EL SALVADOR

On April 8, 1993 I received an invitation to participate in "the sixth of a new series of timely briefings on current national and international issues" by the Columbus Group, chaired by my roommate of four years (1947-51) at West Point. The topic was to be "El Salvador In Perspective vs. The U.N. `Truth' Commission Report."

The "briefing" was to take place at the Reserve Officers Association in Washington, DC on April 14 at 10:00 a.m. At the time I wished I could have attended and participated. But I did not.

The invitation, however, reminded me of my tenth - close call, this time in Central America. I was the Science and Technology Advisor for the Regional Office of Central American Projects (ROCAP), US AID, for two years, 1979-81. I was called "El Doctor-Ingeniero." El Salvador was one of the five countries serviced by ROCAP, but it was not in El Salvador where I had one more close call on my life, instead it was in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on my first trip there from Guatemala City.

The close call was because of my name, not my politics.

My name, José Andrés Chacón, is very similar to the name of the charismatic and legendary revolutionary hero of El Salvador, Juan A. Chacón. Normally when I sign-in at a Hotel I simply sign J. A. Chacón, which is exactly how Juan was known throughout Central America. Intelligence operatives, such as those in the CIA, would probably not advise anyone to go around signing their name as J. A. Chacón. No one told me that "Te-goose", WASP for Tegucigalpa, was a hot-bed of international intrigue in that there were spies of all shades working as clerks at the hotels.

Late that night there was a loud knock on my door. I asked who it was and was told, "Policia, abra la puerta." I opened the door to find three men armed with automatic weapons cocked and at the ready. One of the men said, "Roberto, no es." In English, "Robert, it is not him."

The men left and I got dressed and went down to the lobby and spoke to the night clerk. He said, "They were Salvadorans; Major Bob's boys." Having been awakened I decided to take a walk around the plaza. I can do that; my Mayan-Aztec features allow me to meld in with the local populace anywhere in Central America. I always felt sorry for all those CIA agents with their ill fitting red wigs in the lobbies of the five star Camino Real in Guatemala and the Maya in Tegucigalpa attempting to camouflage their presence.

I reported the incident to my supervisor at ROCAP on my return to Guatemala City and was debriefed by an "Agricultural Attache" at the American Embassy in Guatemala; to which ROCAP was administratively attached. He told me that my name-sake was a Communist revolutionary. Later I learned that the "Agricultural Attache" was "rumored" to be CIA.

And who was Major Bob? Well that is another story. He was Major Roberto d'Buisson, a cashiered Salvadoran Army major, later head of the ARENA party, and a personal friend of my former roommate at West Point. Small world, eh?

The ARENA party and the Salvadoran Army have been charged with all the atrocities committed against Salvadoran campesínos including American nuns and Jesuit priests.

CBS's 60 Minutes earlier in 1993 did a piece on the case. In fact it was an updated story which included the release of the United Nations Truth Commission Report. The story included in-camera accounts by reporters from the New York Times and the Washington Post who had covered the El Mazote massacre which had been attributed to the Salvadoran Army, more specifically to the "elite" Battalion that had been trained by the US Army and commanded by Major Bob, a graduate of the School of the Americas.

The United States of North America has blood on its hands concerning the atrocities throughout Central America not just in El Salvador.

I do not know anything about the "Columbus Group" but based on my personal experience I would suspect that one of the mirage of US Intelligence Organizations (the CIA, FBI, DIA, NIA, DEA, any others?) was, and is, behind the effort.

The announced purpose of the briefing was "to review recent history of U.S involvement in El Salvador, analyze Salvadoran actions during this period and place in perspective the U.N. "Truth" Commission Report. They will forecast the role this "Truth" Commission report will play in American politics and the consequences for the Republican Party."

If my old West Point roommate had showed up wearing an ill-fitting red wig to the briefing, then I would have been very suspicious.

Yes, I sure wish I could have attended and participated in the briefing. I looked hard in the envelope that brought the invitation. The sender must have forgotten my airline tickets!

I now remembered the words of our Ambassador to El Salvador, Robert White when I related what had happened to me in "Te-goose". He said, "You should have been warned; what with your name."

Things seemed to have quieted down since we returned to stateside after Guatemala and ROCAP. I may not live to have twelve lives, as I have heard the sweet Mama say that one of these days she may give "it" (the pillow) to me. I wonder if I will be able to escape that!

Tearing Down Walls and Breaking Ceilings!

Read On! Enjoy!