NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6472

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Salpress 9/2 - 9/8
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/** reg.elsalvador: 164.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 09/02/92 **
** Written  4:22 pm  Sep 10, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
                for WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

TODAY'S TOPICS:
FMLN BECOMES POLITICAL PARTY
ANEP JOINS FORUM
ATTACK ON FMLN MUNICIPAL LEADER

FMLN BECOMES POLITICAL PARTY

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) became a
legal political party in El Salvador, celebrating the milestone in
a downtown hotel yesterday evening.  Octavio Martinez, of the
FMLN's political committee, told SALPRESS that the 12 founders
and the party's charter and program would be presented at the
ceremony, to be attended by international diplomats and the
secretary-generals of the country's other legally constituted
political parties.  "Today's activity means that we join this
legal, political class and that excites us," said Martinez.  The
FMLN was born on October 10, 1980 and waged a guerrilla war
against the government and army for the next 11 years.  According
to Martinez, the challenge now facing the FMLN is to become a
"great party" with sights on the 1994 general elections.  The
FMLN is made up of five political organizations:  The Popular
Liberation Forces (FPL), the Party of the Salvadoran Revolution
(PRS), the Salvadoran Communist Party (PCS), the Central American
Workers Revolutionary Party (PRTC), and the National Resistance
(RN).

ANEP JOINS FORUM

Nearly seven months late, the National Private Enterprise
Association (ANEP) will participate in the country's Economic and
Social Concertation Forum.  ANEP president Camilo Bolanos
announced yesterday that the group will begin its forum
attendance on September 9, the new deadline established in a
modified accords compliance calendar.  El Salvador's peace
settlement provided for the forum to allow business, government
and labor to draw up consensual policies that will promote the
nation's social and economic development.  The assembly was
supposed to be installed on February 15, according to the peace
settlement, but was not convened until May, although the business
sector continued to boycott the assembly to protest alleged
peasant land takeovers.  Regarding ANEP's decision to join now,
Bolanos clarified that the group does not consider the land
occupation problem to have been fully resolved.  He said that the
"concertation" contemplated by the forum is indispensable, but
warned that it must be approached with the attitude of statesmen
rather than politicians "because politicians are thinking of the
next election, while statesmen are thinking of the next
generation."  The business leader stressed that ANEP reserves the
right to withdraw from the forum if peasant squatting continues.
The delay in full integration of the Social Economic Forum was
one of a number of major peace accords whose full implementation
was delayed.  last month, special U.N. envoy Marrack Goulding
visited El Salvador to resolve disagreements between the
government and rebels over compliance.  A modified implementation
calendar resulted from the visit.

ATTACK ON FMLN MUNICIPAL LEADER

The FMLN denounced yesterday an attempt on the life of an
insurgent municipal leader, perpetrated on August 29.  The
leader, Florencio Munguia, of the Rosario de Mora municipal
committee in central El Salvador, was run down by a motorcycle at
9 p.m. last Saturday.  Munguia said the cyclist then dismounted
and battered him.  The activist said his attacker was likely a
right-winger opposed to the country's peace settlement.  Another
FMLN leader, Hugo Martinez, blamed death squads and demanded that
the Alfredo Cristiani government and army senior command
investigate the incident.

                             - 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:  [phone].
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 165.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 09/03/92 **
** Written  4:23 pm  Sep 10, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
                 for THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

AS LEGAL PARTY, FMLN REAFFIRMS ITS REVOLUTIONARY MISSION

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) reaffirmed
its revolutionary principles during the ceremony inaugurating it
as a legal political party in the country.  FMLN leader Schafik
Handal told those gathered in a San Salvador hotel that "we have
been a revolutionary movement of exceptional qualities," and
although the group has now become a party, "we will continue
being revolutionaries."  The Tuesday evening program was attended
by Iqbal Riza, the head of the U.N. observer mission, ONUSAL, and
San Salvador's Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas, the country's
diplomatic corps, the heads of the nation's other legal political
parties, and other invited celebrities.  Handal said the
insurgents' admission into national politics should not be
interpreted as "permission" but as "space won" by the guerrilla
struggle waged for more than a decade.  He highlighted the
rebels' desire to now struggle on the political battlefield,
noting that the 1994 general elections will reaffirm and seal the
direction of peace accords signed with the government in January
1992.  During the inauguration ceremony, the FMLN paid homage to
those who have died defending the rights of the most
dispossessed.  Among those present at the ceremony was Miguel
Marmol, 93, a colleague of Agustin Farabundo Marti, the
revolutionary leader executed in 1932 and for whom the FMLN is
named.  Marmol miraculously survived his own execution by firing
squad that same year for the peasant uprising repressed by the
government.  Commenting on the FMLN's advent into legal politics,
a vice president of the Legislative Assembly, Ruben Zamora,
called it a ray of hope.  "A new tool for concertation is
born..."  The provisional leadership of the new party is made up
of the five members of the FMLN General Command, the five members
of the insurgent political committee, and five other leaders from
each of the organizations making up the FMLN.

                             - 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:  [phone].
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 166.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 09/06/92 **
** Written  4:23 pm  Sep 10, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
            WEEKEND SUMMARY for SEPTEMBER 4 - 6, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

CONDEMNATION OF VALUE-ADDED TAX

El Salvador's Catholic Church warned that economic measures such
as the levying of a value-added tax (IVA) could result in protest
activities that "alter the atmosphere" for peace accords
compliance.  the 10% IVA went into effect on September 1.  The
government has announced that it will also increase rates for
electricity, telephone service, transportation and drinking
water.  On Sunday, San Salvador's Archbishop Arturo Rivera y
Damas criticized these economic policies, saying that they will
hurt the country's poorest citizens.  He said the resulting
protests could "stagnate" somewhat the nation's peace process.  In
a communique issued Friday, the Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) said the levying of IVA does not
contribute to consolidation of the democratic process.  According
to the insurgents, the measure seeks to enrich and strengthen an
economic "minority thirsting for power."  The FMLN said the
government economic policies are impracticable within the
country's current economic and social context because they do not
address defense of the majority's interests.

                             - 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:  [phone].
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 167.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 09/08/92 **
** Written  4:23 pm  Sep 10, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
                 for TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

TODAY'S TOPICS:
FMLN PROPOSES ALTERNATIVE TO IVA
PHANTOM GROUP THREATENS SABOTAGE CAMPAIGN

FMLN PROPOSES ALTERNATIVE TO IVA

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) unveiled an
eight-point proposal yesterday that would defend Salvadorans'
buying power and overcome the government's financial crisis.  An
unpopular 10% value-added tax (IVA) imposed as of this September
1, sparked the rebel proposal.  At a press conference, Gerson
Martinez of the FMLN's political committee explained that the
rebels' alternative would reform the tax system, freeze taxes on
basic services, enforce the consumer defense law, redirect the
national budget, subsidize transportation, protect staple goods,
raise salaries and expand emergency credits for cooperatives.
According to the FMLN leader, tax reform would be directed at
halting tax evasion, which affects 70% of potential government
revenue.  The proposal calls for reorienting the national budget,
once mainly directed at the war effort, to fund education, health
care and housing.  Martinez termed termed the FMLN proposal
"sensible, responsible and practicable."  Another insurgent
political representative, Marcos Jimenez, said the IVA is
counterproductive for the peace process because the settlement
seeks to create stability.  "A measure like (IVA) destabilizes
the atmosphere, the democratization and pacification climate," he
said.  The Christian Democratic Part (PDC) echoed positions
expressed in the FMLN proposal, backing a 20% across-the-board
wages increase, the freezing of taxes on public services and the
strengthening of consumer protection laws.  Yesterday, President
Alfredo Cristiani announced that his government is studying the
possibility of a general wage increase and reducing the cost of
gas to compensate for the effects of IVA and price increases for
public services.

PHANTOM GROUP THREATENS SABOTAGE CAMPAIGN

A clandestine groups threatened yesterday to launch a war of
sabotage on behalf of the nation's poorest.  In its supposed
manifesto, the Salvadoran Revolutionary Front (FRS) claims to be
made up of "combatants loyal to the principles" of the FMLN and
of government soldiers "used" during the war.  The FRS says it
arises as an alternative for struggle and in response to the
refusal of the FMLN's top leadership to block the government's
economic "offensive."  The group said that, beginning on Monday,
it "declares war on the economy," and will sabotage public
transportation and the nation's electrical grid.  Marcos Jimenez
of the FMLN's political committee dismissed the group as a
diversionary "trick" of the traditional power elite calculated
for the moment when the government and insurgents are discussing
sensitive issues, such as land tenure.

                             - 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:  [phone].
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **