Duarte promises reform but terror continues

Scan page 11

The election of Jose Napoleon Duarte has been presented in the U.S. media as a turning point in the history of El Salvador. Duarte is credited with restraining the far right, improving the human rights situation, and creating the conditions for a true "democracy" in that war-scarred country.

In an article in the Nov. 30 Christian Science Monitor entitled "Salvador peace talks help Duarte to 'ace out opposition, " for example, Duarte is portrayed as having "scored a political coup over his opponents on both the left and the right by establishing himself as a 'man of peace? "

"By making the negotiating offer,' the Monitor continues, "Duarte has presented himself to the public as the only statesman and peacemaker who has come along on the Salvadoran scene in a long time."

Even the president of the Socialist International, Willy Brandt, declared that Duarte's election was a "victory for democratic ideas."

Behind the image

In contrast to this public relations image, the five months of the Duarte presidency demonstrate that there has been an increase in repression, the far right remains entrenched in power, and no policies benefiting the Salvadoran working classes have been carried out.

Last Aug. 30, according to Monsignor Arturo Rivera y Damas, archbishop of San Salvador, the Salvadoran army opened fire on 300 peasants whom they had encircled on the banks of the Gualsinga river. The Catholic Church buried 34 peasants, but the total number of deaths is undoubtedly far higher. The perpetrators of this massacre were members of the famous Atlacatl Brigade, an elite force trained by the U:S. government.

As far as the far right is concerned, power and influence remain undiminished. After months in «Apartheid (continued page 1) from people protested outside the South Africa consulate in Chicago on Dec. 6.

In San Francisco, a court order was necessary to circumvent the action of members of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Local 10, who had refused to unload South African cargo from a ship. Several picket lines and rallies were organized in San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., in support of the longshoremen.

The national coalition formed to organize April 20 antiwar demonstrations includes the issue of apartheid as one of its central demands. And a coalition led by Mobilization for Survival has called for a series of coordinated protests against apartheid from March 21 to April 6, 1985.

U.S. corporations under pressure The widening protests are making the South African government, the U.S.

SU government, and U.S.corporations that do business in South Africa increasingly nervous. Although Prime Minister Botha of South Africa declared defiantly that the apartheid system would continue, a group of U.S. companies announced that they would seek the repeal of apartheid laws.

The U.S. corporations, in fact, are under pressure from Blacks and others in this country to withdraw completely from South Africa. Their assurances that they will seek the reform of the apartheid regime are no more persuasive than Reagan's own declarations of opposition to apartheid.

The economy of South Africa depends on attracting foreign investment. To do that, it must have a large supply of cheap labor. It is through the mechanism of apartheid laws which permit, among other things, the wholesale deportation of all Black workers involved in labor protests that the South African government has sought to permanently maintain labor discipline.

South African class struggle heats up The wave of protest in the United States coincides with the growth of the voluntary exile in Washington, D.C., Commander Ochoa, known for his ties to the death squads, was recalled to take command of the El Paraiso garrison. Furthermore, two ultrarightists were elected to the posts of attorney general and president of the Supreme Court.

It is no accident that the investigations into the murder of the four American churchwomen have stopped short of indicting the architects of these crimes—such as current Defense Minister Vides Casanova.

"A cruel joke"

Despite Duarte's promises of land reform, no program of land redistribution has been carried out. One leader of the People's Democratic Union unionists and students converged with generalized discontent over the enactment of a new South African constitution last summer. The constitution allows some representatives of the Coloured and Indian population to participate in a new powerless chamber of parliament, while continuing to exclude Blacks from citizenship rights. The Black unions participated in the campaign to boycott the elections for the parliament, which culminated in a massive abstention by Coloureds and Indians.

As a result of the explosion of Black anger in South Africa, numerous Black municipal officials in charge of administering the impoverished Black townships have been forced to resign.

On Oct. 22, some 7,000 soldiers went into Sebokeng township, south of Johannesburg, to quell the unrest in that community. Police sweeps of Black communities during the last few months have left 100 Blacks dead. Over 1,000 have been arrested. In early December, South Africa's Roman Catholic bishops issued a report accusing the police of indiscriminate arrests and beatings.

Debates over strategy During the August protests against the new constitution, two new organizations developed: the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the National Forum (NF). The UDF argues for the necessity of a broad anti-apartheid front, which would include white liberals and sectors of the Church. In a statement published by the Cape Action League News, it explicitly rejects a working-class orientation: "The UDF is not a class organization. It does not claim to work in the interests of the working class, the capitalist class or the peasantry. It is an alliance amongst these classes."

The UDF was the most important organization responsible for organizing the boycott of the elections last summer.

The forces in the UDF generally look (UDP), an organization of small peasants, which had supported Duarte in the elections, complained that "for the small peasants, it [Duarte's election] is a cruel joke."

The demands of the 70,000 workers who have struck in El Salvador this year, as well as those of the 40 percent of the population that is unemployed, have gone unanswered.

Above all, the practice of systematic bombing of regions of the country under the control of the FMLN has elevated the casualty level well above that attained at the height of the wave of death-squad killings. In the month of May alone, there were 138 air attacks. The Salvadoran army plans to purchase several AC-47s, which are capable of 18,000 shots a minute, and which were used extensively in Vietnam.

Finally, according to the archbishop of San Salvador, the practice of political assassination has been stepped up recently.

It is no wonder, then, that even an enemy of the FMLN such as Minister of Foreign Affairs Morales of Venezuala had to observe, in the Swiss newspaper Berner Zeitung, that "In El Salvador, the Duarte Government seems to be leaning toward a military solution of the civil war."

La Palma round 2 The second round of negotiations, concluded this past Nov. 30, offered fresh evidence that Duarte at this point views a military solution as the only realistic alternative short of the FMLN/FDR acceptance of his three conditions. Duarte has stated that in order to achieve "peace" the FMLN must lay down its arms, accept the Salvadoran constitution, and participate in El Salvador's rigged elections.

In fact, Duarte refused to even attend the second set of talks on the basis that they were only "technical" in nature. Instead, the day after the negotiations were concluded, he went on national television to denounce the peace proposal submitted by the FMLN/FDR.

One official in the Duarte Government who participated in the Nov. 30 talks remarked that "We haven't weakened them [the FMLN/FDR] enough. This proposal means they're still strong."

Another of Duarte's close advisers glumly said, "My feeling is that there are no longer objective conditions for a dialogue."

toward the banned African National Congress (ANC) as the armed vanguard of the national liberation struggle.

The National Forum adheres to an anticapitalist program. Its manifesto declares that "the struggle against apartheid is no more than the point of departure for our liberation efforts. Apartheid will be eradicated with the system of raçial capitalism. The Black working class, inspired by revolutionary consciousness, is the driving force of our struggle."

The Black unions, which have grown dramatically in the past four years, have tended to stay outside of the two existing fronts, sometimes for differing reasons. Many of them criticize the policy of multiclass alliances of the UDF.

In the current wave of protests against apartheid, it is the unions that have been at the forefront. Generally speaking, because South Africa is a country dependent on foreign investments in manufacturing and on its gold exports, the Black working class will necessarily play the central role in a combined fight to bring down the apartheid regime and to meet the pressing social and political needs of the Black majority.

In the aftermath of the November general strike, only 6,000 workers were dismissed and deported to the Black "homelands."

The South African capitalists were prevented from unilaterally dismissing the vast bulk of Blacks involved in strike action because of the breadth of the general strike itself.

The Levy report, issued by a Johannesburg firm of consultants, warned that "Failure to leaven the right blend of firmness with tact and sensitivity will only accelerate what are already disturbing signs."

However, neither firmness, tact, nor sensitivity will be enough to stabilize the racist South African regime, as Black workers and Black youth mobilize to defend their interests.

SOCIALIST ACTION JANUARY 1985