Word: salvadoreans
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That moment captures both the truth of, and the lie about, the conflict in El Salvador. The truth is that the repressive Salvadorean Government, enriched by American money and empowered by American weaponry, has embarked on a ruthless campaign of torture and death against its own people. The lie is that the violence begins with the revolutionaries. Russian-nudged troublemakers who are polarizing tranquil El Salvador...
...start with the facts. Since 1932, when the Salvadorean military quelled protests for a minimum wage by killing 30,000 peasants and workers, the people have lived under authoritarian rule. The present junta, presided over by Jose Napoleon Duarte, took power when a group of young army officers got rid of the right-wing government of General Carlos Romero in 1979. The new junta, however, began to disintegrate just three months later when every civilian cabinet member resigned in opposition to the military's domination of government. Many of those disenchanted civilians joined the forces of the Revolutionary Democratic Front...
...after a while the numbers begin to blur, and the death tolls lose their human meaning. The blood will seem much redder if we look at the reports of actual atrocities committed by the El Salvadorean government and documented by a Congressional fact-finding mission. Rep. Gerry Studds (D-Ma.), Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), and Rep. Robert Edgar (D-Pa.), obtained hundreds of first hand accounts of "murder, torture, rape, and the burning of villages and crops" by Government Security Forces. According to the United Press International...
...Mikulski stated at the press conference that, "Without exception, all the refugees interviewed said the atrocities were carried out by troops of the Salvadorean army, the National Guard or a paramilitary group equipped U.S. arms." "The Congressional delegation, whose trip had been prompted by the appalling rape and murder of three American nuns and a missionary by government security forces, immediately telegrammed President Reagan and appealed to him to end military aid to El Salvador...
...President Reagan has disregarded all of these entreaties, choosing instead to pour more kill power into the Salvadorean death machine. The New York Times reported two days ago that Reagan is committed to sending the Salvadorean regime another $225 million in economic aid, and another $25 million worth of military equipment--a gift package of helicopters, "small arms," radar systems, trucks and jeeps. Reagan will also dispatch an extra 34 military advisers from the Pentagon to join the 25 "training experts" already there. If you think the Salvadorean people feel the heat of American military operations now, try to imagine...