STUDENTS PLAN WASHINGTON PROTEST TRIP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210007-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: June 28, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210007-0
CARBONDALE DAILY EGYPTIAN (IL)
2#i June 1983
Students plan Washington
protest trip
By Charles Victor
Staff-Writer
Several SIU-C students are
again planning to show their
displeasure over American
involvement in an.international
hot spot.
The issue : U.S. involvement
in Central America. - The
organization: the Coalition for
Change, formed two years ago
on campus to deal with social
justice issues. The plan: a
demonstration in Washington,
D.C., on Saturday.
U.S. involvement in El
Salvador sparked the formation
of the Coalition for Change in
spring 1982. The group has held
talks, teach-ins and demon-
strations, including a protest
march through downtown
Carbondale and a memorial
service in honor of Archbishop
Romero, who was murdered by
Salvadoran government troops
while sayg Mass.
"But the situation is
deteriorating," said John
Patrick, leader of the coalition.
"Barely 15 years ago
Americans my age were dying
in a useless war in Vietnam
because in the beginning no one
said anything about it. Central
America is not Vietnam, but we
may be making the same
mistakes them"
This weekend, the coalition
will take a group of protesters to
Washington as part of the Mid-
West Latin America-,Solidarity
group, which will tie in with
other groups for a large
demonstration on Independence
Day weekend. The demon-
stration itself will begin at the
Vietnam War Memorial in
Washington on Saturday.
. Referring to U.S. presence in
Honduras, where the military
and the, CIA arp training -to guerrillas overthrow . the
Sandinista regime in
Nicaragua, Patrick said, "The
Reagan administration is
breaking both international
laws of respecting the
sovereignty of nations and
congressional rules forbidding
the use of the CIA to overthrow
foreign governments."
"I have met people from
Nicaragua and some of our own
faculty who have worked in El
Salvador," he said. "They all :
say American action there is
reaping a harvest of hate for the
United States. They are not all
commurAlts, but many are
forced to 'turn to the com-
munists as their only source of
support because our govern
ment refusesto support them'in
their legitimate fight against
oppressive dictatorships. In-
stead, our governemnt active
supports these' dictatorships
that destroy democracy."
Patrick noted that more than
60 U.S. military advisers are in
El Salvador and many more in
Honduras, and that the Reagan
administration has not ruled out
the use of U.S. combat troops in
the region. "It frightens me
when I hear people like Senator
Barry Goldwater call for the
ur combat troops and a
military solution to the
problem,". he said.
According to Patrick, the
average SIU-C student is still
indifferent to the problem.
"They all say they do not have
time or money to get involved,"
he said. "I guess they will have
to wait till we or members of
our' family. start getting killed
before they act. I don't want to
wait that.long.11
Heidi- Fillmore, a founding
member of the coalition, said
that 17 people have signed up
for the trip. "We still have a few
places open," she said. The trip
will cost $55 plus food per
person, and lodging is free, the
said. ai
Patrick said the group 'wil
leave Carbondale Thursday
evening and return Sunday
afternoon.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210007-0