EL SALVADOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100070006-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: April 29, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/13: CIA-RDP
A3T t L r1PPi iuli D THE GUARDIAN (U.S.)
p:; 29 . April 1981
El Salvador
Move -on- ultrarigh. 0
Fighting in El Salvador ground to a temporary halt as the revolutionary forces called a truce to
;!!low the traditional celebration of Holy Week. .
International attention -focused meanwhile on
13iarti, Fla., where there was a break in the case
o: a U.S. land reform officials murdered in El .
Salvador at the beginning of this year. : -
Federal officials announced April 15 the ar-
:st of Hans Christ, 30, son of a wealthy Salvad-
oran landowner.'in the killing.. A short time lat--
er. Salvadoran authorities said they had already
arrc:.ted Ricardo Sol Meza, one of the country's
weakh,est men. also in connectiow with- the,
murders of the two Americans; Michael Ham:
met and-Mark Pearlman. -' ? y `
'M- ..:.:. ,- ..._.~ ,.cic:..:.r....c th
era sire
e
sponsored American Institute. for Free- Labor _ -, - -- -"-- _ r-- ^??
d ganization:UCS in an.attempt to channel rural
jl
i
t
A1FLD
s
1.
e
tey were a
sass
na
Duvelopmem (
slop, with Jose Rudolfe 1Viera, head-of the Sal discontent away from the influence of progres . 1979: He reportedly has close links with the
? sive forces.'The U.S. body iti'ortedly? is one of'
?.a oran Communal Union- (UCS), an AiFLD= < U.S: right through- the American Security<
crewed peasant-organization, while meeting the organizations paying the salary of Dr.Roy Councif,whichspoosoredhis1,980trip toWash-!
Prrc'erman; principal advisor-to and' author-of. where he met with ri
Sen. Jesse
, el ght-wing
over late-night coffee at the San Salvador Hotel in an
Sheraton in early January. part of -the land pmject.'?; ..... ; .: -?'Helnu (R?N.CJ: - -
letanv observers believe the.arrestsma sow Fortner CIA agent Philip Agee has identified
Y' S --I,
1L9
-- - 0'1 A r--. --- - -- -- h ,_ .R-
D
Le;t some movement by we Reagan aamimstra- - VJiA VLiiI~ V G J V l~LAVAI\ ' ? '?
for Reuther, brother of the late labor leader Wall-;.
- Observers note that Whites testimony di-
I
y is a
t:oa to crack down on the most fascistic ele- .?
di
d
h
th
i
IF
d
D
er,
n
cate
t
at A
ha
ter Reu
L
been the
ment: within the Salvadoran government'and . recipient of CIA funds during the 196(ls.
among the country's oligarchy:'Such steps i After the Januar deaths -of - Hammer -and
wou!d mitigate some -of: the popular domestic
ntem~:ional rejection of U.S. policy by , Pearlman, the- U.S.- Justice Department ?attor-.
and i
`od;tiring the myth that the rightist.Salvado- ran hey, in oral argument before the Supreme Court.
,. ? ; _ : - intimated that the two men were operating as CIA
"
"
- .: -? .:
moderate'.
government is
But, altheuah this may be a."smarter"? U.S.
policy, links between the' uhraiightistsifi El Sal
vador and the U.S. "new right. '. which-isf rmly
based in the administratibir. ire-believed to be
strong. Thus it is. unclear. how=?an'thee Whim
House will go in an effort to stensibe mosthor-
rific acts on the part of these former-elements. A-
rrdre significant test will come ' regarding'the?
still-unsolved murders Of Salvadoran.'Archbi
shop Oscar Romero and'of four-U.S'religieus
workers.
.
-
--;~: sional'::testimony, White identified Miami resi-:l
OLIGARCHY V. CU? ;dent Alberto Lagos Mena, reportedlysecond in
The case against the ju liersofI command -of the-death squads under ex-Maj..
El Salvador's oligarchy meanwhile ref ectsm;the l Robert D'abuisson, as an important conduit of
struggle within the rightist Salvadoran V. -I support to Et Salvador-
According -to eyewitnesses to the mukders,,two, White also spoke of a document given to him
assassins entered the heavili guarded- hotel;- a:1 by-former junta member-Col. Adolfo Majano .
center for both the oligarchy and U.S. officials listing the names of 100 people both in and
working in El Salvador. One waited-at the door around the government on the payroll of the Mi-
of the coffee shop while the other walked to the. ami oligarchy. White reportedly forwarded that
table and shot the thre-mien with a pistol rl material to?? U.S... State Department officials,
-along with other documents used by the Reagan
administration for.irs controversial White Paper,:
After Christ's. arrest ..last -week.. additional In his testimony; .White did not mention the'
facts were revealed which. indicate that ' both El Salvador Freedom Foundation,' an organiza-
Christ and the other suspect, Sol Meza, were. in don of Salvadoran oligarchs also based in Mvlia-
the hotel coffee shop when the three labor offs- mi who have lobbied against both Reagan and
cials entered. The three ' men initially seated Carter policy toward El Salvador.. Key leaders
themselves at a table near the two suspects-and of the foundation are^ Orlando De Sola. a -
then moved to- another. table out of ?ear-shot member of one of the country's wealthiest fami-
when they recognized Christ, ,Sot Meza and His, and Luis Salaverria; a. wealthy Iandowner=
'their other companions as major-right-wing op- from Ahuachapan; -a 'eve?tern - province. The
ponents of the agrarian refoim. ? - . foundation. is represented in the U.S.- by the-.
.. Reportedly, Christ and Sol Meza then left the public relations firm of McKenzie-McCheyne,
hotel, as the AIFLD officials continued ?.their..thesame-company that represented the late Ni
conversation. Shortly.followin theirdeparture.: Win dictator Anastasio Somoza_ r:, : ? ;
the assassins entered the hotel and shot the men.: _i The former ambassador also indicated that he
The AFL-CIO and its subsidiary AIFLD had 'had: seen evidence implicating ?? reputed, death
been pressuring both the Salvadoran and U.S. squad head Maj. Roberto D'abuisson; in last
governments-to solve the murders: AIFLD, an year's murder of Archbishop Romero. White'
educational institute sit-up in the 19606 by-U.S.
spoke of documents. taken from D'abuisson at
business and labor to influence the-Latin'Amer the time :of his arrest last year when he and oth-
ican trade -union movement, has-been deeply in- ers attempteda coup d'etat. In those documents,
volved in the planning and operation of the jun- D'abuisson' is-revealed to hr:?e been planning a
.land program =: = major action on the same night when the archbi-
' `~ ? ,shop was shots _ : .. ,.:.; ? . , . '; ? ; ~ , r .
SPOTLIGHT ON 'MIAMI CONNECTION' .,-:D abuissoii: bras head of intelligence irr the
National Guard duringthe regime of Gen. Car-
rect challenge. to the Reagan administration to
-move against the Salvadoran fascist sectors.:?: -
The investigation- of the murders pf the four
women meanwhile appears to be stymied. Then:
are 'reports that the murderers are among the ,
agents in El Salvador. AIFLD's director:-Will,' - ~- - --' - - - - -'- _ " -`-...'
jam Diiherty, denies CIA link. ax well as atl 'which-Defense IrlinisterJose Guillermo
such chherts about mme :and Pearlman: - ...~' Garcia recently claimed was "out of control:"
The arrest of Hans Christ. again focuses the - If the Reagan administration does to some de-
spodighton- the "Miami Cdnnection; ' the Sal-' gree-stem the.ultrarightist forces; :many o-
servers believe that it may be able to at least par-.
vadoran exile community the U.S_' believed to'. _ -
be responsible for arming both the-security for J. ttally_disarm manysof.its liberal critics, spicu-
ces-and the death squads. Former U:S_ Ambas- tarty in the Congress. The aim is to.win support
j; for the warof extermination which the junta and':
sador to El Salvador Robert White, among oth- -the U.S.- government have been waging in-EC
ers. has declared that exiles in that city are aid- Salvador since early 1980.
ing rightist forces both within the Duarte gov--. t ?,; ROBERT ARMSTRONG'
einment
and outside of it. In April 9 Congres
- . -.. _ ; , ? .:,- .., '
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/13: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100070006-7