PICO-UNION : Coalition to Protest Salvadoran Delays

Activists working with Salvadoran refugees in the Pico-Union area are planning a new wave of and a letter-writing campaign to protest the Salvadoran government’s failure to implement provisions of the Dec. 15 peace accords.

During a news conference Thursday, representatives of the Coalition for the Defense of the Peace Accord in El Salvador said their protests will focus on Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani’s failure to carry out an agreement that calls for him to purge about 100 military officers accused of human-rights violations during the country’s 12-year civil war.

The remaining officers remind local Salvadoran refugees of the repressive regime that forced them to leave their country and would keep many from returning, they said.

“The situation is really hot, really tense down there,” said Amilcar Martinez, a member of the 15-group coalition who returned Tuesday from a four-week trip to El Salvador.

“The military is the key and the root of the problems in El Salvador. If the same (military) leaders are still present, that makes us feel we can never return to our country.”

But Rafael Alfaro, a spokesman for the Salvadoran Embassy in Washington, said the peace process is delicate and that it would take time for Cristiani to implement all the pact’s provisions.

“There is no proof that the men committed human-rights violations,” Alfaro said. “If they are not guilty of anything, why should they be removed from a post?”

Meredith Brown, director of human rights and education for the Central American Refugee Center, said local social services agencies have planned demonstrations outside the Salvadoran Consulate, educational forums and a letter-writing campaign urging the incoming Clinton Administration to extend the temporary refugee and work status of Salvadorans living in the United States.

“The community here still has roots in El Salvador, and they are interested in what’s happening to family members living there,” Brown said.