Salvadorean liberation forces make gains revolutionists of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) waged a new offensive against the forces of the dictatorship in October.
October 10, units of the 700 fighters, launched a series of coordinated attacks against military various points of the country.
Venceremos, broadcasting from territory under control of the revolutionists, major successes were scored. Three important areas were taken in Morazan province in the eastern part of the country, and two in Chalatenango province, north of the first time in many months, several actions were carried out in the capital, simultaneously with this offensive. Small units of uniformed guerrillas managed to occupy northern suburbs of San Salvador for a time, and then withdrew after having destroyed electrical and telecommunications installations used by
Since then, the capital has resumed the appearance typical of it in recent years, which it lost to some extent after the electoral farce last spring. Once again, it has the look of an occupied city, kept under close surveillance by uniformed men ordered to spread terror as the best means of "maintaining order."
buttressed by officers and specialists recently trained in the U.S. and "advised" by a growing number of American officers, have been sent to the eastern and western areas,
After a week of very sharp fighting -"the sharpest in a long time,
American correspondents balance sheet was catastrophic for a regime that claims to "control nearly all the country."
In Morazan province, all telephone communications were cut and the towns of Perquin, San Fernando, and Torola remain under the control of FMLN
The various operations carried out by government troops to retake these towns have all failed. At the gates of Perquin, a whole company of government soldiers was decimated. A hundred and twenty-four soldiers were killed or taken prisoner.
According to Radio Venceremos, a battalion sent from the capital to the guerrilla-occupied towns was halted, and then forced to retreat after very violent fighting. This report is confirmed by several international journalists.
In the province of Chalatenango, the government forces were also unable to towns of Las Vueltas and El Jicaro, also under the
On October 13, government against these towns but were driven back.
According to a member of the military general staff, the government troops find themselves in a "critical" position in this area, where the population is actively engaged in the fighting alongside the guer-
Reinforcements sent into have to use the country's main road, the Pan-American Highway. But it has been cut at several points since the start of the revolutionists' offensive. The same situation exists on the other major road, the coast highway.
Transportation between the capital and a large part of the country has been virtually paralyzed, and troop movements have been seriously delayed and sometimes even made impossible.
operations have also been carried out in other regions where the guerrillas have traditionally not been so
In the province of Cabanas, between Chalatenanngo and Morazan, two military posts fell into the hands of the FMLN. In the province of Usulutan, in the southern part of the country, the port of El Triunfo was blocked and brought under the control of the guerrillas.
This latest offensive was launched on the second anniversary of the formation of the FMLN, which was founded on October 10, 1980, and the third anniversary of the coup d'etat that installed the military clique that, since October 15, 1979, continues to hold real power in the country, although it does so behind the facade of "President" Magana.
The breadth of the guerrilla operations, the extent to which they were coordinated over a large part of Salvadorean territory, and the extent of the popular answer the Salvadorean revolutionists could give to those who were claiming that their isolation and losses had made them "incapable of conducting any more major military actions." (This assertion was made, for example, recently in Washington by a high State Department offi-
As for the dictatorship, the political advantages it hoped to gain from the "elections" last March 28 have proven to be quite meagre.
Imperialist financial and technical aid, massive arms shipments, and intensive training of elite units for counterinsur gency warfare have not succeeded in shifting the balance in favor of the government forces.
It is in this context that the new offers of negotiations that the FMLN made during its October offensive have to be seen. It proposed talks without any prior conditions. But even the idea of negotiations was rejected by the genocidal military chiefs in San Salvador. Their main concern remains to crush the revolutionary forces militarily. And this objective is shared by the American embassy, which does not care how much this will cost the martyred people of El Salvador
"We have to liquidate 10% of the population of this country and peace will be assured for the other 90%," Major d'Aubuisson bellowed hysterically at his electoral rallies last March. At that time he was only the leading figure of the Salvadorean far right. Today he is one of the strongmen of the dictatorship.
How many others are there like d'Aubuisson in the government and the military general staffs who have become embittered by their repeated failures and now, like him, are thinking of going for double or nothing.