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Miss Ana Margarita Gasteazoro

Volume 19: debated on Wednesday 3 March 1982

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10.

asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will publish the text of the reply received by the Foreign Office from the Salvadorean Government to their inquiries in 1981 about Miss Ana Margarita Gasteazoro's imprisonment.

It is not our policy to publish texts, but I can say to my hon. Friend that the El Salvador Government have told us that this is an internal matter and they cannot accept requests for information from the British Government.

I remind my hon. Friend that Miss Ana Margarita Gasteazoro was helpful to the parliamentary human rights group's visit in 1978. Does he agree that the detention for 10 months of an active democratic politician is not the best sign that the elections in El Salvador will solve that country's problems?

As I have already implied, we have made known the concern of hon. Members about this lady. Clearly, if people are detained in any part of the world they should be charged or released as soon as possible thereafter.

In those circumstances, how can fair elections possibly take place in El Salvador? Will the Minister reconsider the decision that he defended yesterday? If this lady, who is a member of the Social Democratic Party of El Salvador, is kept in gaol for a year without trial, what possibility is there for people on the Left to campaign adequately in elections?

I strongly favour the Government's policy to send two observers to the elections. That is a neutral act. They will see for themselves what the electoral process is like, form an independent opinion and publish their report.

Does my hon. Friend share my dismay and agree with me that, at a time when the Roman Catholic Church, the peasants' trade union and many other organisations in El Salvador are pleading with the world to support the elections, and when the neighbouring democratic States of Costa Rica and Honduras also support the elections, it is depressing in the extreme that Socialist International, and therefore the Labour Party, allied with the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, should be hostile to democratic elections? [HON. MEMBERS: "So is the EEC."] Does he further agree that human rights—[Interruption.]

Does he further agree that the human rights of the lady in question and others in El Salvador will be protected if a constitutional Government can be constructed on the basis of democratic elections, which are rejected by all three Opposition parties in the House?

I agree with my hon. Friend that it is far more constructive to encourage the democratic process, and we believe that it is right to do so. We all note that the Roman Catholic bishops in El Salvador and the Pope himself at the weekend expressed the belief that elections should be held.

I doubt whether the Minister listened very carefully to the disgraceful words of his hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr. Whitney). Does he agree that the democratic Government of Canada, together with all the democratic Governments of Western Europe except Britain, have taken exactly the same view as Her Majesty's Opposition—namely, that there cannot be democratic elections in El Salvador while the whole country is controlled by a military junta which is committing the most appalling atrocities against the people?

This is getting rather repetitive. Yesterday we told the right hon. Gentleman that the Foreign Minister of Canada said that he believes that it is right to hold elections. His point about observers was that he would have preferred them to be part of an international team. The question is what is right for the British Government to do. We believe that the most constructive course is to send two representatives to El Salvador to observe the electoral process rather than sit here as armchair critics.