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From: myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Latitudinarian Lobster)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Whom Should We Believe
Message-ID: <1857@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Dec-85 12:47:20 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1857
Posted: Thu Dec 26 12:47:20 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 29-Dec-85 01:06:36 EST
References: <36@decwrl.UUCP> <8084@ucla-cs.ARPA> <1843@uwmacc.UUCP> <8162@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Organization: Ken Kopp's Fresh Seafood Tank
Lines: 77

> >Hm.  Perhaps you are Salvadoran?  I think that Ed Asner recently pointed out
> >during his visit to Madison that LA has more Salvadorans than San Salvador.
> 
> Nope, LA is also the city with more Mexicans after Mexico City, but that
> doesn't make me a Mexican either.
> 

We give up.  Now that you have our interest up, Eduardo, will you identify your
patria?

> >And speaking of El Salvador, sen~or Krell, what are you feelings about the
> >conflict in that country?
> 
>   This is an interesting problem. Lets remember that the first time Mr. Duarte
> was in power, the military removed him from office acussing him from being
> a communist. Now, people in the left say he is a fascist.
> 
>   Since Mr. Duarte himself nor the Christian Democratic Party have changed,
> this goes to show us how the same person can be thought of being in one
> extreme or the other, depending on who is the observer. Intriguing ...

Neither have changed?  That would be very intriguing indeed.  I was under the
impression that the left faction of the party went over to the support of the
rebels by joining the FDR six or seven years ago.  Being President also has
a habit of changing one dramatically.  An ``interesting problem''?  I'd say
that it is a good deal more serious than that.  However interesting our banter
(and those of our compan~ero netters) may be, it's not just an intellectual
game that we are playing.

> 
>   Anyway, for those of us who know some latin american political history
> not from reading books or newspaper articles or taking a 2 week trip but
> from having lived there for most of our lives,...

Thank you for pointing out my whipper-snapper-ness with respect to Latin
history and culture.  Might we also ask what brought you from your native land
to our golden shores?  (Visions of Ar-Pharazon, last king of Numenor, sailing
off to the Undying Lands.)

You might be surprised at how little most Americans know about their own
history.

> ...it should be clear that
> the christian democrats are in the center-left portion of the spectrum.
> That deosn't make them communists nor fascists.

And it doesn't put them in control of the military, either.  Center-right,
Center-center, or Center-left is also a matter of perspective, ?no?

> 
>   They have brought social and economic changes. For instance, President
> Frei in Chile who was in power 1964-1970 started the agrarian reforms
> that where continued by Allende. There are more examples if anyone is
> interested.

This is true.  He also worked for the military coup which killed and overthrew
Allende and thousands of Chileans on the hope that he and/or his party could
return to power in post-coup elections -- but Pinochet had other plans.

> 
>   Of curse, Mr. Duarte has some serious trouble with the war against
> the rebels to solve before he can effectively bring changes. Duarte
> has asked the rebels to sit down and negotiate with the government.
> They did so a couple of times but the rebels broke up the negotiations.
> At least they can sit down and talk. The Sandinistas won't even do that.
> -- 
>     Eduardo Krell               UCLA Computer Science Department

Sources?  Talk is cheap -- the rebels say the reverse.

-- 
Jeff Myers				The views above may or may not
University of Wisconsin-Madison		reflect the views of any other
Madison Academic Computing Center	person or group at UW-Madison.
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