Vol. 76/No. 38 October 22, 2012
October 23, 1987
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador—A billboard on the road from the airport to downtown San Salvador proclaims, “Welcome to Salvadoran Democracy.” But the true face of this U.S.-backed regime is revealed by the continued and increasing use of terror against all opponents of the government.Kidnappings, disappearances, and official and unofficial acts of repression have been on the rise in recent months, as José Napoleón Duarte’s regime tries to intimidate all political and working-class opposition to his rule.
In May a bomb destroyed the offices of a coalition of three committees of mothers of the disappeared and political prisoners. That same month a leader of the National Union of Salvadoran Workers was shot while protesting outside the Mariona Prison, where many victims of the regime are held, often without being charged. Recently political prisoners were attacked by prison guards and soldiers.
October 22, 1962
The great majority of the American people are opposed to a U.S. military attack against Cuba. President John F. Kennedy has begun to court this majority sentiment by attacking Republican advocates of immediate invasion. At the same time he continues his efforts to strangle the Cuban Revolution and preparations for a direct U.S. military assault at some future time.While the American people have been blinded to the truth about the Cuban Revolution by the propaganda barrage, they are nevertheless opposed to flaunting world opinion or risking nuclear war over Cuba.
The only reason there hasn’t been any shooting incidents directly involving U.S. and Cuban forces so far is because the Cubans have refrained from responding to provocation—and the provocations are great. James Reston reported in the Oct. 12 Times that the Kennedy administration “is sending its planes over Cuba night and day.”
October 23, 1937
Since September 13, a trial, silently ignored by the American press, has been taking place at the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The eleven nationalist defendants, including Julio Pinto Gandia, President of the Nationalist Party, are accused of assassinating an insular policeman who was killed during the premeditated police machine gun attack upon a nationalist demonstration on March 21, 1937.The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico calls for the independence of that island from the United States. The Roosevelt administration which so hypocritically condemns Japanese violation of Chinese territorial integrity in the name of “humanitarianism” and “civilization,” has been ruthlessly suppressing the national aspirations of the Puerto Rican people. The nationalists are constantly being terrorized, hounded and incarcerated.
For the right of the Puerto Rican people to their independence!