RETURN TO MORAZAN
“The Return to Morazan,” by Patrick McDonnell, is an accurate chronicle of what has happened to the thousands of displaced Salvadorans in the civil war. What is omitted, however, is whose interests the fighting serves.
El Salvador is an oligarchy in which 90% of the land is owned by 2% of the population. It is an agrarian economy, and the major export crop is coffee. If free enterprise were allowed in which average Salvadorans could become entrepreneurs growing their own coffee on their own land, the ruling oligarchy would be forced to give up its near-feudal privileges. It is to maintain these privileges that the war is being waged.
Here in North America we can help to bring democracy, peace, justice and free enterprise to that battered country by refusing to support the coffee oligarchs by not purchasing coffee from El Salvador. Sixty percent of El Salvador’s coffee is exported to the United States and can be found in Folgers, MJB, Sanborn & Chase, Nescafe and Maxwell House. Boycotting Salvadoran coffee is the right thing for Americans to do.
Our nation was conceived in liberty, therefore, we have an obligation to not support despotism. If El Salvador’s feudal oligarchy cannot afford its privileges because of market pressure from the United States, it will be forced to reform.
DANA HOHN
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,
CENTRAL AMERICAN INFORMATION CENTER
San Diego
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
