Council Will Not Sponsor Local Sister City Mission

The City Council of what has been termed the "People's Republic of Cambridge" last night chose to limit the extend of its Central American foreign policy.

The nine-member council refused a request for official sponsorship of a local mission to investigate reports that Salvadoran troops recently invaded San Jose Las Flores, the Central American town which may become Cambridge's symbolic "sister city."

David Grosser, a member of the Cambridge-El Salvador Sister City Project, testified that he and Susan Freireich would join a group leaving Thursday to seek the release of 11 villagers who have been arrested by Salvadoran police. Grosser said the council's endorsement would "ensure our safety on this trip" and lend force to their requests.

An independent organization called the U.S. Office on Human Rights in El Salvador reported that a government force of 500 descended on the village in helicopters on April 1.

"They intimidated the villagers, made a house-to-house search and arrested 11 people, many of whom we know," she said. The group visited Las Flores during the Christmas holiday and met several community leaders at that time.

The group invited two Cambridge citizens to join its investigative mission because of the pending sister-city relationship, said Freireich. As of last night, both Cambridge and San Jose Las Flores had invited each other to establish the relationship, but no formal ceremony has formally united them.

"I'm afraid that this project is turning into a publicity stunt, and I don't like it," City Councilor Alfred E. Vellucci said, reiterating comments made by councilors Francis H. Duehay '55 and William H. Walsh. However, both Duehay and Walsh said they personally supported the visit.

Duehay said official support for the visit would represent an "escalation" of Cambridge's role as a sister city, which he said was intended to involve no more than humanitarian aid and cultural exchanges. "The whole notion of getting involved in the internal politics of a state through the sister city project is not appropriate," he said, adding that Cambridge should instead ask Massachusetts Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy '54 to lodge formal complaints about the invasion.

Vellucci further observed that Cambridge is legally liable for the fate of persons it designates as envoys, and said the city could open itself to a suit if the Americans met any harm in El Salvador.

A vote had been scheduled on the motion that will make the sister city bond official. However, the Council postponed consideration of this order until a hearing on April 27, when the mission will have returned.

During its upcoming, five-day trip, Freireich said the group will seek meetings with President Jose Napoleon Duarte, American Ambassador Edwin Corr and El Salvadoran military leaders. Members also plan to visit the village, gather testimony about the attack and report it at a press conference in San Salvador.

Freireich conceded that these goals would be difficult to accomplish during a five-day tour that includes Easter weekend in a predominantly Catholic country. "We've got some holes in this plan," she said.

However, Freireich said she hoped for results similar to those achieved in November, when she said letters from Cambridge residents and both Massachusetts senators contributed to the release of several Las Flores villagers being held without charges.