Mr. President, the prospects for peace in El Salvador have grown dimmer lately. Every day we hear new reports of rebel activity in preparation for another offensive. Last November's offensive cost 2,000 lives. There is every indication that the FMLN's next attempt to achieve by force of arms what they cannot achieve by force of reason will have consequences just as deadly as last year's bloodbath.
On the day before the Senate placed restrictions on military assistance to the freely elected Government of El Salvador, the FMLN signaled the approach of a new offensive with a fierce mortar barrage on the headquarters of the Salvadoran Air Force. There was one casualty--a civilian. Last Tuesday, an FMLN attack on the Defense Ministry managed to kill two children sleeping in one of the many private homes that surround the Ministry.
Mr. President, the FMLN has the inclination and the means to again throw El Salvador into the chaos of war. They are adequately armed to undertake a formidable offensive.
Reliable reports conclude that the FMLN is better armed than it was before the last offensive, having added surface-to-air missiles to its arsenals. Guerrillas are now traveling in larger, combat-ready groups. The Salvadoran Armed Forces have been on their highest state of alert twice this month. They are certain that an FMLN offensive is imminent.
Last Friday, the Senate contributed to the breakdown in peace negotiations and the escalation of hostilities in El Salvador by declining to balance restrictions on our assistance to the Government of El Salvador with our clear support for a cessation of hostilities. I fear that Congress' rejection of a cease-fire condition on the FMLN while we cut aid to the government will encourage the FMLN to pursue a strategy aimed not at the peaceful resolution of the war, but at further undermining Salvadoran military strength. I fear that they will persist in delaying the negotiation process while they wait for the military to feel the pinch of the 50 percent cut in U.S. assistance.
Of course, an offensive is the most rapid way to deplete military arsenals. It is also the FMLN's preferred method of provoking El Salvador's right wing terrorists into commiting human rights atrocities. The despicable murder of the Jesuits in the midst of last year's offensive resulted in the military's loss of one-half of their assistance from the United States. I hope those responsible for that atrocity have learned the lesson that Congress has attempted to teach them, because I am convinced that the FMLN have.
The FMLN have learned that any further involvement in human rights violations by elements of the Salvador military will cost the constitutional Government of El Salvador all of its military assistance. I am quite certain that the FMLN will do whatever necessary to achieve their long sought goal of ending American support for Salvadoran democracy. I urge the Government and Armed Forces of El Salvador to do all in their power to protect Salvadoran noncombatants from attacks by the killers who inhabit both extremes of Salvadoran politics.
Mr. President, for the reasons I have just stated, I am certain that Salvadoran democracy is in imminent danger today. I and other Senators sought to defend Salvadoran democracy by supporting a ceasefire provision in the Foreign Operations bill passed last Friday. We did not succeed. The opponents of our amendment rejected our reasonable appeals, the appeals of the Government of El Salvador, and the appeals of the administration. They rejected all attempts to compromise our differences. They rejected all requests to compel the FMLN to negotiate in earnest. United States policy toward El Salvador is now clearly their responsibility. I pray that they will exercise their responsibility with courage and wisdom.
We will need more than luck and the good wishes of the FMLN's American lobby to save Salvador's democratic experiment. When the FMLN drop all pretense of good faith negotiations and fully resume their violent opposition to democracy, Congress will need to stand united with the President to provide the necessary support to the legitimate Government of El Salvador. Together, we must thwart the FMLN's determination to deprive the Salvadoran people of their right to self-government.
The moment when our commitment to freedom in El Salvador will again be tested is fast approaching. I believe Congress' recent actions have hastened that moment's arrival. I believe that a majority in both Houses of Congress acted with the best of intentions, but I believe Congress has made serious mistakes in designing our new policy toward El Salvador. As I have stated, the authors and supporters of our new relationship with El Salvador will be expected to bear the lion's share of responding to the FMLN's unyielding opposition to Salvadoran democracy.
I am sure that the architects of that policy will remember that their stated goals were peace and freedom for Salvadorans. I believe those noble goals will compel their support for the Government of El Salvador when the FMLN again attempts to force on the people of El Salvador the kind of totalitarian rule that the rest of the world is so busy discarding. I promise them my support, when they rise on the floor of the Senate to call on the President to restore full military assistance to the institutions that a majority of Salvadorans have chosen to govern their country.
