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- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Subject: El Salvador: Salpress 7/31 - 8/11
- Message-ID: <1992Aug12.223248.4370@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Date: 12 Aug 92 22:32:48 GMT
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
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- Organization: PACH
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- /** reg.elsalvador: 127.0 **/
- ** Topic: SALPRESS News 08/02/92 **
- ** Written 4:26 pm Aug 11, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
- NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
- WEEKEND SUMMARY for July 31 - August 24, 1992
-
- A Special Service of SALPRESS
-
- TODAY'S TOPICS:
- FMLN ALLEGES GOVERNMENT NONCOMPLIANCE: HALTS DEMOBILIZATION
- CHURCH OPPOSES MILITARY SERVICE LAW
- ARMS SNARE
-
- FMLN ALLEGES GOVERNMENT NONCOMPLIANCE: HALTS DEMOBILIZATION
-
- The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) accused the
- government of failing to comply with 46 points in the country's
- peace settlement on Friday, and said it will not demobilize a
- second fifth of its fighting forces until these is reciprocity in
- accords implementation. At a press conference in San Salvador,
- the five-member rebel General Command charged that the government
- and armed forces have a "strategy" for backing up implementation
- of the peace settlement. FMLN chief Schafik Handal said that
- among the points being violated by the government are two
- regarding the armed forces, eight having to do with
- socio-economic matters, two related to the cease-fire
- arrangement, four involving human rights, and two concerning the
- National Civil Police (PNC). Leonel Gonzalez. also of the rebel
- command, said the insurgents' disarmament of a second 20% of the
- its combatants, scheduled to occur that same day, will depend on
- the government taking reciprocal measures. This is the third
- crisis in peace accords implementation since the government and
- guerrillas signed their agreement to end the war on January 16 in
- Mexico City. Also on Friday, the FMLN leadership denounced the
- murder of FENASTRAS union federation member Juan Ramirez, who was
- gunned down in the western area of the capital on Thursday night.
- According to the insurgents, the killing was committed by
- ultra-rightists who want to stop the advance of the peace
- process. Comandante Joaquin Villalobos warned that such violence
- could lead to a breaking of the cease fire implemented on
- February 1 of this year.
-
- CHURCH OPPOSES MILITARY SERVICE LAW
-
- In his Sunday sermon San Salvador's Archbishop Arturo Rivera y
- Damas expressed the Catholic Church's opposition to the recently
- approved Military Service Law. According to the prelate, some
- points in the law contradict the national peace process and could
- complicate the consolidation of peace in the country. He
- criticized Articles 6 and 10 of the new law, noting that the
- latter will open the way for military control of society through
- recruitment centers. According to Rivera y Damas, while Article
- 6 appears to grant greater personal freedom by allowing minors
- from ages 16 to 18 to join the army, it will actually result in
- the state's skirting its duty to educate Salvadoran youth. He
- urged President Alfredo Cristiani to mark those articles for
- deletion before signing the bill into law. Commenting on another
- recently passed law, the archbishop termed "positive" the
- speeding up of the FMLN's legalization as a political party.
- Finally, Rivera y Damas said serious human rights violations
- continue in El Salvador, putting the country in danger of
- "returning to a culture of death." He denounced the
- disappearance of farm worker Hugo Omar Mercado, who was abducted
- by heavily armed men in plainclothes on July 26 in Zacatecoluca,
- 24 miles southeast of the capital. The archbishop cited also the
- discovery of the body of an unidentified man on a highway in
- Santa Ana province. The man had been "horribly tortured" before
- he was killed, according to Rivera y Damas.
-
- ARMS SNARE
-
- National Police arrested three persons on July 31 on charges of
- possession of an arms cache, allegedly the property of the
- guerrillas. One of those captured, Rene Flores, admitted to
- being a member of the National Resistance (RN), one of five
- groups making up the FMLN, but said the weapons were being
- transported to Cabanas province, where they were to be turned
- over to ONUSAL, the U.N. observer mission in El Salvador. On
- Friday, the rebels were to disarm a second fifth of their
- fighting forces per the peace agreement. Flores, his sister and
- his mother were captured in possession of various types of
- grenades and grenade launching materials.
-
- - 30 -
-
- *****************************************************************
- NOTE: Due to a series of unforeseen and disruptive events
- (including an arson attack on our San Salvador headquarters),
- regular production of News Synthesis on El Salvador was suspended
- from late April until now. We regret the inconvenience this
- interruption may have caused. Thank you for your patience.
-
- Also, please note that our phone/fax number has changed to:
- 011-525-21-9096.
- *****************************************************************
-
- NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR is a special service of SALPRESS,
- available Monday through Friday. For more details on information
- included in this summary, contact SALPRESS: 011-525-21-9096
- (fax/phone).
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **
-
- /** reg.elsalvador: 128.0 **/
- ** Topic: SALPRESS News 08/04/92 **
- ** Written 4:27 pm Aug 11, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
- NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
- for TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1992
-
- A Special Service of SALPRESS
-
- NATIONAL CIVIL POLICE DIRECTOR APPROVED
-
- El Salvador's President Alfredo Cristiani swore in the new
- director of the National Civil Police (PNC) on Friday, it was
- revealed yesterday. J. Maria Monterrey, a governing ARENA party
- legislative alternate and the prosperous owner of a chain of auto
- repair shops, now heads the new civilian police force created
- through the nation's peace settlement. The PNC directorship
- became a point of controversy after President Cristiani first
- nominated the former head of the government's human rights
- commission, Benjamin Castoni, to the post. According to the
- Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), Castoni
- covered up human rights abuses during the more than 11 years of
- civil war. But yesterday, the insurgents gave a vote of
- confidence to the president's selection of Monterrey. Rebel
- leader Ana Guadalupe Martinez said while the director was not
- chosen through a consensus of all sides, as stipulated in the
- peace accords, the FMLN decided to support the president's
- choice. She added that the insurgents will monitor the new
- director's performance. On August 31, the first group of 330 PNC
- recruits--20% of these from the FMLN--will begin police
- training.
-
- - 30 -
-
- NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR is a service of the Salvadoran
- Press Agency (SALPRESS) available Monday through Friday. For
- more information phone or fax: 011-525-21-9096.** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **
-
- /** reg.elsalvador: 129.0 **/
- ** Topic: SALPRESS News 08/11/92 **
- ** Written 4:27 pm Aug 11, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
- NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
- for THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1992
-
- A Special Service of SALPRESS
-
- TRUTH COMMISSION BEGINS WORK
-
- The Truth Commission officially began work yesterday, hearing the
- first testimony on egregious human rights violations committed in
- El Salvador form 1980 to July 1991. The commission, provided for
- in April 1991 during the peace negotiations between the
- government and guerrillas, is made up of three international
- dignitaries: a former Colombian president, Belisario Betancur;
- Venezuela's former chancellor, Reinaldo Figueredo; and the
- ex-president of the Inter-American Human Rights Court, U.S.
- citizen Thomas Buergenthal. The special panel urged full
- cooperation from Salvadorans and promised absolute
- confidentiality to those giving testimony. While the panel has
- no power to prosecute those found guilty of abuses, many
- Salvadorans believe learning the truth about assassinations,
- massacres and forced disappearances will aid the nation's
- reconciliation process. The commission has six months to
- complete its investigative task covering the period from the
- war's beginning to installation of the U.N. peace verification
- mission, ONUSAL.
-
- - 30 -
-
- NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR is a service of the Salvadoran
- Press Agency (SALPRESS) available Monday through Friday. For
- more information, phone or fax: 011-525-21-9096.
- ** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **
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