America 6 the Carribbean

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Vietnam-style mass "resettlement" programs, coupled with saturation terror bombing, have become the rule in El Salvador. In the aftermath of the deaths of six U.S. citizens, Congress has allocated additional millions to the Duarte death-squad regime.

At the same time, the Democratic and Republican parties have united to step up the financing of the murderous contras in Nicaragua. They are also spending billions of dollars on nuclear weapons and research for the future "Star Wars" program.

In South Africa, the virtual state of siege declared by the racist apartheid regime against the majority Black population has been met with only faint expressions of displeasure by the U.S. government, which indicated its hope for a quick return to "normalcy" in the region.

Under these circumstances, it is imperative for the anti-intervention movement to organize massive and NO U.S. IN tions. No large protests were organized during this period.

Subordinate mass actions

Following the November elections and the defeat of "peace candidate" Mondale, the leaders of the traditional peace and solidarity organizations were pessimistic about the possibility of organizing massive demonstrations against U.S. policy. They mistakenly interpreted the Mondale defeat as a majority endorsement of the U.S. government's war policies.

But the increased war escalations by the U.S. government and the growing sentiment for national spring actions shared by the 650 activists who attended the 1st Emergency National Conference and by a number of local coalitions put pressure on these organizations and leaders to organize the April Actions.

Still, despite the positive call for spring actions, the April Actions leaders viewed mass demonstrations as subordinate to their overall orientation of