TRANSCRIPT OF PICKERING/GORMAN BRIEFING; TALKING POINTS ON EL SALVADOR; TV GUIDE ARTICLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86M00886R001500010007-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 26, 2008
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: September 17, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

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FROM: OTTO J. REICH
Executive Registry
84- 083
September 17, 1984
SUBJECT: Transcript of Pickering/Gorman Briefing; Talking
Points on El Salvador; TV Guide Article
Enclosed are three items which I believe you will find of
interest:
1. Transcript of the August 8, 1984, briefing given by
Ambassador Thomas Pickering and General Paul Gorman regarding
recently declassified information on external support of the
Salvadoran guerrillas
2. Talking points on El Salvador, covering general
background information, political information, land reform,
human rights, and security matters
3. A well-written article on TV coverage of Central
America, from the September 15, 1984, issue of TV Guide magazine
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EL SALVADOR
Background
-- The reformist coup of October 1979 and the subsequent
governments have demonstrated that an alternative exists to
choosing between the extreme left and the extreme right --
a genuinely democratic and progressive alternative.
The political and economic programs begun by reformist
political and military leaders continue in force, although
their benefits have been reduced by violent resistance from
the extreme right and by relentless, foreign-supported
guerrilla warfare from the anti-democratic left.
-- The U.S. objectives in El Salvador are to support emerging
democratic institutions, to encourage free elections, to
strengthen judicial processes that protect human rights,
and to support economic reform. Military assistance is not
an end in itself; it seeks to provide security against
guerrilla violence while democratic processes and economic
reforms take root.
-- The U.S. supports reconciliation based on dialogue and free
elections, not power-sharing for groups whose claim to such
power is based only upon their ability to destroy.
The elections in 1982 and in March and May 1984 demonstrate
the people's desire for democracy and their repudiation of
guerrilla violence. Approximately 80% of the electorate
participated in these elections despite guerrilla efforts
to disrupt them.
-- Activities to disrupt the elections included attacks on
towns, burning buses and ballots, confiscating
identification cards, and mining roads.
The U.S. military training and assistance program in El
Salvador is aimed at developing professionalism and
discipline within the military so that it can successfully
defend the country while understanding the need to respect
fundamental human rights.
Given the announced strategy of the Farabundo Marti
National Liberation Front (FMLN) of sabotaging El
Salvador's economy, any economic assistance program without
a strong military component would be ineffective.
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Since 1979, gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen by 25
percent in real terms and exports have dropped by 40
percent. During this same period, direct damage to the
economy from guerrilla sabotage is estimated at more than
$800 million.
Political
-- The new (December 1983) constitution establishes a
republican, pluralistic form of government; strengthens the
legislative and judicial branches; improves safeguards for
individual rights; protects the legal bases of the land
reform. It also provided for this year's presidential
elections and legislative and municipal elections in 1985.
-- The Salvadoran military has played a major role in
protecting and defending the reforms of the last four
years. The land reform would not have been physically or
politically possible without armed services support.
-- In 1982, some 1.5 million Salvadorans -- about 80 percent
of the elegible electorate -- voted. Only the extreme left
refused to participate. Hundreds of official observers and
international journalists indicated that the elections were
free, fair, and representative.
-- On June 1, 1984 Jose Napoleon Duarte became El Salvador's
first freely elected civilian president to take office in
50 years.
The Salvadoran Peace Commission has met with
representatives of the armed left and is prepared to
discuss the guerrillas' participation in free elections,
including physical security for candidates and access to
the media.
The Salvadoran Government's amnesty program of 1983
resulted in the defection of some 600 guerrillas and the
release of over 500 political prisoners.
Guerrilla defections have begun to increase since the
presidential elections.
President Duarte has reiterated the government's desire to
seek peace through dialogue and democratic processes; he
has rejected, however, power-sharing among armed camps.
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Land Reform
-- More than 10 percent of El Salvador's total population and
25 percent of El Salvador's rural poor -- over 550,000
individuals -- have benefited. These Salvadorans and their
families, who before had little economic stake in their
country, now have access to their own land, either
individually or as members of cooperatives.
El Salvador's new constitution, enacted in December 1983,
safeguards the agrarian reform.
Land reform has symbolized the government's commitment to
social justice and eased the intense political pressures
that were growing in geometric proportions between 1978 and
1980.
The agrarian reform program is restructuring patterns of
land ownership in order to redress the inequities of the
past, to respond to the legitimate grievances of the rural
poor, and to promote more broadly based growth in the
agricultural sector.
The ultimate goal is to develop a rural middle class with a
stake in El Salvador's peace and prosperity.
The new government has incoporated peasant leaders into the
management of the reforms, giving the peasants themselves a
vastly increased voice in the formulation of land and
agricultural policy.
The guerrillas continue to see the reform as a threat to
their very existence and have gone so far as to attack
cooperatives and their members. In fact, guerrilla
activities have prevented the extension of land reform in
conflict zones.
Human Rights
-- Human rights violations remain a central concern, and the
government is committed to ending violence of the right as
well as the left. President Duarte said in his inaugural
address that violators of human rights will be dealt with
harshly.
All the groups compiling figures on deaths attributable to
violence report a steady and measurable, if still not
entirely satisfactory, reduction in the levels of political
violence. Statistics kept by the U.S. Embassy in El
Salvador indicate that politically motivated murders have
declined from a high of 800 per month in late 1980 to fewer
than 60 in May 1984.
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Other sources report differing figures. One widely-quoted
source, Tutela Legal, appears at times to include guerrilla
casualties on the battlefield as civilian deaths, thereby
grossly inflating the level of violence actually
experienced by civilian non-combatants.
-- Major efforts are underway to ensure more effective
functioning of the criminal justice system. The U.S. is
assisting the Salvadoran Government in developing programs
to improve judicial protection and investigative
capacities; to increase the proficiency of jurists and
lawyers; and to modernize penal and evidentiary codes.
-- An example of progress in judicial reform: those
responsible for the murder of the five U.S. churchwomen
have been found guilty by a jury and received the maximum
sentence, 30 years in prison.
-- The Government of El Salvador continues its efforts to curb
the violence of the far right. The Armed Forces High
Command has on numerous occasions publicly broadcast its
opposition to violence by death squads and has issued
strict new orders to combat such violence.
-- In addition, in June 1984 the Government disbanded a unit
of the Treasury Police which had been suspected of
involvement in death squad activities.
-- Civilian and military officers suspected of violent
far-right activity have been removed from their positions
and, in some cases, sent abroad.
-- President Duarte has announced that he will form a high
level commission to root out terrorists and military
officers who abuse their authority.
Security
-- An estimated 9,000-11,000 armed guerrillas are now actively
engaged in the field against the Salvadoran Armed Forces.
-- The guerrilla strategy of sabotaging the economy has hurt
the poor and has cost the guerrillas popular support.
-- Forced recruitment of Salvadorans by the FMLN guerrillas
has increased dramatically. It is estimated that between
600 and 800 youths were kidnapped in April and May of
1984. The Catholic Church has asked the FMLN to release
those kidnapped and to demonstrate a respectful attitude
toward the civilian population.
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Roughly 1,500 Salvadoran residents from the area of
Sabanetas have fled because of guerrilla recruitment
efforts and have asked Honduran authorities to help them
return to areas under government control in-El Salvador.
The guerrillas' training, communications, and armaments
have improved greatly; however, guerrilla activities since
1980 do not indicate any expansion of influence among the
general population. The people refused the call for a
general uprising which the guerrillas made during their
"final" offensive of January 1981, on three occasions
rejected the guerrillas by participating in elections, and
have generally ignored guerrilla attempts to expand their
ranks.
U.S. military assistance has been an important element in
preventing a guerrilla victory. In addition to providing
arms, ammunition, and logistical support, the U.S. has
helped train soldiers and officers in the fundamental
requirements of a professional and disciplined force. This
training emphasizes the obligations of a soldier to the
people and country in whose name he serves. Those who
have been trained are showing promising results. There is
a need to reinforce this pattern by continuing such
training.
Since the presidential elections, the Government of El
Salvador has continued its remuneration program -- i.e.,
paying cash -- for surrendered military equipment by
Salvadorans, particularly FMLN guerrillas. The results to
date have been encouraging.
July 1984
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