The Ambassador takes on the President
Day two of the conference led to an interesting exchange between Thomas R. Pickering, former US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and Ambassador to El Salvador (1983-1985) and former Salvadoran President Armando Calderon Sol. I don't exactly remember how it started but Ambassador Pickering spoke about how he was not exactly one of Roberto D'Aubuisson's favorite people.
D'Aubuisson threatened to kill the ambassador in 1984. Members of Senator Jesse Helms' staff traveled to El Salvador to presumably tell D'Aubuisson to knock it off. At the time, the United States was providing millions of dollars to the Christian Democratic Party to help Jose Napoleon Duarte win that year's election against D'Aubuisson.
Calderon Sol tried to come to D'Aubuisson's defense. He downplayed the seriousness of the threat and seemed to try to just pass the threat off as something said within the heat of the 1984 campaign. Ambassador Pickering firmly rejected such a characterization.
Earlier in the day people were surprised to hear Calderon Sol praise D'Aubuisson's support for the peace process. He supported Alfredo Cristiani's peace overtures to the FMLN. He worked to keep ARENA united behind Cristiani. I've heard that several times but I guess that his support is not widely known.
Salvadoran Ambassador to the United Nations and former leader of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR) Ruben Zamora told a group of us two years ago about D'Aubuisson's support within the Legislative Assembly. There were a number of bills that needed to be passed as part of the peace accords to smooth the transition of the FMLN from a guerrilla group to a political party. Zamora credited D'Aubuisson with making that happen.
There are a few books about D'Aubuisson that might have the answers why he supported the process. I don't know. Like many of you, his behavior during the peace process seems to go against what we know about the man. Perhaps it was a change as he neared the end of his life or a simple recognition that the war could not go on forever.
D'Aubuisson threatened to kill the ambassador in 1984. Members of Senator Jesse Helms' staff traveled to El Salvador to presumably tell D'Aubuisson to knock it off. At the time, the United States was providing millions of dollars to the Christian Democratic Party to help Jose Napoleon Duarte win that year's election against D'Aubuisson.
Calderon Sol tried to come to D'Aubuisson's defense. He downplayed the seriousness of the threat and seemed to try to just pass the threat off as something said within the heat of the 1984 campaign. Ambassador Pickering firmly rejected such a characterization.
Earlier in the day people were surprised to hear Calderon Sol praise D'Aubuisson's support for the peace process. He supported Alfredo Cristiani's peace overtures to the FMLN. He worked to keep ARENA united behind Cristiani. I've heard that several times but I guess that his support is not widely known.
Salvadoran Ambassador to the United Nations and former leader of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR) Ruben Zamora told a group of us two years ago about D'Aubuisson's support within the Legislative Assembly. There were a number of bills that needed to be passed as part of the peace accords to smooth the transition of the FMLN from a guerrilla group to a political party. Zamora credited D'Aubuisson with making that happen.
There are a few books about D'Aubuisson that might have the answers why he supported the process. I don't know. Like many of you, his behavior during the peace process seems to go against what we know about the man. Perhaps it was a change as he neared the end of his life or a simple recognition that the war could not go on forever.
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