Sources are crucial. And because they are, so is a reporter’s longevity and experience. As good as a reporter may be, it takes time to develop sources: all the more so in a country where people are cautious about voicing opinions. A new reporter usually winds up relying on a narrow range of mostly official sources, and lacks the historical context in which to assess their views.
The quality of media coverage of Central America is profoundly affected by rapid turnover in staffing. The TV networks are the worst, with rotating crews and “star” reporters flying in when the story gets really “hot.” But even in the more stable ranks of the print media, there are few veterans left from the early stages of El Salvador’s civil war; few with any memory of the popular organizations that dominated political life until 1980 (“Did they really exist?” one correspondent recently asked a veteran); and few who have followed the complex careers of El Salvador’s top military officers and civilian leaders. In a country where the Army and the U.S. Embassy are always at pains to erase the past and cleanse tarnished images, a sense of history and a range of contacts become all important.
Reprinted here are abridged versions of two re- ports on General Vides Casanova, who recently replaced General Guillermo Garcia as El Salvador’s minister of defense. The first, by Lydia Chavez of The New York Times, paints Vides Casanova as a moderate, likely to bring about change in El Salvador’s military. The second, by Bob Rivard of the Dallas Times-Herald, presents the new minister in very nearly the opposite terms: as a defender of the military es- tablishment. The difference in sources is striking. The Times report relies on military and government sources, as well as friends of the Vides Casanova family; the Times-Herald piece relies on Salvadorean sources outside the government and on U.S. officials from the Carter period. The Times’ Chavez had been filing from El Salvador for less than five months; Rivard for nearly three years. The headlines say it all. New Choice in Salvador: A Negotiator Special to the New York Times:
SAN SALVADOR, April 18-Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, the man likely to be El Salvador’s next Minister of Defense, is known in Government circles as an excellent administrator who enjoys the role of mediator. He was called on to replace Gen. Jos6 Guillermo Garcia, a military source said, because he is the one ranking member of the military who has the respect of the departmental commanders and is considered able to keep the military out of politics. Since October 1979 General Vides Casanova has been head of the national guard, which had the repu- tation of being the worst of the three security forces for human rights abuses. “He was called on to clean up the guard,” said a political source, who added that although the force’s reputation has not improved greatly it is no longer considered the worst. During the general’s tenure, five guard officers have been accused of being involved in the murder of four American missionaries and two have been impli- cated in the shooting of two American labor advisers. Considered an Outsider (. . .) The general graduated second in his class at the Military School in 1959. …. From 1969 to 1970 he attended the Command and General Staff School in Peru, which was known at the time as one of the most anti-American institutions in Central America. “When he came back he was suspected of being leftist because of his ideas on land reform,” a friend said. A Reputation for Honesty After several assignments at the Military School in San Salvador, the general was appointed director of the Salvadorean Institute of Industrial Development, a Government agency that processes large business loans. “While he was there he got a reputation for honesty and won the respect of a lot of people,” a politician said. “But some people see his desire to always talk and negotiate as a weakness.” Some political and military leaders who applaud General Vides Casanova’s administrative record are unsure if he will be able to manage the war any better than General Garcia, who is a close friend. His men refer to him as “Seorita Casanova” because of his lack of military experience. (.. .)
Changes Are Expected: Others said that because he has the respect of both the rightist and moderate elements in the military he will be able to make the necessary changes and improve the country’s military situation ( .. ) His second wife, Maria Lourdes Illach [sic], is in her early 20’s and comes from the oligarchy. She was described by a friend as an “independent” woman who runs the family coffee farm in Usulut.n, is a licensed pilot, and is a political moderate. At a recent gathering of businessmen she stood up and asked if they would support Jose Napole6n Duarte, the moderate leader of the Christian Demo- crats, if he is elected president next December. “There was dead silence in the crowd because they were surprised by the frankness of her ques- tion,” a friend said. U.S. trying to polish Salvadoran defense nominee’s image By Bob Rivard, Central America Bureau SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador-Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, who has been nominated to be El Salvador’s minister of defense, has served as director of the national guard since reform-minded officers staged a coup in 1979. His mandate from the officers, Salvadorean sources say, was to clean up the guard, a 4.000-man rural security force that acts in tandem with the army. There is little evidence that he did It was national guardsmen who kidnapped, raped and killed four U.S. churchwomen in December 1980. The guard also has been blamed for thousands of the atrocities committed against peasants. Expecting Vides Casanova’s promotion, U.S. Em- bassy officials in recent weeks have sought to portray the 44-year-old commander as a political moderate and a leader with a reputation as a mediator-no small skill in Salvadoran politics. Former embassy officials, however, offer a different picture. They say Vides Casanova was instrumental in stopping the U.S. government from learning who was responsible for killing the churchwomen until long after the fact. They also say he is responsible for preventing any investigation of military officers for their possible involvement in the deaths. (… ) This will not be the first time that Vides Casanova finds himself following in the footsteps of departing Defense Minister Jos6 Guillermo Garcia. Before the coup, he was second in command of the San Vicente garrison in central El Salvador; Garcia was No. 1. Before his duties at San Vicente, Vides Casanova held an assortment of positions in the army. At various times, he has served as deputy director of the advance training school for officers, as executive officer of the nation’s military academy, as an intelligence officer assigned to the general staff and as a unit commander with infantry and cavalry battalions. (… ) After his first wife died in 1973, Vides Casanova married into the Salvadoran aristocracy, a rare event for a military officer. His bride was thie daughter of Roberto Llach Hill, the largest coffee grower in the southeastern Usulutin province and a member of one of the country’s most prominent families. The traditional bonds between the military and the oligarchy have been strained in recent years by the implementation of reforms, and political observers in El Salvador are watching to see how Vides Casanova will reconcile his professional duties with his personal connections. (… )
