Nicaraguan leader
calls for settlement
of Salvador conflict

UNITED NATIONS (DW) — Daniel Ortega, coordinator of the
governing Sandinista justa in Nicaragua and commander of the revolu-
tion, said that there is still time to avert a war in Central America.

‘We want peace, but not at the expense of freedom. We don’t want
war, but if war is waged on us, we’ll resist with a people’s war,”’ said
Ortega as he addressed the 36th session of the General Assembly of the
United Nations recently.

Ortega brought to the United Nations a proposal from liberation
forces in El Salvador, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front
(FMLN) and the Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR), to negotiate
the Salvadoran conflict with representatives of the Christian Demo-
cratic military junta, which is backed by the United States.

The FMLN-FDR plan for negotiations includes the following prin-
ciples: ‘‘negotiations to take place between the conflicting sides with-
out excluding ... forces; the negotiations shall be facilitated by the
presence of international mediators; discussion should be of global
character concerning all aspects of the Salvadoran situation based on
an agenda agreed upon by both sides; the Salvadoran people must be
informed of the progress of the negotiations; a means must also be
developed whereby the Salvadoran people have the final decision
about the results of the negotiations, "’ ** and ‘‘there shall be no pre-
conditions of any kind by either side.’

The proposal also includes the readiness of the FMLN and FDR to
discuss the definition of a new judicial, political and economic order in
El Salvador, as well as holding general elections as an important
mechanism for the participation and representation of the people “‘as
long as there are conditions and a climate that guarantees citizens the
free exercise of their wishes.”

They also wish to discuss the restructuring of the Armed Forces —
punishing those responsible for crimes against the civilian population
— and the integration of the people’s army into the regular forces.

The document asks the U.S. government to stop its military inter-
vention in El Salvador because it endangers the peace and security of
Central America and goes against the interests of both the Salvadoran
and the American people.

Ortega denounced U.S. government officials’ accusations that
Nicaragua is responsible for the present situation in the region. He said

that the roots of the situation is to be found in the social and economic ¥|:

injustices of the ruling circles and in the disadvantageous position that a
deveoping countries are forced into when dealing with the capitalist 5

countries. zk

THE WORLD

See Editorial page 4.

Left victory in Greek vote

The victory of left forces in Greece which brought the Panhellenic Socialist Party to power Oct. 18
reflects the growing feeling for change in Europe. PASOK took 174 seats in the country’s 300-seat
parliament. The growing Communist Party of Greece. (KKE) won 10. 9% of the vote and 13 seats.

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS

are on the move; they are going
to strike ...’’ He went on to
warn the USSR is going to in-

Are they dealing
with a full deck?

SLYE/NEW HORIZONS

As if it came from the Dr.
Strangelove series, we were
treated to the spectacle last
week of the firing of the top
military officer on Reagan’s
National Security council.

Speaking in Washington,
Major-General Robert

Schweitzer said the “‘Soviets

vade Poland and the Persian
Gulf. He also told his military
audience:the Soviets are ahead
in the nuclear race.

And why was he fired? Be-
cause he didn’t clear his re-
marks with the White House
first.

Reagan sidestepped the

main point. He said the gener-
al’s comments didn’t reflect his
thinking, that the new U.S.
military build-up helped peace,
-that Schweitzer is ‘‘a fine sol-
dier’’ — and that he will be
given another job and “‘will be
of great benefit to the coun-
try.”

Some might argue that. the
general is a maniac, that he
doesn’t have both oars in the

water.
If that’s true, it’s all the more
frightening because

Schweitzer was the top milit-
ary voice on the National Se-
curity Council. He is a close
friend of Secretary of State
Haig who talks the same way,
but wears civilian clothes.
It’s unnerving, too, because
he will still hold a top job.
Schweitzer’s replacement
on the NSC is his deputy,
Rear-Admiral James Nance,
another crony of Haig, a
former NATO commander.
Temporary indiscretions
aside, what is clear is that
Reagan has surrounded him-
self with the worst kinds of
military minds. Starting with
Haig and going through the list
of those who daily plan the fate
of their country you find an al-
most pathological breed of pro-
fessional soldier-adviser.
They speak for the military-
industrial machine which fairly
drools over the billions in war

spending and want more. They
speak for the extreme anti-
communist, anti-Soviet com-
munity, frightened but danger-
ous as they see the world slip-
ping from their control.

These men are deluded and
are deluding the actor-
president if they think human-
ity will stop struggling for jus-
tice and progress to suit them.

Following
America’s lead?

Reagan’s advice to the third
world he’s giving at the Cun-
cun meeting on cooperation
and development is to follow
the U.S. ‘‘frontier spirit’’ in
building their nations. He says
the U.S. showed how it could
be done.

Since he’s in Mexico saying
all this, perhaps he could re-
mind his hosts and others that
the U.S. birth was helped by
stealing Texas, California,
Arizona, New Mexico, Neva-
da, Utah and part of Colorado
from Mexico by force of arms.

Hired guns,
people’s response

A Soviet reporter, based in
Tanzania, writes that he
picked up one of the latest bul-
letins put out by ‘“‘The Wild
Geese Club”’ in Johannesburg,
South Africa. In it was this

advertisement: ‘‘Profession-
ally trained war veterans ready
to travel are invited to go ona
shooting safari.”

“It’s clear’, says the re-
porter, ‘‘this is a special kind of
hunt a manhunt. The
‘safari’ was to take place in
southern Angola.”’

His report continues: ** This
is not the first time mercenaries
are used against Angola. In
1975, 6,000 accompanied
South African troops pushing
toward Luanda. The former
CIA chief in Angola revealled
the U.S. spent some $31.7-mil-
lion out ofa: camouflaged fund
for this purpose alone.

‘*There are some 4,000 mer-
cenaries today operating in
Angola and Namibia. They
come from the U.S., Britain,
France, West Germany, Bel-
gium, Italy, Israel, Chile and
Paraguay ...””

It’s good to remember when
we work to support the cause
of national liberation in south-
ern Africa what these brave
people are dealing with. Echo-
ing the view of independent
Africa, the Tanzanian news-
paper Uhuru writes of these
hired scum: ‘*... The mer-
cenaries, promised mountains
of gold by imperialism, have
been defeated wherever they
have been sent. There is no
doubt, in this new adventure,
they will suffer the same fate.”’

Sitypet.- te? WO - aA dds DAS

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCT. 30, 1981—Page 8

oa