El Salvador:

The return of war rhetoric

The president of El Salvador more than suggests that two policemen killed in a demonstration were victims of the leftist FMLN party

By Eva Rasmussen

“I would like to believe that this was only about groups with a certain affiliation to the FMLN, and not about persons directly connected to the leadership of this party. I would certainly like to believe that. This would be important for strengthening the historical process we are in. However, the FMLN is neither clear nor trustworthy when it comes to this issue and that calls their role into question”, said the president of El Salvador, Elias Antonio Saca, to the newspaper El Diario de Hoy.

The issue at hand is the murder of two policemen during demonstrations that took place in front of the National University on 5 July. “The government has returned to the war rhetoric it used during the seventies and eighties”, comments Cynthia Curtis, regional MS programme officer, who works out of El Salvador. And war memories are not limited to rhetoric. As was the case during the war, helicopters fly low over the capital city of San Salvador, police order passengers off buses and subject them to body searches, and trade union activists are being persecuted in the guise of a police search for weapons, Cynthia tells us.

Student demonstration

The trouble began with a student demonstration in front of the National University in San Salvador, where students were protesting against rising bus fares. The Special Police Forces were called to action – “unarmed”, according to US ambassador to El Salvador, Douglas Barclay. Ten students were wounded. In the heat of the confrontation, two heavily armed men took position at the entrance to the university and shot and killed two policemen. They subsequently fled, but according to police sources were caught on film and recognized as José Mario Belloso Castillo and Luis Antonio Herrador Funes. The latter was taken in that same evening, while Belloso managed to make good his escape. He is now being tracked by Interpol, and the government has offered a reward of 10,000 dollars for information leading to his arrest.

“Both of them are high-ranking members of the FMLN”, alleged the Salvadoran president. “No, they are not”, riposted the FMLN mayor of San Salvador, Violeta Mijevar. “The two of them were members of the party in the past, but were excluded years ago.”

“This smells of terrorism”, commented the US ambassador. Human Rights Commissioner Beatrice Alamanni de Carrillo called the shootings an “execution”. She went on to say that “It was a bad demonstration, to which the government responded badly. Once again the authorities have shown that they are unable to handle crisis situations”.

“It’s obvious that this is a case of terrorism”, insisted President Saca. “I am a prudent man, so I will not yet say that the killers have international connections, but this will  be cleared up by the police. One thing, however, is obvious: This is terrorism, and the situation is dangerous for the stability of El Salvador.”

Torture

The Salvadoran government used the tragic episode to once again abuse trade union rights. The police say they are searching for weapons in the houses surrounding the university, but half a kilometer away they broke into the Union of Salvadoran Workers (CSTS) – without a court order – and proceeded to torture union leader Daniel Ernesto Morales for three hours. They pushed him brutally against the wall, beat and kicked him, all the while shouting “Where are the weapons?” The premises were thoroughly ransacked, numerous documents were copied and among other things two cameras and 2,000 dollars were stolen. The police eventually came up with a legally registered revolver belonging to the private security guard engaged by CSTS, whereupon Daniel Ernesto Morales was arrested and charged with possession of illegal weapons. 

Today, eight days later, he is still sharing a small cell with members of the life- threatening street gang Mara Salvatrucha.

Social movements have organized peaceful demonstrations against the violence using  the slogan: ”We will  never return to the past.” The demonstrators condemn the violence taking place in the small Central American country, where during the first quarter of 2006 the police recorded 1,830 murders, 92 more than for the same period last year.

The demonstrators demand that the government not misuse the current situation to pass  an antiterrorism law; that the country be disarmed and demilitarized; and that the government respect the right to protest as well as freedom of speech and organization.