Word: handal
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...guerrillas sound determined to fight unless a newly elected government proves unexpectedly willing to reopen negotiations. Warns Cirilo: "We have a genuine desire for peace. But that should not be mistaken for weakness." Schafik Jorge Handal, head of the Salvadoran Communist Party and one of the F.M.L.N.'s top five comandantes, agrees. "If the military says no to our plan, then that indicates their intention of defeating us militarily," he says. "That would oblige us to respond, and the product would be a deepening of the war." Roberto, a veteran E.R.P. combatant is more direct: "If the elections are held...
...relative stature of the three other F.M.L.N. chieftains remains a matter of speculation. There is Shafik Jorge Handal, 53, general secretary of the Salvadoran Communist Party and commander of its armed wing, the 1,500-member Armed Forces of Liberation. The son of Palestinian immigrants, Handal has been the F.M.L.N.'s main go-between with the Soviet Union and Cuba. He first led the Communists into armed action in 1979. Because of his standing in Moscow, Handal's influence in guerrilla councils may be out of proportion to the size of his forces...
Shaf ick Jorge Handal, 51. Currently secretary-general of the Salvadoran Communist Party, Handal long resisted the insurrectionist ideas that led Carpio to break away from the party. But in April 1979, even the Moscow-lining Communists decided to join the fighting. They formed the Armed Forces of Liberation, one of the smallest of the guerrilla groups, which Handal commands...
...Palestinian immigrants to El Salvador, Handal began his revolutionary career in 1949, when he became involved in student politics while studying law. In 1950 he joined the Communist Party. In 1952 he was exiled, first to Honduras and then to Chile, returning to El Salvador only after a government amnesty for political offenders. In 1960 he was exiled again to Guatemala. In 1961 he returned to El Salvador as a member of the Communist underground. He organized the Unitary Front for Revolutionary Action, attached to the illegal Communist Party, and became the Communist Party's secretary-general...
According to the U.S. State Department, Handal has close links with the Soviet Union and Cuba, and often travels to both countries, as well as to other East bloc members. He also has ties to the Palestine Liberation Organization, and in particular to its leader, Yasser Arafat. Handal has been active in the purchase of arms for the Salvadoran guerrillas. Richard Araujo, a Latin American expert at the Heritage Foundation, says of Handal: "He'd like to be the Latin American Arafat...