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El Salvador: Behind the Lines With a Nam Veteran

By Jack Elder

"One of Reagan's myths is that the Salvadorans are a violent people."

"Archbishop Romero, before being assassinated, told the Salvadoran people that if the choice was between violence and survival, violence was sanctioned."

In the liberated zones (those areas controlled by the popular forces) a new society based on cooperation is unfolding. The people, for the first time, are taking control of the own destinies."

A couple of priests, Rutilio Grande and Jose Alas, brought their people a powerful message: your misery is not due to God's will but the greed of a few men."

"United Nations statistics tell of 70% malnutrition in El Salvador. 25% of the children die before age five. 2% of the population owns 60% of the arable land."

Dr. Charlie Clements knows El Salvador. For a year (until March, 1983) he lived with the popular armed forces and the civilian population of the Guazapa Front, a 225 square mile area 25 miles north of San Salvador, the capital city. Formerly a C-130 pilot in Vietnam, he applied for CO status, was given a psychiatric discharge from the service, went to medical school and, in 1980 began seeing Salvadoran refugees in a medical clinic in Salinas, California. He has been speaking out against our growing intervention in Central America but the testimonies he heard made him want to do more. After negotiating with the FDR (Democratic Revolutionary Front—the political arms of the popular armed forces), his medical services and neutrality were accepted and he hiked into the rebel-controlled Guazapa Front. He found 10,000 civilians living there, 40% under the age of twelve. He found a people hungry to determine their own future. Attacks by government soldiers and by U.S.-supplied A-37s and Huey gunships made this a risky and dangerous process. But as Clements listened to his patients recount the personal tragedies that had befallen them, their families and friends, he gained insights into life in Guazapa. He learned of the deep-seated conviction with which the people bear arms even though they desperately want peace. He found out from a campesino that the meaning of "violence," a terms so freely thrown around by our President, can only be comprehended when you've seen your own child die of starvation. He realized that medical supplies are contraband in El Salvador after people he knew were killed for carrying a couple of bottles of aspirin or a few boxes of diapers. He listened, observed, and learned. He also taught. Diarrhea, common especially among the children of the Front, was combated through a rehydration procedure based on locally available substances. Iron deficiency was treated with a "nail cocktail"—a rusty nail rubbed with lime and mixed with water.

Then Dr. Clements left Guazapa. He came back to the U.S. to speak out again about the effects of our military aid to the Salvadoran junta. He has testified twice before congressional subcommittees. And he has crossed the country, speaking out in public forums, on radio and TV, and in newspaper interviews, hammering away at the same theme: the greatest obstacle to peace in El Salvador is the United States aid to that country. Clements maintains that he saw no Cubans nor Nicaraguans in Guazapa. Arms for the rebels are captured from Salvadoran army troops or bought on the black market. Even so, the rebels are short on arms. People are waiting in line to take up a weapon and join in protecting those who live in or who have fled U.S. designed counterinsurgency sweeps into Guazapa. Charlie Clements has raised money, too. Since returning to the U. S. about a thousand dollars a day has been raised—money which will be used to buy badly needed medical supplies in Guazapa and other zones under popular control.

When asked what the rest of us can do, Clements offers these suggestions: inform yourselves to the point where you can see through Reagan's lies; put pressure on your Congressional representatives through visits, letters, petitions; get ready to hit the streets in protest; and don't overlook acts of civil disobedience, one example being given to an underground railroad that transports, harbors and hides undocumented refugees fleeing El Salvador and Guatemala.

Jack Elder
San Antonio VVAW