SOLIDARITY ——_______—___ = = ‘Solidarity our work’ — Salvadoran priest There “isn’t one day” when some place in El Salvador’s liberated zones isn’t attacked by government troops, says a priest who works within the zones. Fr. Trinidad de Jesus Nieto knows. He’s worked in the zones since 1981, a period which saw the intensification of the struggle by the Faribundo Marti National Libera- tion Front (FMLN) against the U.S.- backed government of the small Central American nation. In Vancouver on a speaking engagement to churches last week, Nieto related his own experiences during an interview Dec. 6. The priest related an incident in which he and 3,000 others were the target of a recent bombing raid by government forces. Nieto Was about to embark on a journey to a nearby community when word came that the bombers and helicopter gunships were on their way. “That was at 8 (a.m.). By 9, everyone was teady to leave — including the old, sick and the young children.” The evacuation swelled to include all the tesidents in the region, who. were on the move for seven days, Nieto related. “One women gave birth in the space of two hours. The following night, we lost two children. But still the people maintained their faith and their will to move forward,” he said. Government bombings have increased yearly in the continued effort to prop up, with the active assistance of U.S. Marines, the handful of wealthy landowners that constitute El Salvador’s “oligarchy.” The lethality of those attacks have also increased, Nieto. noted in describing apter of prog al concessions and Wage d all democratic movements to win @ jobs program, end poverty and hunger, . The Social Credit government must be defeated in order to open a ae of decisive electoral contests. i ial year, unity will be the key to the re-election of the nn B.C. In Vancouver's centenn rocressive majority on Vancouver council. 1986 will be vear of international solidarity with the and the Philippines fighting racism and fascism, and. with the machine guns on U.S.-made helicopters that fire 6,000 rounds per minute. Nieto is one of several priests and lay people organized into the Popular Church Movement of El Salvador. While not offi- cially sanctioned by church hierarchy, it has enjoyed support from leaders such as El Salvador’s martyred archbishop, Oscar Romero. In the liberated zones the church activists, while not officially part of the FMLN, per- form church functions and participate in the liberation movement’s literacy campaigns, he said. Being a member of the clergy is no gua- rantee of personal safety, Nieto said, noting that some 12 Salvadoran clerics have been killed since the beginning of the decade, and citing the death by right-wing forces of four American nuns. “There have been more than 180 attacks against the church alone,” he said. He said 85 per cent of the people in the liberated zones participate in what are known as the Christian communities: “People who have found through the gospel the means to mass solidarity with other people. “Tt is important to note the people who are suffering in this war. There are some 130 bombings monthly. These people don’t want a war, they want a solution,” Nieto asserted. Peace can be reached if, for example, the Canadian government refuses to accept the United States government’s policy of prop- ping up the Salvadoran government, and gets behind the demand for a political solu- tion, he said. JACKSON Anghuwo of Namibia at North Vancouver high school. Children’s tour dramatizes plight of victims of war A Guatemalan girl whose friends were tortured and whose best friend was blinded by government troops for union activities urged Canadian students to become active in ending the repression of national liberation activists in other countries Dec. 5. Gabriella Torres’ tale of horror was matched by that of Filipino youth Jean Enriquez, who related how her best friend was raped after watching soldiers behead her father in the strife-torn Philippines. “This is happening because people in my Country are starving, and they protest,” Torres, part of a seven-member delegation, organized by the International Youth for Peace and Justice tour, told some 300 students at Carson Graham Secondary School Others in the delegation included Agelet Kuper, a Montreal student whose friends included survivors of the Nazi holocaust, Namibian Jackson Anghuwo, Native Canadian Jason Dennis and Grand Forks, B.C. youth peace activist John Semenoff. The delegation was one of seven touring Canada with the object of “making Canadian youth more informed. . .and to become more active for world peace,” said spokesman Norm Ince. He said the Montreal-organized tours were inspired by a tour of the United States by young victims of war last year. The B.C. delegation was sponsored by peace activists, community groups and churches during their recent tour of Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. ourselves to the struggles for peace on earth, and in space, and for the rights of and, with our efforts, a year of the greatest vet peace actions to stop Canadian Wars and for an end to. the arms Face. 00th anniversary of May Day and a vear of ‘critical labor strt controls. It is a vear to mobilize labor and the unemployed, women and and restore social services. iggles to defend the trade union heroic peoples of South Africa, El Salvador, Chile, S. Korea people of Nicaragua who are building a. new society. — Maurice Rush, leader | B.C. Provincial Committee Communist Party of Canada Regional Committees: Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, Kamloops-Shuswap, Okanagan. Clubs: Creston Kingsway Olgin Surrey Bill Bennett Delta _ Maple Ridge Penticton Trail/ Castlegar ~ Burnaby Effie Jones _ Nanaimo Port Alberni Vancouver East Campbell River Fishermen New Westminster Prince George Vernon ~ Comox Valley ® Fort Langley Nigel Morgan Richmond Victoria - Correspondence Fraser Valley North Island _ Shuswap Westside Sunshine Coast White Rock Coquitlam. Kamloops North Shore PACIFIC TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 18, 1985 e 7 Leaeait a ti is ey ae