THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION is proposing to double military Duarte regime in El Salvador. The build up of military aid has been on the cards for some time because military situation.
clear that the guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), a left wing alliance fighting the right wing dictatorsnip, control a quarter of the countryside.
The need to boost the capacity ari the army ard national guard portant because oly ime portant because elections planned for 28 March. In order to give the Duarte dictatorship more "legitimacy" clections have been carefully prepared for well But here is one problem: the main opposition roups n particular the Revolt tionary Democratic Front (FDR) of which the FMLN aid to the beleaguered generally worsening As we reported two weeks ago, it is now is a rom the election. are excludec Further, since large areas of the are under full or partial guerrilla control, and since there is a war going on, there will be no effective place The l places. The result therefore be a fraud. The United States even fears the guerrillas may choose the date of the electons for a major military Just how the military situation is was revealed Wednesday when FMIN guerrillas calmly walked into main airforce base in San Salvador, planted on the planes and walked out. Most of Duarte's airTOTCE 3 bang. smoke in one big Helicopters, fighters and transport planes were destroyed. The helicopter war has been an increasingly important part of the regime's strategy against the guerrillas the US military advisors are teaching the regime's officers the tactics of Vietnam.
The destruction of most of the helicopters in the country will give the guerrillas much greater freedom of movement in ine next coupie or montas Hence the US panic to rapidly replace the planes.
The project of doubling US military assistance requires that ine Reagar regime convince a sceptical Congress that Duarte's government is "improving the human rights situaThe attempt to do this has received a severe setback in the past week a the reports o a massacre of civilians province has come out.
Journalists visiting the area report seeing dozens of decomposing bodies te Village Mozote. Eyewitnesses among the local peasants saw villagers being bound beaten up and then taken away groups of four to be shot Women and children were machine-gunned to death.
What is happening in Morazan - a stronghold guerrillas on to border with Honduras - repeats the pattern of VietThe US and South Vietnamese forces in that country tried to terrorise the population in the countryside DEVELL. them from supporting the guerrillas. But terror of this kind has never won the hearts and minds of the сор on the contrary rill only succeed in con solidating support for the In 1965 the Vietnamese revolutionaries destroyed most of the American air force planes at the Da Nang base in northern South Vietnam. Their ability to do this was a dramatic demonstration of their military strength repeating itself. A regime can't defend airfield agains revolutionary guerrillas i heading for defeat. Secret meeting plots meeting, Chile, Columbia Ecuador, duras, Jamaica, Surinam, United States and Uruguay.
The meeting was introduced by a speech from US Army General Meyer, wno argued that we already in a war against communism decisions of the conference were: to set up a permanent co-ordination centre of Latin America and a perheadquarters of the conterence These decisions will of course promote direct contact between the armies of the region which will, if necessary, be able to byLAND EUNCEITEICHLLS Direct contact and Chilean armed forces were a key lever in organisAllende the coup against the government 1973. The , Interamerican Police Academy (torture training centre) is being moved from Panama to Honduras.
The conference discussed the best way ideologically combat the left and the labour move.
the region. The assembled generals discussed the best term to left-wing movements. Bizarrely they decided that revolu tionaries and that the key terms were *Marxist subversion' and "terrorists". genera asked those assembled to make "terrorism' a common, not political crime.
Brazil, Canada, Dominican HonPanama, Paraguay. Peru, The generals had 'useful' exchange, on tactics Chilean Defence Minister, General Carrasco, argued the need for right to combat the with a right wing far we've used force, he said, "and it has not worked. To kill them is no use, for two What works is to penetrate the people, organise courses, to improve the life conditions of the poo so that they become deal regards subversives Our are working voluntarily com munities, teaching women how to read, how to sow and how to take care of the children(!)
General Marques, Brazilian, read document describing how Brazilian army was able to eliminate the threat of communism through in filtration He said that alongside infiltration, was necessary to improve distribution and keep violence to minimum. JUS give a balance to all this talk o improving the conditions of the poor, Salvadorean minister Defence, General Guillermo Gracia, asked more military aid to El Salvador, which other generals supported, let the country succumb to *disgrace'
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the Cuban-Soviet invasion of the Americas'. Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia,
NEWS is coming out of a secret meeting of top brass from Central and South America held at Fort McNair, Washington DC last October. The attended by US Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger, discussed 'how to fight Leading military personnel attended from
Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala. Haiti,