US Presidency
1983

But in addition to recession-depressed prices for major agricultural exports, El Salvador's economy is being deliberately sabotaged. Tonight in El Salvador, because of ruthless guerrilla attacks, much of the fertile land can not be cultivated; less than half the rolling stock of the railways remains operational; bridges, water facilities, telephone and electric systems have been destroyed and damaged. In one 22-month period, there were 5,000 interruptions of electrical power. One region was without electricity for a third of the year. I think Secretary of State Shultz put it very well the other day: Unable to win the free loyalty of El Salvador's people, the guerrillas, he said, are deliberately and systematically depriving them of food, water, transportation, light, sanitation, and jobs. And these are the people who claim they want to help the common people. They don't want elections because they know they'd be defeated. But, as the previous election showed, the Salvadoran people's desire for democracy will not be defeated. The guerrillas are not embattled peasants, armed with muskets.