From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Salpress 9/2 - 9/8
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 01:08:29 GMT

/** reg.elsalvador: 164.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 09/02/92 **
** Written  4:22 pm  Sep 10, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
                for WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

TODAY'S TOPICS:
FMLN BECOMES POLITICAL PARTY
ANEP JOINS FORUM
ATTACK ON FMLN MUNICIPAL LEADER

FMLN BECOMES POLITICAL PARTY

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) became a 
legal political party in El Salvador, celebrating the milestone in 
a downtown hotel yesterday evening.  Octavio Martinez, of the 
FMLN's political committee, told SALPRESS that the 12 founders 
and the party's charter and program would be presented at the 
ceremony, to be attended by international diplomats and the 
secretary-generals of the country's other legally constituted 
political parties.  "Today's activity means that we join this 
legal, political class and that excites us," said Martinez.  The 
FMLN was born on October 10, 1980 and waged a guerrilla war 
against the government and army for the next 11 years.  According 
to Martinez, the challenge now facing the FMLN is to become a 
"great party" with sights on the 1994 general elections.  The 
FMLN is made up of five political organizations:  The Popular 
Liberation Forces (FPL), the Party of the Salvadoran Revolution 
(PRS), the Salvadoran Communist Party (PCS), the Central American 
Workers Revolutionary Party (PRTC), and the National Resistance 
(RN).

ANEP JOINS FORUM

Nearly seven months late, the National Private Enterprise 
Association (ANEP) will participate in the country's Economic and 
Social Concertation Forum.  ANEP president Camilo Bolanos 
announced yesterday that the group will begin its forum 
attendance on September 9, the new deadline established in a 
modified accords compliance calendar.  El Salvador's peace 
settlement provided for the forum to allow business, government 
and labor to draw up consensual policies that will promote the 
nation's social and economic development.  The assembly was 
supposed to be installed on February 15, according to the peace 
settlement, but was not convened until May, although the business 
sector continued to boycott the assembly to protest alleged 
peasant land takeovers.  Regarding ANEP's decision to join now, 
Bolanos clarified that the group does not consider the land 
occupation problem to have been fully resolved.  He said that the 
"concertation" contemplated by the forum is indispensable, but 
warned that it must be approached with the attitude of statesmen 
rather than politicians "because politicians are thinking of the 
next election, while statesmen are thinking of the next 
generation."  The business leader stressed that ANEP reserves the 
right to withdraw from the forum if peasant squatting continues.  
The delay in full integration of the Social Economic Forum was 
one of a number of major peace accords whose full implementation 
was delayed.  last month, special U.N. envoy Marrack Goulding 
visited El Salvador to resolve disagreements between the 
government and rebels over compliance.  A modified implementation 
calendar resulted from the visit.

ATTACK ON FMLN MUNICIPAL LEADER

The FMLN denounced yesterday an attempt on the life of an 
insurgent municipal leader, perpetrated on August 29.  The 
leader, Florencio Munguia, of the Rosario de Mora municipal 
committee in central El Salvador, was run down by a motorcycle at 
9 p.m. last Saturday.  Munguia said the cyclist then dismounted 
and battered him.  The activist said his attacker was likely a 
right-winger opposed to the country's peace settlement.  Another 
FMLN leader, Hugo Martinez, blamed death squads and demanded that 
the Alfredo Cristiani government and army senior command 
investigate the incident.

                             - 30 -

NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR is a service of the Salvadoran 
Press Agency (SALPRESS) available Monday through Friday.  For 
more information, phone or fax:  011-525-21-9096.
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 165.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 09/03/92 **
** Written  4:23 pm  Sep 10, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
                 for THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

AS LEGAL PARTY, FMLN REAFFIRMS ITS REVOLUTIONARY MISSION

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) reaffirmed 
its revolutionary principles during the ceremony inaugurating it 
as a legal political party in the country.  FMLN leader Schafik 
Handal told those gathered in a San Salvador hotel that "we have 
been a revolutionary movement of exceptional qualities," and 
although the group has now become a party, "we will continue 
being revolutionaries."  The Tuesday evening program was attended 
by Iqbal Riza, the head of the U.N. observer mission, ONUSAL, and 
San Salvador's Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas, the country's 
diplomatic corps, the heads of the nation's other legal political 
parties, and other invited celebrities.  Handal said the 
insurgents' admission into national politics should not be 
interpreted as "permission" but as "space won" by the guerrilla 
struggle waged for more than a decade.  He highlighted the 
rebels' desire to now struggle on the political battlefield, 
noting that the 1994 general elections will reaffirm and seal the 
direction of peace accords signed with the government in January 
1992.  During the inauguration ceremony, the FMLN paid homage to 
those who have died defending the rights of the most 
dispossessed.  Among those present at the ceremony was Miguel 
Marmol, 93, a colleague of Agustin Farabundo Marti, the 
revolutionary leader executed in 1932 and for whom the FMLN is 
named.  Marmol miraculously survived his own execution by firing 
squad that same year for the peasant uprising repressed by the 
government.  Commenting on the FMLN's advent into legal politics, 
a vice president of the Legislative Assembly, Ruben Zamora, 
called it a ray of hope.  "A new tool for concertation is 
born..."  The provisional leadership of the new party is made up 
of the five members of the FMLN General Command, the five members 
of the insurgent political committee, and five other leaders from 
each of the organizations making up the FMLN.

                             - 30 -

NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR is a service of the Salvadoran 
Press Agency (SALPRESS) available Monday through Friday.  For 
more information, phone or fax:  011-525-21-9096.
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 166.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 09/06/92 **
** Written  4:23 pm  Sep 10, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
            WEEKEND SUMMARY for SEPTEMBER 4 - 6, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

CONDEMNATION OF VALUE-ADDED TAX

El Salvador's Catholic Church warned that economic measures such 
as the levying of a value-added tax (IVA) could result in protest 
activities that "alter the atmosphere" for peace accords 
compliance.  the 10% IVA went into effect on September 1.  The 
government has announced that it will also increase rates for 
electricity, telephone service, transportation and drinking 
water.  On Sunday, San Salvador's Archbishop Arturo Rivera y 
Damas criticized these economic policies, saying that they will 
hurt the country's poorest citizens.  He said the resulting 
protests could "stagnate" somewhat the nation's peace process.  In 
a communique issued Friday, the Farabundo Marti National 
Liberation Front (FMLN) said the levying of IVA does not 
contribute to consolidation of the democratic process.  According 
to the insurgents, the measure seeks to enrich and strengthen an 
economic "minority thirsting for power."  The FMLN said the 
government economic policies are impracticable within the 
country's current economic and social context because they do not 
address defense of the majority's interests.

                             - 30 -

NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR is a service of the Salvadoran 
Press Agency (SALPRESS) available Monday through Friday.  For 
more information, phone or fax:  011-525-21-9096.
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 167.0 **/
** Topic: SALPRESS News 09/08/92 **
** Written  4:23 pm  Sep 10, 1992 by salpress in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
                  NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR
                 for TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1992

                  A Special Service of SALPRESS

TODAY'S TOPICS:
FMLN PROPOSES ALTERNATIVE TO IVA
PHANTOM GROUP THREATENS SABOTAGE CAMPAIGN

FMLN PROPOSES ALTERNATIVE TO IVA

The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) unveiled an 
eight-point proposal yesterday that would defend Salvadorans' 
buying power and overcome the government's financial crisis.  An 
unpopular 10% value-added tax (IVA) imposed as of this September 
1, sparked the rebel proposal.  At a press conference, Gerson 
Martinez of the FMLN's political committee explained that the 
rebels' alternative would reform the tax system, freeze taxes on 
basic services, enforce the consumer defense law, redirect the 
national budget, subsidize transportation, protect staple goods, 
raise salaries and expand emergency credits for cooperatives.  
According to the FMLN leader, tax reform would be directed at 
halting tax evasion, which affects 70% of potential government 
revenue.  The proposal calls for reorienting the national budget, 
once mainly directed at the war effort, to fund education, health 
care and housing.  Martinez termed termed the FMLN proposal 
"sensible, responsible and practicable."  Another insurgent 
political representative, Marcos Jimenez, said the IVA is 
counterproductive for the peace process because the settlement 
seeks to create stability.  "A measure like (IVA) destabilizes 
the atmosphere, the democratization and pacification climate," he 
said.  The Christian Democratic Part (PDC) echoed positions 
expressed in the FMLN proposal, backing a 20% across-the-board 
wages increase, the freezing of taxes on public services and the 
strengthening of consumer protection laws.  Yesterday, President 
Alfredo Cristiani announced that his government is studying the 
possibility of a general wage increase and reducing the cost of 
gas to compensate for the effects of IVA and price increases for 
public services.

PHANTOM GROUP THREATENS SABOTAGE CAMPAIGN

A clandestine groups threatened yesterday to launch a war of 
sabotage on behalf of the nation's poorest.  In its supposed 
manifesto, the Salvadoran Revolutionary Front (FRS) claims to be 
made up of "combatants loyal to the principles" of the FMLN and 
of government soldiers "used" during the war.  The FRS says it 
arises as an alternative for struggle and in response to the 
refusal of the FMLN's top leadership to block the government's 
economic "offensive."  The group said that, beginning on Monday, 
it "declares war on the economy," and will sabotage public 
transportation and the nation's electrical grid.  Marcos Jimenez 
of the FMLN's political committee dismissed the group as a 
diversionary "trick" of the traditional power elite calculated 
for the moment when the government and insurgents are discussing 
sensitive issues, such as land tenure.

                             - 30 -

NEWS SYNTHESIS ON EL SALVADOR is a service of the Salvadoran 
Press Agency (SALPRESS) available Monday through Friday.  For 
more information, phone or fax:  011-525-21-9096.
** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

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