Speech #980122913

We receive reports from returning doctors and relief workers of the very political distribution of food and medical aid in El Salvador. People are reportedly starving in the mountains of these countries. as food aid is not generally allowed to be distributed in those areas or to those people outside of Government control. Last week two women from Guatemala spoke on Capitol Hill about the situation in their countrythey estimate that approximately 1 million people in Guatemala are internal refugees. refugees from their own Government. There said that people are literally starving as a result of their fear of their own Government. and so are fleeing into the countryside and mountains. It is reported that the army in Guatemala literally cordons off areas when food arrives and distributes it on a small individual basis to people in Government camps. camps in where there have been massacres by Government forces. camps into which people have been forced after their homes and crops have been burned.