From: nyt@nyxfer.UUCP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Subject: El Salvador Newsbrief 1/20 ed-lp
Date: 21 Jan 93 04:48:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:7uLPXB7w165w@nyxfer.uucp:-1631512108:000:4794
Nf-From: nyxfer.uucp!nyt    Jan 20 20:48:00 1993


Subject: El Salvador Newsbrief 1/20 ed-lp
From: nyxfer!nyt (NY Transfer News)


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

From el diario/La Prensa

Translated and edited by Toby Mailman. "el Diario/La Prensa" is 
a Spanish language newspaper published in New York City.

Salvadoran Archbishop Questions Progress of Peace

San Salvador's Archbishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez said on 
January 17 in a sermon at the Basilica del Sagrado Corazon 
(Sacred Heart Church) that the "violence" of extreme poverty and 
criminality which affects a broad sector of the population of El 
Salvador makes many people question "the practical validity of 
the end of the armed confrontation." He said that the emotional 
ceremony of the signing of the peace agreement on January 16, 
1992 has become old news in light of the difficulties which its 
fulfillment have been undergoing. "Some even say we're the same 
or worse than before," said Rosa Chavez, but, he continued, a 
different impression results from a careful study of the new 
situation in which the basic and extraordinary thing is that one 
year ago the weapons of war were silenced.

The government of President Alfredo Cristiani and the Farabundo 
Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), now a political party, 
signed more than 100 agreements in order to end the 12 years 
of war which left over 75,000 dead, 7,000 disappeared and 
enormous material losses.

The fulfillment of the majority of these pacts seemed to 
promise the definite end of the armed confrontation on December 
15 of last year, but the lack of execution of other agreements, 
among them the purging of the Salvadoran armed forces, have 
generated a new crisis in the peace process. Rosa Chavez said 
during the sermon that the Salvadoran people are entering a new 
stage which must not be undervalued, as fragile and uncertain as 
it may be.

For the prelate the report which will be presented to the 
signers of the peace accords on February 11 by the Truth 
Commission will be an extremely important step on the road toward
the building of an authentic democracy. The Commission, made up 
of former Colombian President Belisario Betancur, former 
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Reinaldo Figueredo and Honorary 
President of the International Human Rights Institute, Thomas 
Buergenthal, investigated serious human rights violations 
committed in El Salvador since 1980. "The report should be made 
public and will viscerally reject everything that attacks human 
dignity and particularly the first of the human rights, which is 
life," said Rosa Chavez. (edlp 01/18/93 from EFE)


Salvadoran Armed Forces Going Through Changes

About half the Salvadoran army, or 32,000 soldiers, have
been separated from the armed forces since February of 1992 when
the ceasefire began, according to a statement by General Mauricio
Vargas, deputy chief of the chiefs of staff of the armed forces 
issued on January 18. Vargas also announced that beginning on 
that same date, for the first time in history, recruitment for 
the Salvadoran Armed Forces would be voluntary. At one time the 
army had 63,000 members during the more than ten year long 
confrontation with the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front 
(FMLN). 

With the peace agreement, the army dissolved the elite 
battalions, the Treasury Police and the National Guard, while at
the same time the FMLN disarmed on December 15. In the past the 
army filled its ranks through forced recruitment, mostly from the
countryside. It is projected that voluntary recruitment will 
bring in between 600 and 1,000 new members. A law passed in 1992 
established one-year obligatory military service for young men 
between 18 and 30, but recruitment will be voluntary and by means
of a lottery. The new members will receive military training 
during their first four months in service, and eight months of 
training in a skill with which they will be able to earn a living
when they leave the army. They will receive a salary, and those 
who are studying will be able to continue to do so.

Vargas said the tripartite armed forces, made up of the 
infantry, air force and navy, will continue as such, although 
restructured. The changes will be in accordance with the role of 
the armed forces, as described in the country's constitution, as 
a protector of national sovereignty. During special times, 
however, the president may alter the role of the armed forces. 
(edlp 01/19/93 from AFP)

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