Report on Human Rights in El Sal-
vador by Aryeh Neier and Juan Men-
dez. Americas Watch Committee and
The American Civil Liberties Union,
91 pp. $5 (paper).
This volume is a third regular sup-
plement to the Report on Human Rights
in El Salvador, first published in Janu-
ary 1982. Authors Neier and Mendez
traveled to El Salvador in June of last
year to collect data for this most recent
update. Like the previous editions, this
report attempts to influence President
Reagan and the State Department’s of-
ficial certification procedures on human
rights in El Salvador.
The study looks at how various sec-
tors of Salvadorean society–the human
rights monitors, political leaders, health
professionals, refugees and the univer-
sity-are functioning under present con-
ditions. The authors have also researched
a number of individual atrocities com-
mitted by the Left and by the Right, and
examine the Law of Amnesty and Citi-
zen Rehabilitation and various statutes
affecting court procedures in human
rights cases. The track record of the
government’s Human Rights Commis-
sion is also carefully scrutinized.
The Long War: Dictatorship and
Revolution in El Salvador by James
Dunkerley. Verso Editions (distributed
by Schocken Books), 264 pp. $10.95
(paper).
Dunkerley’s book is an important
addition to the literature of the histori-
cal developments in El Salvador that
have lead to that nation’s present situa-
tion. The Long War is an exhaustive
study, meticulously detailing: the crea-
tion of the coffee economy and the rise
of the oligarchy, the crisis of the 1930s
and the role of the Communist Party,
the Martinez and Romero governments,
the 1979 coup, the effects of the Rea-
gan Administration’s foreign policy,
the 1982 elections and the various po-
litical factions now engaged in El Sal-
vador’s civil war.
Dunkerley is a research fellow in
Latin American Studies at the Univer-
sity of Liverpool, so part of his analysis
centers on how the governments of
Western Europe, the Thatcher govern-
ment in particular, have responded to
the United States’ involvement in El
Salvador. His perspective, removed a
step farther from the conflict than that
of the U.S. commentators, should be of
considerable interest to a U.S. audience.
El Salvador text by Carolyn Forche,
edited by Harry Mattison, Susan Mei-
selas and Fae Rubenstein. Writers and
Readers, 120 pp. $14.95 (paper).
Thirty internationally known photog-
raphers, whose work has appeared in
most of the major European and U.S.
publications, have contributed their work
to this photographic essay. Graphic
portraits of this sort, when presented
well, have an overwhelming impact–
few people are so able to visualize the
suffering of an entire nation-and El
Salvador is no exception. If the book
has a flaw, it is probably that the suffer-
ing here eclipses any notion of hope
and expectation, which must exist some-
where, as well as a sense of distance
and detachment, which must exist in
other quarters.
Many of the photographs are impor-
tant in themselves, for technicalities of
contrast and composition, as well as for
an imaginative use of the allegorical–
the perfect symmetry of an anonymous
confessional, a cluster of children by
the blood of the dead, the outstretched
arms of the victims of a frenzied fear,
the startled looks of the fighters. The
photographs are enhanced by Carolyn
Forche’s narrative, which manages to
transform the stark reality of suffering
with a mood and understanding equal
to that of the Latin American poets.
Grenada: The Struggle Against De-
stabilization by Chris Searle. Writers
and Readers (distributed by W. W.
Norton & Co., Inc.), 164 pp. $7.95
(paper).
Chris Searle completed his study
of New Jewel Grenada before last Oc-
tober’s coup and subsequent U.S. in-
tervention in that island. But although
it missed the closing chapters, this
work could not have been more timely,
as it comments on both the course of
the New Jewel Movement and the de-
stabilization operations against it.
The book opens with a brief history
of colonial Grenada, then jumps to a
close assessment of the development of
the nation’s infrastructure and social
conditions from the 1950s on. Pre-
Bishop Grenada was, of course, domi-
12
REPORT
ON THE AMERICAS
nated by the eccentric Eric Gairy-and
Searle describes at length Gairy’s pe-
culiar brand of fervent religiosity, su-
perstition, obeah and political tribalism.
Searle also details the lives of Maurice
Bishop and Bernard Coard in London’s
West Indian community, Grenada’s
Black Power Movement and the New
Jewel party. The text is nicely accented
by snatches of popular songs and in-
terviews with Grenadians and sets a
good background for understanding the
events of last autumn.
The Nicaragua Reader: Documents
of a Revolution Under Fire edited by
Peter Rosset and John Vandermeer.
Grove Press, 359 pp. $8.95 (paper).
The editors of this anthology have
collected an interesting assortment of
speeches, essays, official reports and
news articles to present a highly useful
body of information on the achievements
and on the doubts surrounding the San-
dinista government. The material is di-
vided into four subsections: “The De-
bate” between the U.S. and Nicara-
guan governments over questions of
totalitarianism and the Sandinistas’ re-
lations with their Central American
neighbors; the historic role of the United
States in Nicaragua; the Reagan Ad-
ministration’s destabilization campaign;
and the circumstances of Nicaragua to-
day. The pieces assembled here are
intelligently and coherently arranged
and are particularly good at pinpointing
which claims are never substantiated,
and which questions are never answered.
And Also Teach Them to Read by
Sheryl Hershon with Judy Butler. Law-
rence Hill & Co., 224 pp. $9.95 (paper).
The Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade
began on March 23, 1980 when 60,000
Nicaraguan brigadistas-high school
and university students and their teach-
ers-moved into the rural zones to
teach the campesinos how to read. The
crusade reduced the illiteracy rate from
50% to 12%, making Nicaragua the
third most literate country in Latin
America, after Cuba and Argentina,
and producing one of the most tangible
achievements of the Sandinista revolu-
tion. Sheryl Hershon, a teacher from
Oregon, recounts her experiences as
the leader of 25 young brigadistas in
this extraordinary educational program.
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