From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Salpress 3/30,3/31
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 03:32:13 GMT

/** reg.elsalvador: 193.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 03/30/92 **
** Written  8:25 pm  Apr  2, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
                   for  MONDAY. MARCH 30, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

25,000 TEACHERS BOYCOTT CLASSROOMS

At least 25,000 Salvadoran teachers stayed off the job today to 
demand a salary increase, education supplies for their classrooms 
and improved medical benefits, union leader Jorge Villegas said.  
The work stoppage is set to last five days around the country.  
The educators are also demanding that 11,000 unemployed teachers 
be returned to the education system, noting that 500,000 children 
in urban and rural areas go without schooling because of a 
personnel shortage.  Villegas warned that if teacher grievances 
are not resolved, the educators' stoppage could become a strike 
of indefinite length.

                            - 30 -

NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR is a special service of SALPRESS, 
available Monday through Friday.  For more details on information 
included in this summary, contact SALPRESS:  011-525-705-6532 
(fax) or 011-525-592-2184 (voice).

** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 194.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 03/31/92 **
** Written  8:26 pm  Apr  2, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
                  for  TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

TODAY'S TOPICS:
PRESIDENT CALLS FOR SPIRIT OF CONSOLIDATION
RELIEF IN SIGHT FOR LAND DISPUTES?
BUSINESS PROMISES JOBS AS ITS CONTRIBUTION TO RECONSTRUCTION
LAST REFUGEES IN HONDURAS DUE BACK TODAY

PRESIDENT CALLS FOR SPIRIT OF CONSOLIDATION

President Alfredo Cristiani called on Salvadorans to get behind 
the peace process and avoid actions that contradict the same.  
According to the president, a five-day teachers' work stoppage 
now underway is an activity against the peace process.  Some 
25,000 educators began a work stoppage yesterday to demand salary 
adjustments, medical benefits and teaching supplies, but the 
president accused the union of having political ends.  "We know 
that all groups have problems, have needs, but they also have 
recourse for solving their problems," he said, mentioning a joint 
social economic forum.  The government-business-labor forum was 
supposed to be convened by February 16, according to the peace 
settlement, however, private business groups announced in early 
March that they will boycott the assembly until alleged land 
seizures by peasants are halted.  The forum has yet to be 
convened.  Cristiani said the nation's reconstruction is one of 
the current priorities, but he added that it, too, "must be 
carried out within a process and not with actions of this 
nature," referring to the teachers' stoppage.  He criticized 
peasant land occupations, insisting that there are also 
mechanisms for solving land disputes.  Regarding allegations by 
the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) that 
government forces are occupying more than the 62 sites allotted 
to them in peace accords, Cristiani said there are "six places" 
where the Armed Forces has a "very small presence," which the 
rebels object to, as well as National Guard and treasury Police 
posts.  Those two forces were supposed to be dissolved on March 
2, but the president reassigned the bodies to border guards and 
military police functions, respectively.

RELIEF IN SIGHT FOR LAND DISPUTES?

The national peace commission, COPAZ, set up an office yesterday 
that intends to solve the land crisis.  Since the February 1 
beginning of he cease fire in El Salvador, disputes over land 
occupancy have sharpened in the country.  The government and land 
owners accuse peasants of usurping properties.  According to 
COPAZ spokesperson Oscar Morales, occupants and owners can get 
their questions answered or file complaints with the new office.  
COPAZ, which represents the government, rebels and six political 
parties, reportedly expects to solve the land crisis within six 
months.  regarding a government complaint that an FMLN inventory 
of properties eligible for redistribution is inflated, insurgent 
land commission representative Eduardo Sancho said the list is 
subject to review and modification, noting that it was compiled 
from information from the countryside which should be studied and 
verified.  The peace settlement requires that landholdings 
exceeding the 610-acre constitutional limit be subdivided and 
redistributed to peasants.  He urged owners and occupants to have 
confidence in the COPAZ land commission, saying that, to date, it 
has been working fairly and harmoniously.

BUSINESS PROMISES JOBS AS ITS CONTRIBUTION TO RECONSTRUCTION

The creation of jobs and better salary "conditions" are to be 
business' contribution to El Salvador's reconstruction, the 
president of the National Private Enterprise Association (ANEP), 
Camilo Bolanos, said yesterday.  In a televised interview, the 
leader of the country's most important business association 
claimed that prospects for foreign investment in El Salvador are 
"very encouraging," noting that these depend on the existence of 
"real peace."  According to the entrepreneur, despite the 
silencing of the guns, there is "a lot missing."  If real peace 
is achieved, "the expansion of business activity will be 
tremendous," he said.  while admitting the plan could be 
improved, Bolanos said the government's reconstruction plan won 
support from the 19 nations represented at the meeting of the 
Consultative Group, as well as from international aid 
organizations.  The Consultative Group is made up of the U.S. and 
Japanese governments, the European Economic Community and other 
nations.

LAST REFUGEES IN HONDURAS DUE BACK TODAY

Eight hundred Salvadoran refugees living at the Mesa Grande 
refugee camp in Honduras are expected to return to El Salvador 
today, according to Lorena Martinez of the displaced persons' 
self-help group CRIPDES.  At a press conference, Martinez 
indicated that the refugees will be settled in La Libertad and 
Cuscatlan provinces.  She said the returnees are not expecting 
problems with their re-entry into the country, in contrast to 
earlier repatriations conducted while the war was still in force.  
Throughout the last decade, thousands of Salvadorans fled their 
homeland to escape the war and repression.  According to 
Martinez, the refugees' return will contribute to the peace 
process.  She noted that returns by refugees now living in Costa 
Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico and Guatemala are still pending.  Today's 
repatriation has the support of the U.N. High Commission on 
Refugees (UNHCR) and is being aided by the Honduran and 
Salvadoran governments, Martinez said.

                            - 30 -

NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR is a special service of SALPRESS, 
available Monday through Friday.  For more details on information 
included in this summary, contact SALPRESS:  011-525-705-6532 
(fax) or 011-525-592-2184 (voice).

** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

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