LADBAC@UNMB.BITNET (Dr. Barbara A. Kohl) (09/21/89)
September 20, 1989
CENTRAL AMERICA UPDATE
Copyright 1989
(Latin America Data Base, Latin American Institute, University
of New Mexico. Project Director: Dr. Nelson Valdes. Managing
Editor: Dr. Barbara A. Kohl)
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GENERAL
********************
TIMETABLE ESTABLISHED FOR SALVADORAN PEACE TALKS;
REACTIONS TO MEXICO CITY MEETING
On Sept. 15 in Mexico City, the Farabundo Marti
National Liberation Front (FMLN) and the Salvadoran
government reached an agreement calling for monthly peace
talks mediated by two representatives of the Roman Catholic
Church. The talks will be monitored by observers from the
United Nations and the Organization of American States,
unless both sides agree that a specific meeting should be
private. Church mediation and the presence of observers
were concessions made by the government of President Alfredo
Cristiani. As part of the accord, "both sides promise not
to withdraw unilaterally" from the coming negotiations.
In a joint statement, the two sides said the first
round of substantive talks would take place in San Jose,
Costa Rica, on Oct. 16 and 17 and then continue monthly.
The statement said that "the theme of discussion will be the
cessation of hostilities" and that a detailed peace plan
presented during the preliminary talks by the FMLN would
provide a starting point for negotiations.
The government delegation, headed by Justice Minister
Oscar Santamaria, had opposed the presence of any foreign
observers at the talks and resisted making Salvadoran
bishops official mediators. The FMLN wanted to begin
substantive negotiations almost immediately, in El Salvador,
and with the participation of Salvadoran military
representatives.
Many of President Cristiani's closest associates have
already publicly rejected major elements of the rebel plan.
(See CAU 09/15/89 for a summary of the rebel proposal.) For
instance, president of the National Republican Alliance
(ARENA), Armando Calderon Sol, said in San Salvador on Sept.
14 that the proposal to move up the elections was "beyond
consideration."
--On Friday, the Permanent Committee on National Debate
for Peace staged a march in downtown San Salvador to express
support for ending the war through political negotiations.
Member organizations of the Committee include 76 political,
civic and religious groups. Spokespersons for the
demonstrators praised the accord reached in Mexico City, and
asserted that the peace process is "irreversible." Lutheran
Bishop Medardo Gomez said the rebel proposal must be
discussed in detail. He called on both sides to put aside
mutual distrust and negotiate in good faith.
Guillermo Ungo, leader of a center-left party
coalition, said the talks in Mexico have reinforced the
irreversible nature of the dialogue process to end the war.
Demonstrators marched past San Salvador's metropolitan
cathedral, currently occupied by 26 rebel war wounded. The
demonstrators reasserted support for the former combatants'
demand that the government observe the Geneva Convention by
permitting their evacuation to foreign countries for medical
treatment.
In a speech broadcast nationwide on Friday evening in
El Salvador, President Cristiani said the results of the
Mexico meeting were positive. He reiterated that his
government will not violate the constitution in any future
talks and agreements with the rebels.
On Sept. 17 during a homily at the San Salvador
cathedral, auxiliary Archbishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez praised
the openness shown by the rebels during talks in Mexico
City. Rosa Chavez said, "We were all surprised by the
agreements reached at the meeting because we did not expect
so much."
[Fighting continued Thursday in El Salvador, despite a
unilateral ceasefire declared by the FMLN. Army
spokespersons in San Salvador said four rebels were killed
and that two guerrillas and one soldier were wounded. Rebel
radio reports said the army had provoked clashes by moving
into guerrilla-held territory in the northern and eastern
regions.
On the same day, the Salvadoran military announced that
they had mounted counterinsurgency operations against rebel
units in five departments. FMLN senior commander Joaquin
Villalobos, who headed the rebel delegation in Mexico City,
said the rebels had no plans to extend the unilateral Sept.
13-23 unilateral ceasefire.] (Basic data from AP, Notimex,
09/15/89; New York Times, 09/16/89; AFP, 09/17/89)
BUSH ADMINISTRATION DROPS PLAN TO CHANNEL CAMPAIGN
FUNDS TO NICARAGUAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATE VIA N.E.D.
On Sept. 15, the State Department announced that the
Bush administration had dropped a plan to channel campaign
funds to Nicaraguan opposition presidential candidate
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro via the government-funded
National Endowment for Democracy. Spokesperson Richard
Boucher said the administration was considering "other
options" for contributing to Barrios' campaign, such as
passing US funds through private organizations, and
encouraging European, Latin American and other foreign
political parties and private groups to make direct
contributions.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairperson of the Senate
Foreign Relations subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere,
said that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega "is not Marcos
or Noriega. He has a real popular base in his country. It
would have been a mistake for the administration to give him
an issue that would have had wide resonance in his country,
such as direct United States political intervention in
Nicaraguan elections.
Dodd added, "There are parties in Europe and parties in
Latin America that can be supportive for the opposition, as
well as certain foundations and groups in other parts of the
world that support democratic processes and make direct
grants." (Basic data from AFP, 09/15/89; New York Times,
09/16/89)
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EL SALVADOR
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INTERVIEW WITH SALVADORAN REBEL
COMMANDER JOAQUIN VILLALOBOS
In a Sept. 17 interview with the New York Times in
Mexico City, commander of the Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) Joaquin Villalobos said that if the
US terminated military aid to the Salvadoran government, the
rebel forces would be willing to "cease hostilities." He
said, "There is no doubt that if this aid ended, the
fighting would have to end immediately. To a gesture of
this scope, our response would have to be immediate."'
Villalobos pointed out that a rebel gesture in response
to a US aid cutoff is not connected with the Salvadoran
government's demand that the rebels disarm. He said, "This
war has causes, and the problem is not one of handing over
arms but of ending the reasons that have led to taking up
arms and maintaining the war."
If the war's causes, including the sweeping reform of
the military, the political system and judiciary mentioned
in the new rebel proposal, were resolved, Villalobos said,
there would be no reason for the guerrillas to take up arms.
But until such an agreement is reached, he added, rebel
disarmament is out of the question.
Regarding US policy, Villalobos said, "We had hoped
that the change from the Reagan to the Bush Administration
would produce more pragmatic positions and attitudes." With
a few minor exceptions, he said, "we have not seen anything
substantive."
Villalobos continued: "Look, they have increased aid to
the security organs at a time of a government of the extreme
right that includes several persons accused of having used
those security organs to persistently violate human rights."
In the past year, Villalobos has engaged in diplomatic
activity. He said one of the reasons for the more visible
profile he has adopted is to end what he called a
"propagandistic confrontation" with the US. "My own person
has been the object of a campaign saying he is a hard-liner,
a radical, a terrorist, he's opposed to any peace
dialogue...But I have said on other occasions that we have a
greater sense of identification with the United States than
with any other nation."
In an article published under his name earlier this
year in Foreign Policy, Villalobos came out in favor of
political and economic pluralism in El Salvador and peaceful
coexistence with the US. A rebel strategy paper called
"Plan Five" captured by the Salvadoran military last year
said, "The Yankees are weakened but not beaten, and will
only leave the heart of the continent if they are
politically and militarily defeated." According to the
Times, the document has been called authentic by the FMLN.
The strategy paper refers to negotiations as a means of
"keeping the enemy tied to the table with a view to his
strategic weakening," and endorses the notion of mass
insurrection as a political and military tactic.
When asked about the contradiction between the two
documents, Villalobos said, "I think you have to
differentiate between two things: the objectives hoped to be
achieved and the strategy by which they are reached. I
don't know much about the history of the United States, but
I imagine that at some point during its struggle of
independence, the practice of sabotage must have been
discussed."
The "conditions of war to which we have been submitted
have obliged us in certain cases to do this, and in some
cases to make mistakes," said the rebel commander. "We have
made some errors, we are aware of that." Among those
errors, Villalobos said, was the killing nearly 15 years ago
of Roque Dalton, a poet and rival rebel leader whose death
split the insurgency for many years.
Villalobos, who has often been accused of killing
Dalton or of ordering the killing, said it was "a collective
decision" in which he participated. He said the decision
was costly because "it was hard for us to win back the
support of the intellectuals."
He defended the FMLN's effort to sabotage the
Salvadoran presidential elections in March. Political
allies on the left who were participating in the elections
asked the FMLN leadership to refrain from an intimidation
campaign. "In El Salvador, elections are an act of war, not
a political act, as in the United States or Costa Rica," he
said. (Basic data from New York Times, 09/18/89)
SALVADORAN MILITARY CONTINUES "NORMAL
OPERATIONS" DURING REBEL CEASEFIRE
At a Sept. 19 press conference in San Salvador, Col.
Ciro Lopez Roque, commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade,
told reporters that while the rebels are engaged in a
ceasefire, the armed forces are "operating normally." He
confirmed that in the past few days his units have entered
guerrilla-occupied territory in Chalatenango department.
The colonel said Chalatenango was considered as the
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front's "strategic
rearguard."
The FMLN declared a unilateral ceasefire beginning
Sept. 13 as a good will gesture to support the preliminary
peace talks held in Mexico City last week. According to
rebel radio broadcasts, offensives by government troops were
immediately escalated after the ceasefire was announced
Sept. 10 in conflict zones and in the country's major
cities. (Basic data from Notimex, 09/19/89)
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COSTA RICA
*********************
COSTA RICA: U.S. ANTI-DRUG TRAFFICKING ASSISTANCE
On Sept. 18, the US signed an agreement to give Costa
Rica $258,000 and a ship valued at $3.5 million to assist in
that country's anti-drug programs. The funding is to be
employed in the purchase of communications systems, drug
sniffing dogs, mobile training equipment and boats. The US
Coast Guard donated the ship, due to arrive at the end of
October.
US Ambassador to Costa Rica Deane Hinton and Costa
Rican Public Security Minister Hernan Garron signed the
agreement. (Basic data from AFP, 09/18/89)
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GUATEMALA
*********************
GUATEMALA: RIGHTISTS BLAMED FOR RECENT WAVE OF VIOLENCE
On Sept. 15, National Police spokesperson Guillermo
Mollinedo Ramirez announced that Maximiliano Archilla
Pellecer, 44, and Mario Roberto Martinez Pena, 46, had been
arrested. According to the spokesperson, the two men
admitted participating in recent "terrorist attacks," but
did not specify the nature of these attacks.
Since mid-July, Guatemala City residents have been
subjected to about 30 bomb explosions, including
fragmentation grenades and dynamite devices. A bank
executive, leader of the Christian Democrat Party,
university students, and several popular organization
activists have been murdered. The incidence of death
threats and other forms of intimidation has escalated in
recent weeks.
Mollinedo said the detainees had told police that
Lionel Sisniega, a well-known rightist politician, had
coordinated the terrorist actions, and supplied them with
weapons and explosives.
After an order for Sisniega's arrest had been issued,
said Mollinedo, police searched his home on Friday where
they discovered five fragmentation grenades, two AR-15
rifles, and a large quantity of ammunition. Sisniega
escaped.
Participant in the "Liberationists of 54"
(Liberacionistas del 54) who overthrew President Jacobo
Arbenz in 1954, Sisniega was also a founding member of the
rightist National Liberation Movement (MLN). In 1984, when
the Guatemalan right was divided by factional rivalries, he
participated in establishing the Anti-Communist Unification
Party.
Defense Minister Gen. Hector Alejandro Gramajo has said
that army, businessperson and political party "dissidents"
were participating in terrorist actions. Gramajo mentioned
his suspicions that deserters Col. Francisco Castellanos,
Capt. Allan Castellanos Reyes and Lt. Col. Edgar Giovanni
Estrada Portillo were involved. The three were accused of
participating in last May's coup attempt.
On Sept. 18, President Vinicio Cerezo repeated his
government's claim that a rightist minority is responsible
for recent violence in Guatemala at the tri-annual
conference of the Christian Democrat International. About
150 delegates from parties in 50 nations attended the
conference.
According to Cerezo, his government had evidence that a
destabilization campaign was underway. He asked that
Guatemalans and the international community avoid falling
into the "trap" of blaming the government for the violence
and unrest. (Basic data from Notimex, 09/16/89, 09/18/89)
MEXICAN DELEGATION CRITICIZES GUATEMALAN GOVERNMENT'S
FAILURE TO ACT AGAINST PARAMILITARY GROUPS
At the conclusion of a visit to Guatemala on Sept. 16,
a delegation of Mexican university faculty, students and
staff said there is sufficient evidence of involvement by
soldiers and police in recent attacks against Guatemalan
university faculty members and students, and particularly
persons affiliated with the University of San Carlos.
During their visit, delegation members met with President
Vinicio Cerezo, judiciary and army officials, and members of
the national congress.
Delegation members were as follows: Gilberto Lopez y
Rivas, National Anthropology and History School (Escuela
Nacional de Antropologia e Historia); Felipe Espinoza
Torres, Mexican University Workers Union (Sindicato Unico de
Trabajadores Universitarios de Mexico); Rene Cecena,
University Student Council (CEU); Jose Luis Melendez and
Marco Antonio Rocha, Chapingo University's Academic Workers
Union (Sindicato de Trabajadores Academicos); Hugo Miranda,
former Chilean senator and president of the World University
Service (Servicio Universitario Mundial); and, Juan Pablo
Espejel, of the World University System (Sistema
Universitario Mundial).
The Mexican delegation was accompanied by Douglas
Masariego, international affairs secretary for Guatemala's
University Student Association (AEU). In the past two
months, Masariego and other student leaders have been
victimized by an intimidation campaign that has included
death threats, surveillance, beatings, and bombings. The
bodies of four university students and a professor were
recently discovered by police close to the University of San
Carlos campus.
In a letter addressed to Cerezo, the Mexican delegation
said that the Guatemalan executive had opted for
"institutional passivity and equivocal statements" aimed at
creating confusion regarding the origins and authors of
recent violence that clearly has been perpetrated by
paramilitary organizations. (Basic data from Notimex,
09/16/89)
*********************
NICARAGUA
*********************
JIMMY CARTER & FORMER ARGENTINE PRESIDENT RAUL ALFONSIN
VISIT NICARAGUA IN FIRST PHASE OF ELECTORAL OBSERVATION
The Nicaraguan government, the 14-party opposition
coalition, and Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council sent an
invitation for election observers to the Council of Freely
Elected Heads of Government, based at the Carter Center,
Emory University, in Atlanta, Ga. Former US president Jimmy
Carter arrived in Managua on Sept. 16 as head of a Council
delegation. Former Argentine president Raul Alfonsin, a
member of the Council delegation, also arrived at the
international airport in Managua on Saturday. President
Daniel Ortega met Carter and Alfonsin at the airport.
Other members of the Council include Venezuelan
President Carlos Andres Perez, former US president Gerald
Ford, and Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley.
At a brief press conference held at the airport after
the arrivals of Carter and Alfonsin, Carter said in response
to a reporter's question, "If President Alfonsin and I and
others can certify in February that the elections have been
honest and fair and that the successful candidates are the
legitimate leaders of Nicaragua, this would almost ensure,
in my opinion, an immediate improvement in relations between
the United States and Nicaragua."
Asked what lessons he had learned during the Panamanian
elections that could be applied to his current task, Carter
replied: "From what I know to date, those means used to have
a fraudulent election in Panama have been carefully avoided
for Nicaragua."
In reference to an aborted plan by the Bush
administration to channel $3 million in aid to opposition
presidential candidate Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, Carter
said any campaign contributions "should be open and overt in
nature and comply completely with the laws in Nicaragua."
Carter said the Council will send up to 20 observers to
Nicaragua for the February elections, and will coordinate
its efforts with the observer missions from the United
Nations and the Organization of American States. He added
that the intent will be for the Council to issue a joint
declaration on the elections with the UN and OAS observer
delegations.
Alfonsin said that 1990 elections will promote changes
in Nicaragua's diplomatic relations with other countries,
and a more constructive attitude by the US toward Nicaragua.
On Sept. 16, after a lunch with Barrios de Chamorro,
Carter told reporters he was certain technical difficulties
surrounding the electoral process will be overcome, and that
the February elections will be honest. In the company of
Alfonsin, and her running mate Virgilio Godoy, Barrios de
Chamorro said she agreed with Carter.
On Sept. 17, President Ortega told reporters that the
presence of observers such as former presidents Alfonsin and
Carter would help to "strengthen" Nicaragua's electoral
process.
Carter told reporters on Monday that he would request
financial support from several nations for Nicaragua's
electoral preparations.
At a meeting with a group of farmers in Nandaime on
Sept. 18, President Ortega said the government had invited
the UN, OAS, and former presidents Carter and Alfonsin,
among others, to observe the elections in an effort to
demonstrate to the US that Nicaraguans will vote in favor of
the Sandinista revolution. He said, "We will show the
Yankees that the people will vote for Sandino and not for
(President George) Bush. These will be the candidates:
Nicaragua defending Sandino and the opposition defending
Bush."
On Sept. 19, Carter told reporters that he successfully
negotiated with the Nicaraguan government for the return of
contra Miskito Indian leader Brooklyn Rivera to Nicaragua.
The government dropped a prohibition on his return after
Rivera agreed to renounce armed struggle against the
government, refrain from illegal activities and cooperate in
the electoral process.
Carter said Rivera accepted the terms that he and
Interior Minister Tomas Borge agreed to Sept. 18 during a
visit to Puerto Cabezas.
Rivera left Nicaragua in 1981, and has been residing in
Costa Rica. Talks between the government and Rivera have
occurred intermittently for the past four years. The
conditions set by the government in Rivera's case are
basically the same for the return of non-Indian contras.
Under a previous government offer, Rivera was to disarm his
followers within 30 days of his return to Nicaragua.
Carter announced the agreement on the Rivera issue on
his return to Managua from Puerto Cabezas, shortly before
heading back to Atlanta.
During his three-day visit, Carter met on three
occasions with President Ortega. He also met with
opposition candidates, representatives of the UN and OAS
observer missions, the Supreme Electoral Council, and the
Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP). Before
departing, Carter said that all complaints, criticisms and
problems surrounding the electoral process are less
important than the pledge by all parties and the Nicaraguan
people to participate in the process. (Basic data from AP,
09/15/89, 09/19/89; Notimex, 09/15-18/89; Xinhua, 09/16/89)
NICARAGUA: NOTE ON INTEREST RATES
On Sept. 18, Central Bank spokepersons said that on
Monday this week interest rates varied between 21% and 25%
per month for deposits of one month to a year. Average
interest rates have dropped 12 percentage points since June
11, when the acted to fix interest rates on a weekly basis
"to protect investors from inflation and devaluations."
Nicaragua's 6.6% consumer price inflation rate for the
month of August was the lowest monthly rate of the past two
years. (Basic data from Notimex, 09/18/89)
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