What is El Salvador? It is, you may have heard, a country in which fascist hordes led by the abominable President José Napoleón Duarte, egged on by the reactionary Ronald Reagan, suppress noble fighters for freedom and democracy. This is the explanation given out in Europe and by some circles in the U.S. to all who would like to believe it.
It is true that the Carter Administration at one point cut military aid to El Salvador—touching off January’s leftist “final offensive,” which flopped—but one of Carter’s last acts was to renew help for the Junta, because the U.S. has no other choice. The Reagan Administration is well aware of this. It is ridiculous to say, as many do, that what happens in El Salvador isn’t Washington’s business. It is of the greatest importance to all of Central America, and therefore to the United States.
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