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THE WORLD

Salvadorans ready as invasion threat looms

Fears that the United States’ military in-
vasion of Grenada was the first in a series
for the neighboring Caribbean and Central
American regions have been heightened
following the request from the government
of El Salvador for assistance in combatting
the armed resistence of the popular revolu-
tion waged by the Farabundo Marti Na-
tional Liberation Front. (FMLN). If the
armies of Honduras and Guatemala —
whose governments, like that of El
Salvador, are propped up by the Reagan
administration — accede to the request and
invade the country, the warfare will cer-
tainly spread to Nicaragua (indeed, a
simultaneous invasion of that revolu-
tionary nation mey be planned), fulfilling
the warnings about Washington’s plans for.
a regional war in Central America.

Ina Nov. 5comminique, FMLN leaders
Roberto Roca, Ferman Cienfuegos,
Shafik Hanal, Leonel Gonzales and Jao-
quin Villalobos warned of the imminent
danger. The text, slightly abridged, read:

We wish to inform the Salvadorean peo-
ple, the peoples of Central America and the
world, and the international community of
the grave developments now taking place.

A few days ago, following instructions
from the U.S. government, El Salvador’s
defence minister, Gen. Eugenio Vides
Casanova, requested that the Honduran
and Guatemalan armies intervene in our
country. This request follows a period, es-
pecially during the last two months, in
which severe blows were dealt to the
Salvadoran army by the forces of the
FMLN. In response to this request, 4,000
Guatemalan soldiers have been concen-
trated in Jutiapa, Valle Nuevo, San
Cristobal and the city of Pedro de

Alvarado near the Salvadoran border.
Honduran army troops have also been
amassed at Jicaro Galan, at the crossroads
where the highways leading to El Salvador
and Nicaragua meet. :

At the same time, the number of U.S.
troops and war material located in Hon-
duras continues to increase. In addition,
the introduction of a new U.S. naval fleet,
headed by an aircraft carrier, which is now
nearing the coasts of Central America
represents an enormous increase in U.S.
naval presence in the region.

Under the pretext of serving
humanitarian needs, a U.S. army batallion
of engineers has been sent to Costa Rica.

The number of U.S. military personnel
presently threatening the borders and
coasts of El Salvador and Nicaragua total
over 25,000, with 5,000 already located in
Honduras.

The government of Nicaragua has de-
nounced these intensified preparations to
invade this sister country.... The order of
the Southern Command of the U.S. army
to reactivate the Central American
Defence Council (CONDECA), consisting
of the armies of Guatemala, El Salvador
and Honduras was accomplished in record
time.

These steps are similar to those which

‘preceeded the U.S. agression against
Grenada.

It is Reagan who will decide the date of
the aggression. If the aggression is to be
directed first against the people of El
Salvador and then against Nicaragua, or if
the order is to be reversed, that also is a
decision for which Reagan is responsible.

This time Reagan is making a grave er-
ror. The peoples of Nicaragua and El
Salvador will never surrender! The in-

vaders will be forced to taste the dust of
their defeat.

In Grenada, imperialism took advan-
tage of an internal division among revolu-
tionaries in order to execute an invasion. In,
our nation we are not divided, nor will ‘we
ever be divided. Rather, we are more
united than ever.

It is in the context of the glaring setback
for the dictatorship and the increasing col-
lapse and defeat of the Salvadoran army,
that the U.S. and their pawns are preparing
to enter El Salvador to save those responsi-
ble for the genocide. :

This second round of combat for our
forces, this time with U.S., Guatemalan
and Honduran troops, is leading our strug-
gle towards the final and definite stage of
victory. :

The General Command of the FMLN
orders all leaders and combatants of our
heroic revolutionary forces to place in
maximum preparedness for combat all ar-
my, guerilla and militia units.

All political cadres and activists are call-
ed upon to place themselves on alert and to
put all their energy and capacity into in-
creasing the efficiency and efficacy of our
political structures — those of the mass
organizations that operate openly and
clandestinely, and those structures of
popular power that function in the ter-
ritories under our control.

The General Command calls on the
working class, campesinos, students,
teachers, employees from the public and
private sectors, professionals, technicians
and all their organizations to close ranks in
defence of the nation....

We call upon priests and pastors of all
churches to redouble efforts in strengthen-

- ing the spiritual resolve of our people...

The General Command of the FMLN
calls on small and middle-sized
businessmen to assume a patriotic stance
by cooperating with the resistance against
the invasion and by refusing to cooperate
with the traitorous oligarchy....

To those large businessmen who opt to
oppose the invasion, we will respect their
lives and property.

At this time of greatest danger for the
nation, the politicians participating in the
Constituent Assembly are confronted with
a challenge they must face with courage:
the courage to break with traitors and to
contribute to the unity of the nation faced
with such savage enemies.

The FMLN is in favor or pluralism — a
pluralism based on the interests of the
Salvadoran people — and will respect the
political rights of those who fulfil their
obligation to the nation in this critical hour.

The General Command of the FMLN
calls on all soldiers and commissioned and
non-commissioned officers to fulfil their
allegiance to the flag, and rebel against
those leaders who have betrayed the nation —
and sold their honor to U.S. imperialism.

The General Command of the FMLN
calls on all peoples of the world to extend
the most active solidarity to the peoples of
El Salvador and Nicaragua. We call on in-
ternational organizations, independent
governments, especially those of Latin
America, and the independent press on all
continents to raise your voice against im-
perialist aggression and the insane policies
of the Reagan administration which
threaten to destroy this planet by nuclear

holocaust. We call on you to extend to our
peoples all the political, moral and
material support at your disposal.

|

movement

is Dr. Tom Perry, a well-known ocd

‘Day after’ sees growth in peace

The television premier of the U.S. ABC
network’s “The Day After’? Nov. 20
depicted the tragedy of a nuclear war and its
aftermath as residents of demolished cities in
Kansas and Missouri slowly perished from
radioactive fallout.

But as North American viewers — an
estimated 100 million in the United States
alone — emerge from the powerful images
of the ficticious nuclear exchange, it
becomes clear that another, positive kind of
fallout has effected people in the days after
“The Day After.”

The evidence is coming in that despite
media claims the film had no effect on peo-
ple’s views, hundreds and possibly
thousands of citizens have demonstrated a
new interest in being part of the struggle to
achieve world nuclear disarmament, to en-
sure that the ‘‘day after’’ never arrives.

‘“Our phone has been ringing off the hook
since Monday morning,’’ said Helen
Spiegleman, spokesman for the Lower
Mainland’s growing disarmament coalition,
End the Arms Race.

Other peace organizations, such as the
B.C Peace Council, had similar experiences,
with incoming calls intensifying following
the appearance of peace activists on televi-
sion station CKVU’s Vancouver Show
Nov. 21, the day following that station’s air-
ing of the ABC movie.

The format of the Vancouver Show was
somewhat less than satisfactory for the peace
leaders, with host Laurier Lapierre con-
sistently turning the discussion to the ques-
tion of unilateral disarmament — something
that is not on the agenda of peace groups.

What the program accomplished
however, was to give much-needed publicity
to End the Arms race and other peace
groups, which, despite their growth and the

activities they have sponsored, have yet to ,

become household words.

“Even though we’ve been responsible for
the last two peace marches in April that have
drawn out thousands of people, a lot of peo-
ple still don’t know who we are,”’ said

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 30, 1983—Page 10

The fictionalized holocaust, called ‘The Day After,’ presented by ABC television net-
work caused Lower Mainland viewers to swamp local peace groups with phone calls
beginning Monday last week. Above, End the Arms Race office workers talk to new
volunteers at open house Nov. 23.

Spiegleman of the 140-group member coali-
tion.

That the situation is changing was evident
from the attendence at an open house session
at the EAR office in Vancouver’s Fairview
Baptist Church Nov. 23. EAR volunteer
Clare Perry estimated that some 100 people
passed through the portals seeking informa-
tion on the arms race and, in many cases,
volunteered their services for the coalition’s
on-going petition campaign against cruise
missile testing in Canada.

The open house was hastily planned
following the dozens of calls the group
received, said EAR co-chairman Carmela
Allevato. In this regard, CKVU provided
assistance by giving callers — one couple in-
terviewed by the Tribune said they had no
knowledge of existing peace groups until
they phoned the station — EAR’s phone
number.

Jennifer Kinloch of the University of B.C.
Students for Peace and Mutual Disarma-
ment found a ‘‘more than unusual”’ positive
response from students to an information
booth the organization set up on campus the
Monday following the film’s premier.

Friday is the usual day the student peace
group sets up its information table, but they
chose Monday that week to guage the
response to the ABC special.

‘People said that that’s what they were
there for, to discuss the movie,’ said
Kinloch. She reported the organization
received some new memberships, while
many ‘“‘wanted us to tell them why they
should join a peace march.”

Kinloch considered it important that
students from a greater variety of faculties
showed up to discuss the peace movement.

Someone who has been frequently called
upon to comment on the movie’s effects

peace activist and a founding member of
B.C. chapter of the international Physici
for Social Responsibility. Ironically, Pert}
was returning from a vacation Nov. 20, aid
therefore did not get to view ‘‘The Da)
After.” T>
But he was around to participate in t"®
television shows and a radio program 1
mediately after the showing, and W
““pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of peo”
ple who were not affected before, despitet!*
numerous peace marches, are now show!”
they’re concerned.” :
Perry also noted that, unfortunatel
there is renewed discussion around the allée
ed need for civil defense and bomb shelt®
“’m stunned and horrified to hear peor
in Emergency (Planning) Canada say all yo!
have to do is build your bomb shelter,” $4)
Perry, whose organization has continual
warned against the illusiory security of “aw
defence’’ measures. is
He also deplored the “unscrupulo’,
characters” in the business of selling bow
shelters to a gullible public. PSR, am
other authoritative groups, has shown i
death from asphixiation or heat would é ;
the fate of those who took to shelter in pla *)
where a direct hit would be most likely, S& |
as the Lower Mainland. iH
And, citing a recent study from tha!
Massachusetts Institute of Technology é
predicts catastrophic climatic chang
* following even a small nuclear exchangy
Perry questioned the wisdom of shell
anywhere: ‘People have to ask themsel f
what kind of a world would they ©
into?”’ the
Perry said concrete steps to take 10
direction of disarmament include cancel
tion of cruise tests in Canada. But whe? eo
raises the issue’ in media sessions,
viewers tend to ‘‘cancel out”’ at this porn
“§o | think it’s important that peopl,
high profile, such as those in the medi
make efforts to get the information F f
about what people can do for disarmame™