LOS ANGELES "Tell Pedro so Juan Understands"
Loucky, James & Jamail, Milton
"Do you think it will be safe for my wife to go to work?" a young Indian from Guatemala's highlands asked. His question reflected the fear that has gripped the Central American community in...
...Venezuela's judicial system, even the Supreme Court, is an arm of the president and totally politicized, with judges named by the political parties.* This has led to enormous corruption and dependence...
...The kidnappings and threats come at a time of mounting insecurity for Central Americans, since the majority arrived in this country after the January 1, 1982 cut-off date, and thus do not qualify for amnesty under the Immigration Reform and Control Act, known as the Simpson-Rodino bill...
...Officially we have 15% unemployment, a barbarous figure...
...But MAS is for widening the citizen's power of decision, giving more power to Congress, real power to regional parliaments, electing governors directly, modifying the electoral system so votes are for individual candidates, not for party slates, as it is now, and not just once every five years...
...Moakley is co-author of the Moakley-DeConcini bill which would provide for a suspension of deportation of Salvadoreans and Nicaraguans until the General Accounting Office completes a study of conditions for returnees to Central America...
...Marta Alicia Rivera, who fled El Salvador in 1979 after being kidnapped, raped and interrogated under torture about her activities with ANDES, a national union of educators, received a death threat delivered to her mailbox in mid-afternoon...
...A list of 17 names was included in the letter...
...For political refugees, the violence they fled has not subsided and in the case of El Salvador, death squad activity has been on the increase in recent months...
...This might have been fine in the first years of democracy, when Venezuelans had faith in political parties, but there is now a reaction against this system, particularly from the middle classes...
...Employers are now required to check the immigration status of potential new workers, increasing Central Americans' difficulty in obtaining jobs...
...Attorney Joaquin discounts the possibility of isolated perpetrators...
...The Rev...
...Lusinchi has taken International Monetary Fund [IMF]-type measures: freezing wages, "liberating" prices, restricting state expenditures-although in fairness I must say that he has kept the IMF from acting directly in Venezuela...
...I can't say for sure," says Marta Alicia Rivera, "but in form, in the way they question and torture and terrorize, they are like what I knew in El Salvador...
...Mass...
...And the regional parliaments are so useless in a super-centralized country that even AD's secretary general has commented various times that they should be abolished...
...I'm not talking about the perversions of this or any U.S...
...However, in a later interview with the Los Angeles Times, the ambassador commented that it is possible that those responsible might be immigrants with "connections" to death squads in El Salvador in the past...
...The former agent now lives near MacArthur Park, a social center for many Salvadorean exiles in the Pico-Union area...
...On August 11, the Los Angeles City Council followed with $10,000 in relocation aid for affected refugees, along with a call for a congressional investigation of the attacks and threats...
...Meanwhile, Central Americans in Los Angeles and North Americans who work with them remain cautious...
...The incident occurred outside the Los Angeles office of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) where she had gone Milton Jamail teaches at the University of Texas at Austin and is a longtime contributor to NACLA...
...After two years, Lusinchi hasn't been able to get us out of the rut we're in...
...Freezing salaries and increasing prices further restrict demand...
...A North American woman, whose name was mentioned by the abductors of Ana Maria L6pez, the Guatemalan woman, questioned why they would want to know the names of Guatemalan activists if dictatorship and haven't for 30 years-but of transforming it...
...He discounted that the events were the work of former agents in Los Angeles, but added, "It could also be that someone is being sent from El Salvador, being paid by someone wealthy there...
...Spending cuts don't stimulate production...
...Luis Olivares, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church, received a letter on July 15 containing the capital letters "E.M...
...For residents, a dramatic reminder of the terror which caused many of them to flee their homes has now been added to the familiar restaurants, music and stores...
...These activities cannot and will not be tolerated in Los Angeles," Bradley said, adding that the safety of the Salvadoreans living in Southern California "depends on a public outcry to show that people in this country won't accept acts of political violence and intimidation...
...While some have portrayed the incidents as non-political, few Central Americans question the probability that the attacks are coming from death squads...
...However, the startling and public nature of this violence, hitherto regarded as disturbing but distant, may yet prove to be a tactical error by the Central American Right in the long run-particularly if it generates sufficient negative public response...
...Since the escalation of conflict in Central America in the late 1970s, Los Angeles has become a primary destination of refugees and migrants from El Salvador and Guatemala...
...All of the incidents have been attributed to Salvadorean death squads operating in Los Angeles...
...An estimated 350,000 Salvadoreans and 150,000 Guatemalans live in and around Los Angeles, many concentrated in the Pico-Union district just west of downtown-an area that has been transformed into a microcosm of Central America...
...Olivares' church, the oldest in Los Angeles and best known by its Spanish name-La Placita-has given sanctuary to Central Americans...
...iCosa de locos!l "they were just concerned with El Salvador...
...It's absolutely foolish for any person as public as I am to almost bait some crazy person into taking a pot shot at me," Olivares wryly observed...
...Although it has received little attention, it is clear that the campaign is not directed only at the Salvadorean community or focused solely on Salvadorean issues...
...These are the initials put on doors or buildings of those marked for assassination by death squads in El Salvador," said Father Olivares...
...Ten days later, on July 17, Ana Maria L6pez, a 31-year-old Guatemalan refugee working with the Guatemalan Cultural Center was abducted while changing buses near the center of Los Angeles...
...The July incidents seem to be part of a larger pattern of intimidation in Los Angeles of Central Americans and those opposed to U.S...
...Despite strong Administration opposition, the House voted 237-181 on July 27 to block the deportations...
...Congress...
...two North American men, who proceeded to enter the car and beat her...
...Her abductors said they knew she supported Salvadorean political organizations by going to their events...
...The message in Spanish read "For: Martha [sic] Alicia and her terrorist companions for being a traitor to the country you will die together with your companions...
...State governors are not elected, but appointed by the president...
...U.S...
...More than 30 other Central American activists say they have received death threats by phone or letter, and police are now investigating at least a dozen cases...
...There is a saying we use, 'Tell Pedro so Juan understands.' That means that . . . you are really trying to scare other people besides Pedro...
...Otherwise, they warned, "others" would come after her...
...The drop in oil prices has made everything difficult...
...Moakley called Ezell's allegations "the wildest of speculation . . with the obvious intent of improperly influencing the vote in the House...
...In messages left on the answering machine of one of the women listed, a muffled Salvadorean voice threatened: "For being a communist, we will kill you...
...But one police official-citing numerous inconsistent leads--likened the investigations to a "can of worms...
...After all, it's pretty risky business...
...In a press conference on July 23, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley offered a $10,000 reward for information about the squads...
...While the incidents have sowed fear among Central Americans they have also triggered outrage from others in Los Angeles...
...Mark Rosenbaum, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Los Angeles, commented "there is absolutely no other explanation for this beyond some political motivation...
...In Venezuela, the struggle for democracy is not a question of redeeming democracy-we don't have a *Formally, they are named by Congress...
...Ezell singled out Father Olivares as a leader of the campaign...
...Venezuela's GNP has been falling for seven years...
...Mounting Insecurity As a result of these incidents, fear is widespread among Central Americans in Los Angeles...
...A Los Angeles Times editorial pointed out that "whether these incidents are the work of real death squads or local imitations, they must be stopped as soon and as firmly as law-enforcement authorities can do it...
...Craig L. Stephens, of the University of Southern California School of Medicine, examined Yanira and wrote "the history of the behavior of her kidnappers and the pattern of her injuries is remarkably similiar to that of other victims of torture from El Salvador and Guatemala whom I have previously examined...
...written in felt pen with the number "1" in the bottom right corner...
...You saved yourself in El Salvador here with us you will not succeed [sic...
...It was like an Ionesco play: the same day the agreement was signed, the president announced that it would have to be revised...
...There isn't any reason for it...
...Even though law enforcement officials treat the incidents seriously, El Salvador's ambassador to Washington, Ernesto Rivas Gallont dismissed the threats saying, "I give them very little credibility...
...It gives you strong reason to believe they wouldn't [do this] without strong direction, financing and organization...
...After being held for two hours, the woman was released unharmed...
...On July 27, Ezell stated that reports of Salvadorean death squad activities have "no credence" and should be seen as an "orchestrated PR campaign" by the religious sanctuary community...
...to attend a meeting...
...The southwest regional co-ordinator of CISPES, Hugh Byrne, whose life was threatened and car ransacked, said the kidnapping of Yanira fits within "a framework of earlier activities" and is "just a high leap in terms of the sheer violence and intensity of intimidation" against opponents of Reagan Administration policy in Central America...
...policy in Central America...
...Transforming democracy We are strongly opposed to this government and especially critical of its economic policy, which has subordinated domestic needs to paying the debt...
...will be next...
...FBI spokesman Jim Nielson stated on July 17: "The Los Angeles FBI has opened an investigation into allegations of possible 'El Salvador death squads' operating in the Los Angeles area . . . Recent information reflects the possibility of terrorist activity within the FBI's jurisdiction...
...Immigration and Naturalization Service Western Regional Director, Harold Ezell, not only discounted the possibility of death squad activity, but also indicated that the publicity was generated by religious sanctuary 4 REPORT ON THE AMERICAS REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 4The death squad's message to Father Olivares was signed E.M., Esquadron de la Muerte groups to coincide with congressional debate on the Moakley-DeConcini Bill (HR 618...
...Ezell's claim also outraged Rep...
...On July 7, a 24-year-old Salvadorean woman was kidnapped by two men with Salvadorean accents who forced her at knifepoint into a van...
...James Loucky teaches courses on Central America at the University of California, Los Angeles and Immaculate Heart College Center in Los Angeles...
...His question reflected the fear that has gripped the Central American community in Los Angeles since a Salvadorean woman was kidnapped, tortured and raped on July 7, and a Guatemalan woman was kidnapped on July 17...
...She was kidnapped by two armed men wearing plastic masks, woolen caps and leather gloves who spoke with Salvadorean accents...
...The debt renegotiation counted on oil revenues that we obviously would never receive...
...She was interrogated about her work and about individuals-Guatemalan, Salvadorean and North American-supporting the Salvadorean refugee community and was told to stop supporting Salvadorean organizations...
...People have expressed a commitment to continue to work, but inevitably it will have an impact since a great many Central Americans have come here fleeing death squads," said attorney Linton Joaquin, who is providing legal counsel to some of the victims...
...Venezuela's debt is the fourth largest in Latin America...
...At one point they started cutting my hands with a knife and then lit up cigarettes and started touching them to the tips of my fingers," said the victim, identified only by her first name, Yanira...
...But with an IMF-style policy, he has been able to boast that 'we haven't let the IMF in here.' This is important politically because the IMF is often seen as international genocide...
...If we don't stop it here in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami and Washington, D.C...
...However, a strong public response lessens that potential impact," he added...
...It doesn't make any sense...
...The judiciary is the least autonomous branch of government...
...If they return home they face troubled economies, a fact recognized by both Salvadorean President Jos6 Napole6n Duarte and Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo, who have asked Washington to refrain from deporting their countrymen from the United States...
...Joe Moakley (D...
...You Will Die Together" Dozens of Salvadoreans in Los Angeles say they have received death threats during the month of July...
...So Juan Understands" "Whoever is doing this is probably just trying to scare people, otherwise they would have killed them by now," a former El Salvador police agent and death squad member now living in Los Angeles told the Los Angeles Times...
...The Los Angeles Police Department, which has at least four different divisions working on the case, believes that the same men are involved in both incidents...
...In early June, Yanira's car was forced off the road by is not a power even like the U.S...
...Administration, just about the formal division of powers...
...According to a doctor's report, the woman was repeatedly assaulted with a stick during the incident...
...who demanded a formal INS inquiry into the propriety of Ezell's comments...
Vol. 21 • May 1987 • No. 3
