World By KIM BOLAN SAN SALVADOR — In the black of night, there is the roar of invisible helicop** ters and the thunder of their loads hitting the shanties of this blood-soaked city’s poorest barrios. In the light of morning, there are the _bodies of victims littering the streets and hills fuil of charred ruins and anger. Even though the rebels of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front have moved their offensive away from their sup- _ porters in San Salvador’s northern regions of poverty-striken “champas,” the U.S.- backed military continues to bomb nightly and without warning. The FMLN and opposition groups throughout the country have condemmed the indiscriminate bombing of civilian pop- ulations which started Nov. 11, with the guerrillas’ strongest-ever offensive in this capital city of 500,000. But the extreme right-wing government of President Alfredo Cristiani justifies the bombing in commercials and news reports Over the country’s radio and television sta- ons, which it seized control of four weeks ago. | “We have to bomb these areas to deal with the terrorists of the FMLN,” the announcements read. Despite the propaganda, it is clear the military’s agenda is as much concerned with “dealing” with anyone who opposes them as it is the rebel fighters. When the FMLN moved into San Salva- dor’s wealthy enclave of Escalon two weeks ago, stating loudly that “the war had come to the country’s rich,” not a single bomb was dropped. In fact, the military agreed for the first time to an FMLN request for a cease-fire so that civilians could be evacu- ated. “When the muchachos came to our bar- rio, they said to us: ‘The army is going to come and bomb you.’ ” said Julio Cesar, 43, referring to the guerrillas, known affection- ately as “the boys.” “Then they said: ‘We will go to the rich zones and see if they do the same thing to the people there.” ” Now Cesar lives in his leased taxi because of the destruction of his tiny tin home in the barrio of Zacamil by a 500-pound bomb. And he is angry that the military never touched the lives of the rich in this city. “The army will never bomb the houses of all those wealthy people. As a Catholic I don’t like to see people suffer, but I don’t like it either that there is no justice.” Across this city of pastel-washed, graffiti- covered buildings and militarized streets, people are cautious, but willing, to con- demn the bombing ordered by their own government. And some, though not as many, will even whisper their support for the FMLN’s offensive. The guerrillas say their move into the capital has resulted in thousands of new recruits and many more who now under- stand what they are trying to achieve and support it. That's why the FMLN is “indignant” Over an agreement of the five Central Amer- ican presidents reached in Costa Rica this week which says the contras in Nicaragua will be disbanded if the Salvadoran rebels are demobilized as well. “We reject the declaration ... because it runs contrary to the international commun- ity and social forces and churches in El Salvador,” the FMLN General Command stated this week. “This declaration unconditionally sup- ports the principal violator of human rights of the region: a government which has assassinated and persecuted the religious community and bombed its civilian popula- tion.” In Cuidad de Delgado, Abram Martinez sifts with his hands through piles and piles of burnt memories in what used to be his brother’s pleasant working-class bungalow. Aside from the heads of two porcelain figurines and a small wall display of burned images of Jesus and Mary, nota single thing in the two-bedroom house is intact or even recognizable. Bombings, killings in El Salvador show gov't's ruthlessness So what is the 65-year-old hoping to find in the devastation caused by one of the thousands of bombs dropped here in recent weeks? “A few colones,” he said, holding out a handful of blackened coins worth less than fifty cents. His family has lost everything and has received “nothing from the government” in return. “The Red Cross and the church gave us some food and some clothes, but even though the government has said it is helping people, we see none of it.” Occassionally, the images that darken the sky during the day are huge C-47 or A-37 bombers. More frequently they are black military helicopters, nicknamed “avispas or wasps by the people. The U.S. bombs that are thrown from them have come to be called “papayas” because their shape resembles the more appetizing fruit. : When they work in daylight, there is sometimes a brief warning for those in their pathway. At night, the warning comes as the bomb decimates everything around its contact point for 50 feet. estan “It is the armed forces’ indiscriminate bombing of many places that has caused the majority of the deaths in the civilian popula- tions,” said Miguel Montinegro, a director of the Human Rights Commission, a non- governmental organization. — “The government is accusing the FMLN in many cases of causing the death and destruction. But we know that in many cases the government accuses the FMLN when it is the government who is responsi- ble.” And while official figures state that more than 2,000 have died in the last month, the death toll is inevitably much much higher. Onastreet corner in Colonia Scandia — as on many streets these days — yellowish, stiff legs stick out of a pile of burning debris surrounded by soliders of the F irst Brigade. “He was a guerrilla,” the soliders say openly, not worrying about take responsi- bility for torching his body and destroying his identity. All along narrow streets and walkways are mounds of fresh dirt with small wooden crosses pushed upright into them. Nearby, people admit they buried one, sometimes four, bodies because after four days in the hot sun, no one had come for them — not family members or police officials trying to identify them. With so many bodies being destroyed or buried on the spot, there is no way of know- ing if they were guerrillas, civilians, journal- ists or victims of political assassination. And there is no way of knowing just how many people have died. Said Montinegro: “They capture people and claim they are members of the FMLN without mentioning they are members of popular organizations of our country and not with the guerrillas at all.” - But organizations like the Human Rights Commission can barely function now, even though the need for their work document- ing the abuses is greater than ever. “Since the offensive began, the govern- ment has implemented a greater system of repression against all the different organiza- tions, among them workers, campesinos, students, churches and the human rights organizations,” said Montinegro, at an interview arranged in a secret location. A controversial anti-terrorist law was passed by the ARENA-controlled National Assembly two weeks ago, restricting almost every aspect of free speech and guaranteeing lengthy prison terms for anyone participat- ing in a demonstration or caught spray- painting or even holding a politcal leaflet. z s ro} ao 2 =< | ° 2 I} x As well, international church and com- munity workers who have been involved with programs for earthquake victims, those displaced by the war, campesinos and the millions living in poverty are being cap- tured, threatened and deported. The government has said no more visas for for- eigners will be issued. As part of the propaganda against out- siders, military planes flew over the capital 10 days ago, dropping thousands of leaflets which said all Salvadorans have the right to kill internationals because they are trying to help the FMLN. In spite of the blatant violations of human rights and open death threats,‘the American government is sticking by ARENA — National Republican Alliance — and has even talked about increasing military aid to the country, which has amounted to $4 billion and 70,000 deaths in this 10-year-old civil war. When a small Cessna plane carrying some Nicaraguan records crashed in Usulu- tan on Nov. 25, Cristiani gleefully called a press conference and laid out two dozen surface-to-air missiles and other weapons found aboard the vessel and believed to be an arms shipment for the FMLN. “This shows that Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro contribute to the violence in this country,” Cristiani said, though he pro- vided no evidence of a link to Cuba. Nor did he mention his party’s links to death squads or the suspected involvement of his own armed forces in the bloody assas- sination of six Jesuit priests Nov. 15. In fact, at a second press conference Dec. 9, Cristiani madé the outrageous claim that the FMLN had blown the Jesuits’ brains out, even though the ammunition used was military issue and witnesses had seen uni- formed men near the murdered bodies that same night. He also claimed a bomb that killed 10 people at the offices of the National Federation of Salvadoran Workers Unions (FENASTRAS) on Oct. 31 was set by the FMLN. The charge came even though the government frequently links FENASTRAS with the guerrillas. So as the government tries to salvage any scrap of credibility it can, the FMLN says it has gained huge support in San Salvador for its goal of a negotiated settlement involv- ing all political sectors and popular organi- zations in the country. “We are definitely winning,” says one young commander interviewed. “We are capturing more arms than we are losing and the people are joining us.” Jose Roberto Gonzalez lies in a hospital bed in San Miquel, his left shoulder ripped open, raw and oozing. He leans forward slightly showing how the M-16 cartridge went right through him as he walked to work at 4 a.m. two days earlier. “T knew the curfew was on, but I had to get to work. I had to feed my family. I don’t understand why they shoot,” he said of the soldiers. “If you ask them what they are fighting for, they don’t even know. If you ask the FMLN, at least they have a reason.” Kim Bolan is a member of the Vancouver- New Westminster Newspaper Guild. She recently returned from a visit to El Salvador. PHOTO: — JULIO BALTAZAR CERRES TOP: Residents flee bombing of barrio in San Salvador; BOTTOM: FMLN fighters flash victory sign beside destroyed army armoured car in wealthy Escalaon barrio. Photo for the worker-run El Diario Latino was banned from publication by ARENA government. Pacific Tribune, December 18, 1989 « 25