Speech #990002343

It has become a focal point of considerable debate and concern in this body over the last year or two as we have placed a task force for training our reserve forces inside Honduras. as we have used a base there to train some of the Salvadoran officers. as we have had a continuing concern over the welfare of Honduras itself with the increased activities of the Sandinistas and their apparent movement toward their own human rights violations and close proximity and viewpoint to those views shared by some of the Communist satellite countries. particularly Castros Cuba. Honduras I spent 2 days in. as well as El Salvador. I visited both Salvador refugee camps in and along the border of Honduras and El Salvador and I visited the Nicaragua refugee camps along the border of Nicaragua and Honduras. Now. these refugee camps are truly refugee camps. The camps are operated by the United Nations. are under their auspices. with many private voluntary organizations participating. The conditions in those camps and the conditions for life and work and for opportunity are far greater and far better in those camps for those individuals inside Honduras than they are for the hundreds of thousands of disposados. or displaced persons. in camps and in towns. off the farms in El Salvador. Now that does not mean that we want to bring up the conditions in El Salvador to meet those but it is a contrast and It is something that we ought to keep in mind. The United Nations. as far as I can determine. has done a fine job in providing for these individuals. There is on the Salvadoran border several thousand Salvadoran refugees. In one camp I visited. Mesa Grande. there are about 10.000 Salvadorans today. They are in temporary housing. but they are. as I said. well provided for. There is another base camp with almost as many people in Comayaguela. which is located a little closer to the border. These two primary refugee camps exist there. Our concern now at ieast in part is with the fact that there has been an effort made over the last few months to get the Honduras Government to allow the movement of these camps and these refugees further inland. further interior to Honduras and away from this border. away from the conflict. and while some progress was made in the early discussion. that has waned due to some geopolitical problems between the countries of El Salvador and Honduras and some of the other considerations. But some Salvadorans are returning. Several hundred of them have returned and are returning on somewhat of a regular basis right now to El Salvador.