CENTRAL
AMERICA
IS AN OBJECT LESSON
in the gulf between illusion and reality. The crisis
in the region is increasingly reduced to a shadow play,
with reality reduced to one-dimensional black-and-
white. Washington intentionally distorts and over-
simplifies, for defined political ends; most media
coverage, whether through deliberate malice or simple
incompetence, leaves surface appearances unchal-
lenged. Both sets of shadows converge to produce cari-
catures of reality-‘ ‘totalitarian dungeons” and “dem-
ocratic success stories,” election lines and bang-bang.
Rather than look harder at the shadows on the wall,
this issue of Report on the Americas tries to shed light
on the complex cast of characters and power relations
in Central America today. Our lead story looks at
Guatemala, a country where the illusion is a return to
democracy, and the reality is pervasive military power.
Next, we turn to El Salvador and its troubled labor
movement, where a reality of duplicity and deceit con-
trasts with the shadow play of an embattled democratic
center. Our third article considers Costa Rica, the
country which perhaps more than any of its neighbors
is shrouded in cliche: it outlines the “rescue” of Costa
Rica’s moribund economy over the last three years,
and analyzes the hidden costs.
O N NOVEMBER 3 and DECEMBER 8, GUA-
temala voted for a civilian president. The Reagan
Administration has predictably hailed the vote as “the
final step” in restoring democratic rule. Requests for
military aid will be followed by demands for more
economic assistance-all designed to bolster the power
of the new civilian president.
But what did the voting mean? The traditional
criteria used by election observers hardly seemed rele-
vant on this occasion. Was there ballot-stuffing? Were
the voting booths transparent? What color was the in-
delible ink on voters’ fingers? Instead, NACLA sent
Report on the Americas editor George Black to
Guatemala to take a radically different look at the con-
text in which the elections took place. His report, based
on extensive interviews with key Army officers and ac-
cess to confidential military documents, is a unique
study of where real power lies in Guatemala. “The
Army may be going back to the barracks,” writes
Black, “but in its definition the barracks covers most
of Guatemala.”
T HE AFL-CIO CONVENTION IN ANAHEIM,
California in late October was an unusually
stormy affair with a prolonged floor fight over Central
America. There is now heated opposition in the U.S.
labor movement to the AFL-CIO’s continued support
for the Duarte Administration in El Salvador, and its si-
lence on the Nicaraguan contras. At the convention,
Government Employees’ leader Ken Blaylock of the
National Labor Committee for Human Rights in El Sal-
vador echoed the feelings of many. “When . . . I look
at El Salvador,” he said, “I would like for one time for
my government to be on the side of the people, not on
the side of rich dictators living behind high walls.”
Within days of the convention, the left-wing union
federation FENASTRAS held its own convention in
San Salvador, with legendary leader Hector Recinos
returning from exile for the event. The Salvadorean un-
ions, active for the first time since 1980, face a precari-
ous existence as they probe the limits of Duarte’s
“democratic opening.” Since U.S. policy defines
Duarte as the “left” of the acceptable spectrum, the
very labor unions that brought him to power are seen as
a radical threat, reports Chris Norton from El Salvador.
Washington, which created the pro-Duarte Popular
Democratic Unity (UPD) in the first place, has recently
set about dismantling its own creation.
Finally, NACLA staff researcher Marc Edelman pre-
sents a compelling account of the recovery of the Costa
Rican economy–declared a basket case just three
years ago. Costa Rica’s reputation as a stable democ-
racy has been one of Washington’s most valuable as-
sets in the region, and it has devoted major economic
resources to pulling its ally back from the brink. But
the price of the rescue may be to dismantle the very
programs that afforded Costa Rica its uniqueness. Doc-
trinaire economics, and an unprecedented intrusion by
the United States Agency for International Develop-
ment (AID) into domestic politics, may benefit agro-
exporters and large industrialists, but threaten to
swamp the foundations of the Costa Rican welfare
state. Facing a February 1986 election that local pundits
call “Mondale vs. Mondale,” the outlook for most
Costa Ricans is bleak.
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