Word: salvadoran
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...Salvador, whose very name in Spanish invokes the Saviour. Three years of civil war have fragmented the church there into three camps. Some priests support the U.S.-backed regime, others back the leftist insurgents, while the majority are caught somewhere in between. Hoping to bring unity into the Salvadoran church hierarchy, John Paul announced on the eve of his trip that he had appointed acting Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas, 59, as the successor to the martyred Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Arnulfo Romero, who had been ruthlessly shot down, presumably by fanatic rightists, while saying a Mass...
THERE is, as President Reagan would say, a clear and present danger to U.S. interests posed by the ongoing conflict in El Salvador. But that danger comes not so much from the Salvadoran left as it does from the Administration's refusal to seek a compromise between the guerillas and the right. Washington's plan--announced last week--to increase the number of U.S. military "advisors" in El Salvador is a disturbing sign that the worst may be yet to come...
...desire to send more advisors was underlined by a grim White House briefing of Congressional leaders. United Nations Ambassador Jeane J. Kirk Patrick and National Security Advisor William P. Clark warned Congress that the situation in El Salvador was deteriorating rapidly and the Salvadoran army was waging an increasing uphill battle against the leftists. And Reagan himself conjured up images of the infamous "domino theory" by stating, "We believe that the government of El Salvador is on the front line of a battle that is really aimed at the very heart of the Western Hemisphere, and eventually...
Even if the White House's assessment of the Salvadoran army's dire straits is correct, sending more advisors and funds will be at best ineffective, at worst catastrophic. Presumably, the Administration has no illusions about routing the leftists; the overwhelming majority of military experts affirm this is an impossible dream. So Washington no doubt hopes only to keep the rightist government in place as long as possible. The advisors and funds are nothing more than temporary measures that demonstrate an acute lack of long term vision...
...church may have unwittingly encouraged the present civil war. After the Medellin conference, Salvadoran Catholics organized "base communities" that evolved into political cells. In reaction, right-wing vigilantes declared open season on Catholic lay workers and missionaries suspected of leftist activity. A pivotal event was the 1980 assassination in San Salvador of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, an outspoken opponent of the government, while he was saying Mass. Romero has become a martyr to the poor and to the rebellious left. John Paul may pray at Romero's tomb in the Metropolitan Cathedral, a gesture fraught with political significance...