Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

Patterns of Intervention
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
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hands of the armed forces” who “know only how to repress the people
and defend the interests of the Salvadorean oligarchy”:” 41
It is beyond doubt that increasingly it is the people themselves
that are becoming conscientized and organized, and thereby
preparing itself to take the initiative and shoulder the responsibility
for the future of El Salvador. The people’s organizations are the
only social force capable of resolving the crisis. It would be totally
wrong and deplorable if the Salvadoran people were to be
frustrated, repressed, or in any way impeded from deciding for
itself the economic and political future of our country by
intervention on the part of a foreign power.
But increasing the repression, destroying the people’s organizations,
and preventing independence were the very essence of US policy, so
Carter ignored the Archbishop’s plea and sent the aid, to “strengthen the
army’s key role in reforms” 42 —a statement that would have made Orwell
cringe. The results were predictable: at this point, we enter into the
system illustrated in chapter 1.
Romero’s plea to Carter to refrain from destroying the popular
organizations by violence was not unique. Three years later, Jaime
Cardinal Sin, leader of the 42 million Catholic community of the
Philippines, urged Reagan to halt military aid to the Marcos dictatorship
because Filipinos were being “slaughtered and massacred” with
American weapons. This plea too was ignored by the government and
barely noted in the media.” 43
In March 1980, Archbishop Romero was assassinated. A judicial
investigation was initiated, headed by Judge Atilio Ramírez. He accused
General Medrano, the death squad organizer and US favorite, and