...U.S. Officials Work to Discredit Leftist Party. Interview with Burke Stansbury, national program director of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, conducted by Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus
As El Salvador Prepares for 2004 Presidential Election, U.S. Officials Work to Discredit Leftist Party
Interview with Burke Stansbury, national program director of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, conducted by Melinda Tuhus
During the 1980s, the U.S. government's military and economic support for repressive right-wing regimes in Central America, challenged by guerrilla movements and civil society, resulted in hundreds of thousands of mostly civilian deaths.
Under terms that ended El Salvador's civil war in the early 1990s, the rebel Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, became a legal political party. It is now contending for power with the conservative ARENA party, founded by the leader of El Salvador's infamous death squads and representing that country's financial elite. ARENA, a staunch supporter of U.S. policy, controls the presidency.
In preparation for a presidential election in March 2004, the FMLN is holding primary elections on July 27. Against this backdrop, the U.S. is stepping up criticism of the FMLN. America's ambassador to El Salvador, Rose Likins, recently attacked FMLN positions on a number of issues and said that U.S. investment could be withdrawn from the country if an FMLN president were elected. Underscoring Washington's position, Daniel Fisk, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for hemispheric affairs, publicly expressed his distrust in the FMLN's "commitment to democracy in El Salvador." He also declared in his June 18 comments, that the FMLN's discourse "looks as if it were written in Havana."
Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Burke Stansbury, national program organizer with CISPES, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, about the growing popularity of the FMLN and subsequent threats from U.S. officials.
For more information on the campaign to oppose U.S. intervention in El Salvadoran politics, call CISPES at (212) 465-8115 or visit their website at:
www.cispes.org
LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below:
66.175.55.251/btl070403.html
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Weekly Summary" which features a RealAudio link to the week's program for Between The Lines, send an email to
btlsummary-subscribe-AT-lists.riseup.net
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Q&A" which features a RealAudio link and weekly transcript to one of the interviews featured on Between The Lines, send an email to
btlqa-subscribe-AT-lists.riseup.net
*
"Between the Lines," WPKN 89.5 FM's weekly radio news magazine can be heard Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET; Wednesdays at 8 a.m. ET and Saturdays at 2 p.m. ET (Wednesday's show airs at 7:30 a.m. ET during fundraising months of April and October).
*
betweenthelines-AT-snet.net
*
©2003 Between The Lines. All Rights Reserved.
**