El Salvador Committee Plans March, Teach-in

The Harvard-Radcliffe Committee on El Salvador is planning a candle-light march and teach-in next month to protest the United States government's support of the ruling military junta in the civil-war torn country.

The march, scheduled for March 12, and the teach-in, set for Paine Hall a dav later, are designed to challenge the Reagan administration to debate the issues of American policy in El Salvador, Jamie Raskin '83, a member of the committee, said yesterday.

Smokescreen

"The present government of El Salvador has land reform as a smokescreen, but really it's an excuse for going into the countryside and killing peasants and leaders of the revolutionary front," Raskin said.

He added that his committee has invited Roy Prosterman, a U.S. official working on the Salvadoran junta's "rural land reform" program, to participate in the teach-in. Raskin said Prosterman has not yet replied.

Alex Bedagna, a representative from Nicaragua to the United Nations, has confirmed that he will be present at the teach-in, Raskin said. He added that a member of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, the guerrilla organization leading the fight against the military junta, might also attend the teach-in.

"We want to focus public attention on the murderous government that our tax dollars are supporting," Raskin said.

He also criticized the recent recommendation by Senate Majority leader Howard Baker (R.Tenn.) to send 150 American military advisers to El Salvador, "We think this deserves nothing less than an outcry all across the nation," he said.

Boston area groups opposing U.S. policy towards El Salvador will sponsor a march on the Boston Common the weekend after the candle-light march and teach-in at Harvard.