US role in El Salvador conflict

Excuses about stopping communism in Central America were just a coverup for a policy of repressing demands for decent wages, housing, education, and human rights. We have been told that El Salvador is a "fledgling democracy." Apparently, democracy means freedom of choice with a gun to the head.

The media seems suddenly willing to reveal the barbarism of a US client state. Yet the evidence has been available all along. Perhaps the media chose to ignore it for political reasons.

Supporting foreign oligarchies, rather than regarding them as aberrations or necessary evils, is deliberate. When brought to light, specific abuses come across as episodic - perhaps attributable to corrupt individuals in high places and not the result of overall domination. L. Gagnon, Belchertown, Mass.

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