Leftists go on 'war footing’

Press, 28 March 1980, Page 6

Leftists go on 'war footing’

NZPA-Reuter San Salvador Leftist forces in El Salvador have moved a step closer to revolution by declaring themselves on a war footing. Members of the ruling junta dismissed the move as an act of bravado. The Revolutionary Co-or-dinator of the Masses, an or? ganisation which groups most of the country’s Leftists and their guerrilla allies, made the declaration at a press conference. It said the death last Monday of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, El Salvador s leading advocate of human rights, would not be in vain.His struggle against repression and injustice would be translated on to the battlefield. The Leftists would remain on a war footing until they achieved their goal, of overthrowing the civilian-mili-tary junta which has ruled this Central American republic for the past six months. Jose Morales- Erlich, a member of .the ruling junta which is battling both Left and Right-Wing opposition to its recently introduced social reforms, countered by saying the Left had realised it did not have the support of the people. Monsignor Ricardo Urioste, vicar-general of San Salvador, said he did not be? lieve Archbishop Romero’s death would start a civil war.

“I think the level of violence will no doubt rise but I don’t believe it will spark a revolution principally because the Left do not yet have the capacity to wage all-out war,” he said; ’ Despite* the' Government’s show of 'confidence it has placed security forces on alert.

Heavily armed troops patrolled the streets and armoured cars were parked • at key places after a spate of

bomb explosions and clashes between security forces and Leftists immediately after Archbishop Romero’s death. The police said shots were fired during a procession yesterday when Archbishop Romero’s body was being transferred to the San Salvador Cathedral but there were no casualties. In other incidents six people were reported killed. Archbishop Romero, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Peace by British politicians last year, will be buried on Sunday in a crypt inside the cathedral.

Diplomats and newspapers across Latin America have drawn a parallel between the Archbishop’s assassination and the murder of a newspaper editor, Pedro Joaquim Chamorro, in neighbouring Nicaragua, which = triggered the uprising against President Anastasio Somoza last year.

A power struggle between Leftist and Rightist forces in El Salvador has intensified since' the junta took over from the deposed Rightist President Carlos Humberto Romero last October. At least 700 people have been reported killed in politically motivated violence.

The root of the problem between both sides is that the Left deeply embittered by years of oppression, no longer believes in reforms. The Right on the other hand sees reforms as a move towards communism.

Monsignor Urioste said the junta’s sweeping agrn arian and banking reforms were a step in the right direction but added: “The reforms cannot be built on a pile of bodies.” He said that while the junta was carrying out reforms, security forces were massacring peasants suspected of. having links \withi Leftists,