermine Cristiani. Critics of more aid cite fierce rebel attacks late last year and the murder of six Jesuit priests by government soldiers as evidence that U.S. support for the Salvadoran military has neither helped it win the war nor persuaded it to improve its abysmal human-rights record.

Both sides have valid points. Without outside aid, El Salvador’s war-ravaged economy would collapse, taking Cristiani down with it and perhaps tempting leftist rebels to try and strike a knockout blow. But giving the army another blank check might encourage reactionaries, who want complete victory regardless of the human costs.

There’s a middle position that could work, though, especially given the recent elections in nearby Nicaragua. El Salvador’s rebels claim they could prove their popular support at the ballot box if only they could campaign safely, without fear of the death squads that have killed more Salvadorans than have died in combat. Voting for municipal offices is scheduled for early 1991 in El Salvador, and participation of the left in that election is likely to be on the agenda at the negotiations in Geneva.

Congress could encourage the peace process by conditioning U.S. aid--not on more vague promises by the government to protect human rights--but on an agreement by Cristiani to hold elections as open, honest and peaceful as those in Nicaragua.