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ANTI-TERRORISM LEGISLATION AND THE SEEDS OF REVOLUTION IN EL SAVADOR.

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The killing of two policemen in El Salvador has prompted the conservative ARENA government to seek new anti-terror legislation that opponents say will unleash a wave of repression and return the country to revolutionary times. There is some evidence that the seeds of revolution have already been sown. The alleged killer of the two cops said he is a member of the Brigada Revolucionaria de Estudiantes Salvadorenos (BRES). BRES members are thought to be the children of revolution. They come, say informants, from the San Salvador suburb of Mejicanos, where many ex-fighters from the civil war live in poverty.

An unnamed source told reporters, "They come from a culture of social consciousness; they live in poverty and in a community that has been packed with weapons."

The weapons are presumed to be leftovers from the civil war, ended in 1992 with a peace agreement. Ballistics reports have determined the weapon used was a US-made M-16. Speculation has arisen that the shooting, which occurred at a demonstration against rising bus fares and utility rates, signals a return to revolution as an option in the struggle for justice and equality in the country. "We have to admit that a new revolutionary fringe is forming. It's an open secret," said El Salvador's human rights ombud (Procuradora de Derechos Humanos, PDDHH) Beatrice de Carrillo.

Political analyst Leonel Gomez says the lack of progress on social problems...

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