El Salvador Conference Carlos Fuentes, noted Mexican writer and former ambassador to France, was the keynote speaker at an April conference on El Salva- dor co-sponsored by NACLA and four other organizations. About 700 people gathered at New York City’s New School for Social Research to hear about the current situation in El Salvador and to debate the implications of U.S. policy. In an eloquent and impas- sioned speech peppered with liter- ary references, Fuentes attempted to trace the roots of the Salvador- ean conflict and propose solutions. The New World, he said, was subjugated by “a form of domina- tion characterized by the subordin- ation of all public and private rights in favor of the chieftain and his clan of relatives, favorites, sycophants and hangers-on. This form of colo- nialism-the right of the conquista- dor-excludes competent admin- istration or economic planning: It is based on obedience and whim, not on the law. This state of things re- quires a standing army-thugs, mercenaries, death squads-re- sponsive to no law save that of the caprice of the ruling clan.” A recurrent theme in Fuentes’ message was that Latin America should be allowed to solve Latin American problems. He called on the superpowers not to use the people of El Salvador to play out their own ideological confrontation. In conclusion, Fuentes painted an Apocalypse Now scenario of total devastation of the region should Reagan’s policies be carried out. A great many of the audience’s questions were directed toward the only panel supporter of Reagan’s El Salvador policy, then acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for In- ter-American Affairs, James Cheek. In a tense confrontation with Melinda Roper, president of the Maryknoll Sisters, Cheek de- nied that State Department person- nel had told families of the four reli- gious women murdered in El Salva- dor, “Get the hell off our backs.” Representing another branch of government, Rep. Mickey Leland (D-Texas) spoke of a growing Con- gressional opposition to any form of U.S. involvement in the Salvador- ean civil war. He also made a strong statement against U.S. ef- forts to destabilize Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. NACLA’s own Bob Armstrong spoke on the regional implications of the conflict. Reacting to what James Cheek called a preoccupa- tion with the “Vietnam syndrome,” Armstrong said, “Vietnam was not a syndrome, it was a trauma and it was as great a trauma as the Great Depression.” William LeoGrande, political sci- ence professor at American Uni- versity concurred, adding, “The analogy between Salvador and Vietnam is not in Salvador, it’s in the United States.” Co-sponsors of the event were the Fund for New Priorities, the New School, the Nation Institute, and the Center for Inter-American Relations.
Menu
