Democratic Palestine : 5 (ص 23)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 5 (ص 23)
- المحتوى
-
Central America
US War Drive
The Reagan Administration plans air strikes against Salvadorean freedom fighters who are thwarting US
ambitions for strategic control.
In the May 7th edition, Barricada
International commented: «The war
against Nicaragua continues its Course
and the Contadora group has not been
able to obtain a position in support of
peace from Washington. So to speak of
‘elections’ in El Salvador is to speak of
war, and of the dangers that the war may
widen now with an ‘elected’ mask.»
This prediction has been amply
substantiated: Clearly, the Reagan
Administration sponsored the election of
the relatively moderate Duarte as El Sal-
vador’s president in order to further its
own regional military plans. Under the
guise of checking the death squads, pro-
visions are being made for yet more
massive and systematic terror against
the people of Central America. The
proposals of Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) for dialogue
with Duarte were swept aside. In mid-
June, El Salvador’s army, backed by the
US and Honduras, launched a new
offensive against the FMLN in the north
of the country as an extension of the joint
military maneuvers Grenadier |. Their
counterinsurgency bogged down how-
ever; half the troops had to be diverted
southwards as the FMLN attacked gov-
ernment forces close to the capital and
took control of two strategic highways.
The Reagan Administration's latest
remedy for the Salvadorean army’s
chronic failure is ordering the Pentagon
to develop plans for US bombers to
strike the FMLN as part of anew range of
military and covert operations. Also the
State and Defense Departments were
instructed to devise ways of aiding
Duarte’s army if the US Congress fails to
allocate the requested $117 million.
These measures are supposedly neces-
sitated by US intelligence that there will
be a new FMLN offensive this summer.
Given the revolutionaries’ steady
advance, this would be natural. Yet
there is more to the story than that.
Reagan doesn't want his reelection
Campaign marred by FMLN victories.
The US administration is using the
spectre of a communist victory in El Sal-
vador to garner domestic support for
strategic military presence in Central
America. Concurrently, the June dis-
patch of the John F. Kennedy aircraft
carrier off Nicaragua’s coast, to remain
until November, symbolizes the big stick
Reagan is waving over the heads of the
people of Central America. In short,
imperialist blackmail similar to that used
against the Soviet Union on the nuclear
question is being enacted vis-a-vis
Central America. |
Permanent US military pre-
sence
Plans for using US bombers to stop
the people’s war in El Salvador are
closely linked in aim and logistics to the
efforts to undermine revolutionary
Nicaragua. For both, the launching pad
is Honduras where US military presence
_ has become a permanent reality under
the shadow of perpetual military man-
euvers. The latest of these, Grenadier I,
started in April with US Army engineers
upgrading airstrips with 3,500 foot run-
ways in Jamastran, close to Nicaragua,
and Cucuyugua, close to El Salvador.
These are part of a chain of military air-
ports/bases created or planned, which
can handle the big transport and fighter
planes used by the US armed forces.
The first phase of Grenadier | involved
2,800 US and Honduran troops in May.
The second, staged on the borders with
Guatemala and El Salvador in June,
involved over 5,000, including for the
first time Salvadorean troops. In the third
phase, 750 paratroopers simulated sei-
zure of an «enemy occupied airfield».
After the US invasion of Grenada, this
can only be interpreted as preparations
for invading Nicaragua, or even Cuba.
The emphasis on_ constructing
infrastructure makes these maneuvers
synonymous with US bases. Today
1,700 troops are at Palmerola, where
there has been US presence since the
Big Pine maneuvers of February 1983.
There are 1,000 US personnel at the
regional! military training center of Puerto
Castillo, site of the bulk of counterin-
surgency training for the Salvadorean
army and other reactionary forces.
There are also reports that the US army
is constructing a base for 2,500 troops
and an arsenal including highly toxic
chemical weapons. Not surprisingly, the
OF HONDURAS =——
CARI
;
Yr" uc
B® orE®
TEGUCIGALPA® Jamastrén
PACIFIC ——
OCEAN
: MAP: ENRIQUE F- =»
Le Celba fx Trujillo @)
HONDURAS...
—_
Puerto Lempira
aA+-
KEY
Runway which can handle
C-130 planes
Runways to be rebuilt for C-13
planes . —_
Concluded project -
NICARAGUA.
pad
Military Construction plan
> BIS) +
Campe
23 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 5
- تاريخ
- سبتمبر ١٩٨٤
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed