An Incomplete Picture of Life in El Salvador

Kenneth Freed’s article “El Salvador’s Painful Prosperity” (Sept. 1) presents an incomplete picture of the current climate there.

While admitting that the Salvadoran government’s neo-liberal, free-market policies are hurting the poor, the major thrust of the article suggests that El Salvador is on a forward-looking economic trend.

While giving statistics of “real economic growth,” the article fails to mention that the economic policies are highly unpopular. After a recent closure of a government institute that regulates the price of basic goods, tens of thousands marched in the streets of San Salvador protesting the privatizations of the economy.

Some of the statistics cited are questionable. The article states that inflation was only 12% this last year but later quotes a street vendor who says the price of beans has gone from 35 cents to more than a $1. This is a 300% increase, not 12%, in the basic staple of all Salvadorans. The article also suggests that work and wages are increasing in the Salvadoran countryside but neglects the statistic for unemployment and underemployment, which is somewhere near 60% and rising.

There is nothing new about the Cristiani government’s economic policy. It is a feudal holdover from the 19th Century, benefiting an oligarchic elite and subjecting the majority to a life of poverty and misery. The current civil war is a direct result.

The article omits the government’s means of enforcing its unpopular policies: repression. Amnesty International and America’s Watch have documented repeated cases of torture, imprisonment and assassination of trade unionists, farm workers, human rights advocates and others who spoke out.

Stories such as Freed’s encourage economic investment by U.S. corporations. Investment in a country that has such massive human rights violations is unwarranted and unethical.

Just as in South Africa, the withholding of U.S. investment in El Salvador could help to bring about peaceful change and a more democratic government. Then investment would be warranted, ethical and beneficial to the majority of people in El Salvador.

MADELINE JANIS

Los Angeles

The writer is executive director of the Central American Refugee Center.