THE LOS ANGELES
Volume 62
Loyola Marymount University December 3, 1984
A Victim of El Salvadoran Democrac/
By CHRIS CHOPPIN
Loyolan News Writer
■ith the help of an interpreter,
Professor Ricardo Calderon ad¬
dressed a group of LMU students last
Wednesday on the state of human rights
in tumultuous El Salvador.
Calderon, a visiting professor of
Chicano Studies at UC Berkley and
former secretary general of the National
University of El Salvador, was a
political prisoner prior to leaving his
country in 1983. He related the story of
his kidnapping and subsequent im¬
prisonment to the LMU audience
assembled.
He was abducted late one night by five
men in civilian clothing and made to
walk a great distance. He was then sub-'
mitted to psychological, as well as
physical torture, forced to go for 11 days
without food, water or sleep arid sub¬
jected to constant interrogation. Follow¬
ing this ordeal, he was transferred to a
public prison and detained for four
months.
Calderon attributed his imprisonment
to his four years as Chancellor of the
University of El Salvador when, as the
official voice of the institution, he con¬
demned the government and the level of
poverty the government sustained in the
people of the country.
During his captivity, Calderon was
shown pictures of himself speaking out
against the government and accused of
being a communist. "The greatest pro¬
blem in our ‘democratic’ country (El
Salvador), is that speaking the truth gets
you put in prison," claimed Calderon.
“In a democracy, the government of
the people is elected. The government is
formed by different sectors of the
population and searches to solve the
social, political and economic problems
of the people "
What is ironic is that, as Calderon
later discovered, he was kidnapped by
the National Police, the head of which is
the president of the commission on
Professor Ricardo Calderon related the
Marymount students this past week .
human rights, as Well as a secretary in
the Duarte regime.
“For more than 50 years there has
been a military dictatorship in El
Salvador, and for 50 years there has
been hunger, repression and misery" in¬
flicted upon the people, revealed
Calderon. “If this is what they call
democracy — then there has always been
democracy in El Salvador," he added.
“A democracy respects the rights of
the people, but the fact remains that 60
percent of the population is destitute
Loyolan photo by Joel Jimenez
tales of horror and injustice from his homeland, tumultuous El Salvador, to Loyola
and unemployed, and 73 percent of the
school-age children suffer from
malnutrition,’* Stated Calderon.
He does not agree with the role the
U.S. is and has been playing in his coun¬
try. “El Salvador is living off what it has
borrowed and is in terrible debt. Arms
are bought from the U.S. with money
previously borrowed from the U.S.
Military aid has increased five times
since the ‘election’ of Duarte."
The professor does not believe that
the rebels will lose their battle. Accor¬
ding to Calderon, they now control one-
third of the country with their own
democratic government and elected
regional president.
It is important to Calderon that he has
the support of his people, which he
clearly does because during June of
1983-while in prison* he was elected
Chancellor for four more years. Unfor¬
tunately, he had to renounce his position
in order to leave the country. He does
plan to return to El Salvador someday
and hopes that when he does, it will be a
safe, just and democratic place for all. ■
KXLU Receives National Recognition
ш
KXL U staff
By PATRICK O’HANNIGAN
Loyolan News Writer
High in the Malone Student Center,
the KXLU bulletin boards speak
for themselves. Dozens of letters from
loyal listeners are tacked proudly to the
cork bases just inside the station en¬
trance. Those letters demonstrate that
the KXLU staff’s long pursuit of ex¬
cellent in college radio has not gone un¬
noticed.
These sentiments were echoed by a
recording industry convention held
Veteran’s Day weekend in New York,
where more than 200 recording and
radio personnel declared KXLU-FM the
best college radio station in the United
States. The honor is an annual one con¬
ferred by the College Media Journal , a
national trade publication, after it tallies
the nominations received from members
of the recording industry.
FM program director Maryann Earl
was one of the KXLU staffers who ac¬
cepted the award. Since it has no specific
criteria, she and music director Russ
Iadevaia asked some convention
delegates why they were impressed with
Loyola Marymount’s student-run radio
station. According to .Earl, “The
delegates liked us because KXLU is
businesslike, because our jocks are
knowledgable about the music they play,
and because we do not try to copy suc¬
cessful commercial stations in our area,
unlike many other college radio
stations."
As the Loyolan noted in its last issue,
(continued on page 4)
