Word: guardsmen
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...hours before the House approved military aid, the most infamous Salvadoran death squad triggermen were convicted of murder. After a nonstop 20-hour trial, a jury of Salvadoran civilians found five former national guardsmen guilty of killing four American women in 1980. Three of the victims were Roman Catholic nuns. The provincial courtroom had a musky, Gabriel Garcia Márquez air. Through swinging saloon doors came and went a family selling sandwiches and coffee to spectators. A group of onlookers stood tiptoe on a junked car just outside-until the rotted car roof gave way. The crowd laughed; when...
...death squads are rooted in Salvadoran history. Created in 1912, the national guard often acted as a private security force for the country's landowners, who helped to pay the salaries; when peasant uprisings got out of hand, the landlords organized bands of vigilantes to assist the guardsmen. In 1932, when Farabundo Marti, the father of El Salvador's revolutionary movement, led a revolt, paramilitary squads were sanctioned to aid the army in squashing the rebellion. The estimated toll: at least 10,000. The lines between official and illegal violence blurred further after the National Democratic Organization (ORDEN...
...approval--in defiance of Speaker O'Neill's political will--unless opponents, including private citizens, can show a more complete picture of violence by recipients of this aid. Very few details have been revealed about the CIA supported forces, known in Nicaragua as "Contras." Many are former Nicaraguan national Guardsmen, whom President Reagan extolls as "freedom fighters." This respectful characterization, however, has no basis in fact...
...American Highway, confiscating from passers-by the national identity cards needed to cast ballots. In the regional center of San Miguel, the rebels managed to destroy an aircraft carrying ballot boxes to local polling places. On Saturday, guerrillas ambushed and killed a contingent of 30 Salvadoran soldiers and national guardsmen 45 miles east of the capital of San Salvador...
Astorga is not as odd a choice for ambassador as she might seem. An attorney, she rose rapidly in the Sandinista junta and worked for a time bringing former Somozista National Guardsmen to justice. Since 1983, she has held the post of Deputy Foreign Minister. Her office adjoins that of Foreign Minister Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, and she is thought to have an insider's view of diplomatic moves in Washington and Managua. But Astorga has one qualification that may outweigh all others. She has proved she is totally dedicated to the Sandinista regime and, as such...