November 20, 1989
50°

Vol. 52, No.42

New danger of intervention looms
as El Salvador right triggers war

== The reported massacre of the leaders of

the Catholic University was being investi-
gated Thursday as fighting in El Salvador
intensified last week. Government forces
were bombing civilians as the Farabundo
Marti National Liberation Front continued
its military action, dubbed “Down with the
fascists — Febe Elizabeth Lives,” against
the right-wing government of President
Alfredo Cristiani.

FMLN fighters were engaging army
troops in eight of the 14 departments —
administrative districts akin to provinces —
while government forces strafed neighbour-
hoods and killed civilians in an effort to
dislodge liberation fighters in the capital of
San Salvador. The FMLN launched 25
simultaneous actions around 8 p.m., El Sal-
vador time, on Nov. 11 in response to death
squad bombings of a trade union office and
the headquarters of a women’s organization
last month which killed 10 and left dozens
wounded.

In Vancouver last Tuesday members of
the newly formed B.C.-El Salvador Support
Committee demonstrated outside the offi-
ces of the United States consul, demanding
an end to U.S. aid to the ARENA —
National Republican Alliance — govern-
ment and a negotiated settlement to the
conflict in the Central American nation.

Meanwhile, the El Salvador Information
fr. 4, eo 3 > : Centre in Vancouver was attempting to
: tf a fog! : ~ a ie confirm reports Thursday that death

3 ita os ae wan we =©squads tortured and murdered the entire
Demonstrators demand an end to foreign intervention and a negotiated settlement to the nine-year-old war in El Salvador, ene ES ae of the age Uni-
outside the U.S. consulate in Vancouver on Nov. 14. versity IN san salvador, and that troops

from the neighbouring countries of Gua-
temala and Honduras, which have assisted
the Salvadoran military in the past, were
moving towards the border.

The FMLN suspended the peace dia-
logue with the ARENA government and
launched their military action as a response
to the Oct. 31 bombings of the offices of
FENASTRAS (the National Federation of
Salvadoran Workers Union) and COM-
ARDES (the Mothers Committee of Pri-
soners and Disappeared). The FENAS-
TRAS bombing took 10 lives, including
that of garment worker Febe Elizabeth
Velasquez, a member of the executive
committee of the Salvadoran National
Unity of Workers (UNTS).

The front launched military actions in
several parts of the country, including nine
neighbourhoods in the capital and on key
facilities: the National Guard headquarters,
the First Infantry Brigade, the Police
Academy, the Air Force base and the presi-
dential palace. Attacks were also launched
against the Ist Military Detachment in Cha-
latenango department, the 2nd Infantry
Brigade in Santa Ana city, and the Compal-
apa International Airport in La Paz

Soviet, U.S. and Canadian youth
display international friendship at :
the international border crossing at see DEATH =
Peace Arch park on Nov. 14. Stu- pag

dents form Siberia have been tour-
ing B.C. at the invitation of a Maple
Ridge based group of educators,
the Canadian-Soviet Friendship
Exchange project. See People and
Issues, page 4.

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