On July 5, government police in San Salvador clashed with students who were protesting against rising public transportation costs and unemployment. The police brutally repressed the demonstration with gunfire and tear gas. The police riot began when at least two police helicopters flew over the demonstration and began shooting ammunition at the protesters. There were snipers on rooftops in the surrounding areas. Several students and an instructor were injured.
In the midst of the ensuing confusion, armed protesters opened fire on the helicopters and riot police, killing two soldiers and injuring 12 more. The officers then rounded-up everyone in sight, savagely beating demonstrators and even pedestrians walking through the area. The police occupied El Salvador’s National University for days, terrorized students and instructors, and arrested 20 to 30 people.
The right-wing Arena government has used the events as an excuse to repress the growing progressive movement.
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According to Beatrice de Carrillo, head of El Salvador’s Human Rights Office, the July 5 police repression was the “worst violation of human rights” since the signing of the peace accords in 1992. This kind of state violence is nothing new in El Salvador.
Living conditions continue to worsen
In the 1980s, the Salvadoran people fought a guerrilla war against domestic oppression and U.S. imperialism. The civil war lasted 12 years. Peace accords were signed in 1992 with the intervention of the UN. But the root causes of that war—the terrible economic and social conditions in the country—were never addressed. Now, 14 years later, the same conditions that generated that conflict have worsened.
Since the signing of the peace accords, the economy has been devastated by CAFTA and other neoliberal policies forced on the Salvadoran people by U.S. imperialism and the Arena-led puppet government. The Arena party governs on behalf of El Salvador’s elite, which includes the vast business interests of the former murderers who remain unpunished after the civil war.
While the right-wing Arena government has been busy executing the mandates of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the Salvadoran people have been engaged in a struggle for survival. The situation in the country for workers and the poor is dire.
The number of poor and unemployed has risen since 1992. Most people live on less than one dollar a day. Unemployment is high in cities and the countryside.
The agricultural industry has been decimated. Many farmers who formerly owned or operated small farms have been turned into low-wage maquiladora workers. At the same time, workers rights have been severely eroded and unions are under constant attack by unfavorable laws and police repression. Unions are forbidden in the maquiladoras.
In addition, privatization has swept up basic industries, dramatically decreasing access to basic social services like health care, education and potable drinking water.
Recent protests, like the July 5 student action, have gained steam as a direct result of these social crises. But the government has responded harshly, often with deadly force or imprisonment, to any attempt to protest these policies and the worsening quality of life.
Despite the peace accords, the situation for the people of El Salvador is hardly peaceful. The events of July 5 demonstrate that reality.
Government repression, a new struggle
The Arena government has accused the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN)—the former leftist guerrilla movement, which is now part of the capitalist government—of instigating the violence and breaking the peace agreements in the wake of the July 5 events. Arena also tried to enact draconian new “anti-terrorism” laws, but failed to convince the assembly to pass them.
Arena has raided the offices of trade unions, threatened FMLN government deputies and more. President and Arena
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U.S. ambassador to El Salvador Douglas Barclay told the press on July 8 that the violence at on July 5 was a “terrorist act.” He then suggested that the U.S. government could “help” in the investigation through FBI assistance.
In an unfortunate move, the FMLN leadership succumbed to pressure and denounced both the violence of the riot police and the students’ response on July 5. But revolutionary Marxists know that there is no equal sign between the violence of the oppressors and that of the oppressed. The reactionary, U.S.-backed Arena party and the police are squarely to blame, not the students.
New facts show that the Arena party may be responsible quite literally for the two cop’s deaths. The Human Rights Office implied that police snipers probably pulled the trigger: “the deaths appeared to be very exact sniper executions that hit one police officer in the head and the other in the heart, to kill. This indicates that there has been a specific will to provoke this outcome.”
No matter who shot the police, the Arena-led government and its U.S. backers are the forces that have pushed the Salvadoran people to the brink of desperation and ignited justified anger.
A real debate is taking place currently in the streets, in the classrooms and thoughout the whole country—what to do next? While some forces are attempting to diffuse the class struggle, new leaders are rising to the occasion.
Militant demonstrations have taken place since the events of July 5, demanding the immediate release of all those detained. More protests are being planned for the coming weeks.
In the Salvadoran struggle, there are difficult days ahead; this is only the beginning. The Salvadoran people need the unqualified support of all revolutionary and progressive forces in the United States and beyond.
