CISPES National Office 1525 Newton St. NW Washington DC,
20010 (202)521-2510 Fax: (202)332-3339
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Take Action to Denounce Political Killings in El Salvador
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Government
Officials Fail to Investigate New Wave of Politically Motivated
Assassinations
Just six months before the 2009 municipal
and legislative elections in El Salvador, political violence is
heating up. Since March 2006 when Alex Flores Montoya and Mercedes Peñate de
Montoya, two well-known FMLN leaders, were found dead in the municipality of
Coatepeque, at least 23 leaders of the social movement and FMLN party have been
murdered (see FESPAD
chart). 2008 is a pre-electoral year and thus has been
particularly violent for organized sectors of the population. Such political
violence doesn’t contribute to the democratic electoral process that Salvadoran
people desire; rather, it creates a climate of fear that threatens the upcoming
elections.
On June 26,
student activist Ángel Martínez Cerón,
coordinator of the January 24 Revolutionary Socialist Student Bloc, was killed
in the city of Santa
Ana. Then on July 2 Holman
Riva, an employee of the FMLN’s municipal government
in the municipality of Ilopango, was killed along with his
nephew. Most recently, 27 year-old Rafaela Hernández Delgado, whose husband is
an FMLN member of the municipal government of San Pablo Tacachico, was shot dead
in a bus. San
Pablo is the same town in which FMLN deputy Gerson
Martinez' security guard was shot to death three months ago.
As student groups prepare to commemorate the anniversary
of an infamous massacre of students by government forces on July 30, 1975,
political violence continues in El Salvador 33 years later. In the
last two years, social organizations, human rights monitors, community groups
and the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) political
party have publically denounced the alarming increase in politically-motivated
assassinations of their members and leadership.
2008 has been particularly violent for organized sectors
of the population.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than a
half dozen murders that, though unresolved, seem to be political in nature. The
Salvadoran population in general continues to be affected by the assassinations
of community leaders, including the recent murder of Holman Riva. According to
police reports, Riva, an employee of the FMLN’s municipal government in the
municipality of
Ilopango, was killed on
July 2, along with his nephew. The victims were taken from their home in the
middle of the night and shot with nine bullets
each.
Type: Part time (20-25 Hrs.
/week).
To start on September 1, 2008 (flexible)
Application deadline:
August 19, 2008
Organizational
Background
CISPES has been working in solidarity with the social
justice movement in El Salvador since 1980. In recent years, CISPES has been
building a cross-border movement against U.S.-imposed free trade policies,
corporate globalization, and police/military repression of the social movement.
We also continue to build support for a just economic and social alternative in
El Salvador and work as part of the larger social justice movement in the United
States.
Chapter Program and
Coordination
We organize annual speaking tours, cultural and
educational events, and fundraisers to raise awareness of the on-going struggle
in El Salvador. We also mobilize an Emergency Response Network to protest and
put pressure the U.S. and Salvadoran governments. Each year, we take a
delegation to El Salvador so that activists can see firsthand the importance of
solidarity work, understand the interdependency between local and global issues
and to meet with various organizations with whom we work in solidarity.
Primary Job
Responsibilities:
Coordinate the creative implementation of the CISPES national program at the
grassroots local level (30% of job responsibility)
Develop strategies to recruit new volunteers and work with volunteers to
build their leadership abilities and organizing skills (30%)
An Evening to Celebrate the Life of Our Compañero Don White
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
PRESENTE!
Sunday,
August 10th
6:00 PM to 9:00
PM Immanuel Presbyterian
Church
3300 Wilshire
Blvd.Los
Angeles90010 (Corner
ofBerendo
Street,
2 blocks west of
Vermont
Avenue)
SPEAKERS and MUSICIANS WILL
INCLUDE:
Dennis White, Sonali
Kolhatkar, Blase & Theresa Bonpane,
Margaret Prescod, Jim Lafferty, Mimi Kennedy,Maria
Armoudian,Carlos Escorcia, Angela Sanbrano, Ross
Altman, Aris Anagnos, Carlos
Jiménez, Francisco Martinez, Cole Miller, Jose-Luis
Orozco, Frank Dorrel, Sabina
Virgo, Linda Tubach, Dennis Davis, Berny Moto, Mario Avila
&
others.
¡Compañero!
A
Film aboutDon in His Own Words
~
By Peter Dudar
& Sally Marr
PARKING: Available across the street at the United
Teachers LosAngelesUnion
Hall PUBLIC TRANSIT:
Vermont & Wilshire Red Line
Stop ORGANIZED BY:
El Comité de Companeros de Don 'Blanco'
Beloved by Everyone in the Peace & Justice
Community of Los
Angeles~
April 18th,
1937
~ June
19th, 2008
More Information Call: 310-838-8131
Release: US Embassy Admits to Intervention in 2004 Salvadoran Presidential Elections
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Fact-Finding
Delegation Pledges to Hold Current Ambassador Glazer to Non-Interventionist
Commitment for 2009
July 10, 2008
Contact: Burke Stansbury – 202 521 2510 ext. 205 or
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During a recent
heated meeting at the US Embassy in El Salvador,
Ambassador Charles Glazer admitted to U.S. intervention in the 2004
Salvadoran Presidential Elections.The
meeting on June 27 was requested by a group of 12 U.S. citizens, including
professors, students, journalists and community activists who were taking part
in a 10-day delegation organized by the Committee in Solidarity with the People
of El Salvador (CISPES).
In their meeting with
the Ambassador, the group focused specifically on the history of U.S. political and military intervention in El Salvador.They cited statements made by US State
Department officials denouncing. the leftist Farabundo Marti Liberation Front
(FMLN) party during the 2004 presidential campaign.The delegates also referenced legislation put
forward in Congress by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) that threatened to cut off
remittances sent by Salvadorans in the U.S.
to their families in El
Salvador should the FMLN win.“The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador never countered this absurd threat
or clarified the impossibility of such legislation being passed,” said Rosa
Lozano, a delegate from Washington
D.C.“Ultimately, such intervention helped turn a
close race for the presidency into a decisive victory for the right-wing
National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party.”
CISPES will organize TWO delegation in early 2009 for the hugely important Salvadoran elections. The first one will be for the legislative and municiple elections and the tentative dates are January 11-21.
The second delegation is tentatively set for March 9-19 and will be to observe the presidential elections.
CISPES Delegation in El Salvador Presents Initial Observations about Elections and Rights Violations
Tuesday, 01 July 2008
CISPES Delegation Statement
June 28, 2008
We come to El
Salvador from diverse sectors of the U.S. population.We are unionists, teachers, students,
journalists, and activists, among others.Our mission is to monitor the human rights abuses in the country, but we
also came to witness the tenacity and hope of the Salvadoran people so that we
can continue to construct a movement that struggles alongside them.
We have also come to El Salvador to monitor how our
government is interfering in the Salvadoran electoral process of 2009.We believe that the U.S. must actively avoid
any intervention in the elections.
In 2004 U.S.
officials such as Rose Likins, Roger Noriega, Otto Reich, and Tom Tancredo all
stated that an FMLN victory would jeopardize the relationship between the U.S. and El Salvador.In the most glaring example, Congressmen Tom
Tancredo threatened that the US would restrict remittances if the FMLN were to
win the elections. This statement, among others, caused many Salvadorans to
vote out of fear of U.S. retaliation.The U.S. embassy failed to correct this false information.
CISPES will organize TWO delegation in early 2009 for the hugely important Salvadoran elections. The first one will be for the legislative and municiple elections and the tentative dates are January 11-21.
