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In El Salvador With A 'Nam Vet

By Tom Wetzler

I was in El Salvador during November 1984 as an observer for Vietnam Veterans Against the War to the Human Rights Commission's first Congress. We heard testimony from people of all walks of life—lawyers, medical personnel, teachers, campesinos—relating to the continued use of torture, and the increase of incredible oppression by the forces of the Salvadorian rulers: specifically, the killing and "disappearing" by government forces of unarmed, neutral medical workers in the countryside; the lack of any legal recourse by citizens, justified by periodic suspension of the country's constitution: mass terror and destruction of the population by uprooting entire towns and villages, often by bombing or military operations killing most of the inhabitants; the increase of homeless due to the increase of air attacks in the countryside; the continued use of death squads to wipe out normal political and community activity seen as in opposition to the ruling group in El Salvador.

Later, independent of the Commission, I went into the countryside to see for myself what I'd learned. Besides verifying the above, I saw government refugee camps almost empty, the few who remained explaining that most had fled to the camps in the capitol due to army attacks against the camp's population. This was in the province of San Vincente. Frequently I saw homes and areas of population which had been destroyed by artillery or air action.

In areas under control of FMLN I found the overwhelming majority of equipment and weapons to be of recent U.S. make and issue. One guerrilla leader asked me to thank President Reagan for his M-16, recently captured in an action in Suchitoto. I saw also that civilians were terrified in the presence of government troops but not in guerrilla—controlled areas.

Back in San Salvador I spoke and listened to member of the political right who impressed me with their total disregard for democracy or justice but were obvious in their sense or arrogance and power. Later, I spoke to U.S. embassy staff, including then-Ambassador Pickering who answered questions about our policy in El Salvador with a double-speak reminiscent of Vietnam. One embassy official told me, when asked why the realities of El Salvador were not reflected in embassy statements and reports, "It's our job to uphold the present Administration's policy."

During my time in El Salvador, the U.S. Embassy had refused visas to four members of the "Mothers and Family of the Disappeared and Political Prisoners" who had been invited by the Robert Kennedy Foundation in Washington, DC, to receive and award for human rights work. The same week Roberto D'Aubasson, identified by U.S. intelligence agencies as a leader in death squad activity, was admitted to speak at Georgetown University in Washington.

Finally, I spoke to U.S. military personnel who were not sure about anything about El Salvador but were "just doing my job." After my experience in Southeast Asia, I returned from El Salvador with a terrible sense of déjà vu.

Tom Wetzler
VVAW San Antonio

(This article is taken from testimony given to the "Citizens Hearing on Central America," San Antonio, Texas, March 21, 1986.)