Stand in Solidarity with the People of Honduras - LASC alert and demands
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Military Coup in Honduras - Stand in Solidarity with the People of Honduras
The Latin America Solidarity Coalition (LASC) condemns the military
coup against the democratically elected Honduran President Zelaya. The
Honduran social movements, who are courageously resisting the military
take-over through protests, occupations and strikes, are calling on the
international community to speak up in defense of real and direct
democracy, for life, justice, liberty, dignity and peace.
Call the State Department and the White House and ask for actions, not merely words, including:
1. A cut off of all US aid (as required by US law) until Zelaya is safely returned to office.
2. Financial sanctions against the coup plotters
3. An investigation into what signals U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens gave to coup plotters before the coup.
Background: A military coup took place in Honduras on Sunday,
June 28, led by SOA graduate Romeo Vasquez. In the early hours of the
day, members of the Honduran military surrounded the presidential
palace and forced the democratically elected president, Manuel Zelaya,
into custody. He was immediately flown to Costa Rica.
Anti-mining organizer from San Isidro missing, foul play suspected
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Also in this
update:
Mining corporations
attack FMLN government
FMLN and Mauricio Funes
join presidents throughout Latin America in denouncing coup in Honduras
Funes reports on
corruption
FMLN uncovers plan to spy
on new administration
Funes and his new
administration begin the process of change
Social movement organizations have denounced the
disappearance of Gustavo Marcelo Rivera, a well-known anti-mining organizer from
the town of San
Isidro, Cabañas. Rivera is a local leader of the FMLN
party, the director of the San Isidro Community Center, and the legal
representative of Amigos de San Isidro Cabañas (ASIC). He is a vocal opponent
of the El Dorado gold mine, a project of the
Pacific Rim mining company that has been
stalled based on disputes over permits. Pacific Rim recently sued
El Salvador for $77 million
under the Central America Free Trade Agreement after the government refused to
grant a permit to open the El
Dorado mine.
After centuries of violent inequality and repression, a dozen years of armed struggle against a brutal, U.S.-backed military, and two decades of rule by the right-wing ARENA party, the Salvadoran people elected the first leftist president in their country’s history on March 15th, 2009. President Mauricio Funes of the FMLN takes office on June 1st, bringing El Salvador into a growing community of Latin America nations seeking to chart their own, independent economic and political course. Join CISPES to learn about the platform, plans, and strategy of the new FMLN government... ...and what WE can do in the U.S. to support the strengthening of REAL democracy in El Salvador!
CISPES letter of solidarity with Alex Sanchez and Homies Unidos
Thursday, 25 June 2009
It
was with sadness and indignation that we learned of the
arrest of Alex Sanchez, executive director of Homies Unidos in Los
Angeles, by the FBI on June 24. Alex is a longtime fighter for justice
in the
immigrant community and has worked tirelessly to support the rights of
youth in
the US and El Salvador. He and Homies Unidos, the violence prevention
and gang intervention organization he helped found, have been close
allies of
CISPES in the struggle for justice and against police violence
throughout the Americas.
We are concerned that the federal indictment against Alex
follows in a long line of false charges against him and appears to be part of a
pattern to target him for his work to promote an alternative strategy for
combating violence than that of the LAPD and Salvadoran National Civilian
Police (PNC), which over the years have chosen iron-fist tactics over crime
prevention programs. While Alex and
Homies Unidos have sought to promote reconciliation within their community, many
politicians in El Salvador
and the US
have stood by a failed model of combating gang violence with indiscriminate
police violence, criminalizing youth and utilizing corrupt institutions like the
LAPD and PCN to attack suspected gang members and social movement leaders
alike.
CISPES stands by Alex and Homies Unidos in rejecting the
changes against him, and we repeat the statement of the Homies Unidos board
that “an indictment is an allegation only”.
Though the media seems intent of vilifying Alex and the work he has done
to rescue youth from gang violence, we stand by him and believe that he is
innocent of the crimes he is being accused of.
In solidarity,
The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
(CISPES)
El Salvador Inaugurates its First Leftist Government
Wednesday, 03 June 2009
CISPES special update
On June 1 2009, Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sanchez Cerén were sworn in
as the President and Vice President of El Salvador at the Feria
Internacional Convention Center in San Salvador. It was a magical day
for the Salvadoran people, social movement organizations, and the
leftist FMLN party which Funes and Sanchez Cerén represent. Check out
a video of the celebration here and view pictures of the inauguration
here and here .
Counted among the two thousand invited guests were many international
delegations and heads of state, including President Correa of Ecuador,
President Lula of Brazil, Vice President Lazo of Cuba, President
Bachelet of Chile, President Lugo of Paraguay, President Uribe of
Colombia, and President Arias from Costa Rica. Representatives from the
Dominican Republic, Bolivia, China, Taiwan, and Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton among others joined them. The Committee in Solidarity
with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) was also present with a
delegation of members from Washington DC, Los Angeles, New York and
Minneapolis. Notably absent were Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela
and Evo Morales of Bolivia, who were unable to attend due to
last-minute concerns regarding their security while in the country.
Location: 2161 Massachusetts Ave,
Cambridge, MA 02140
Application Deadline: until position filled
Start
Date: August 2009
Contact: Lisa Fuller;
617.650.8138
ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
Boston
CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) is the local
Boston chapter of a national, grassroots, solidarity organization. We have been
working since 1980 in solidarity with the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front) and the Salvadoran social justice movement to promote an
alternative to the oppressive US-backed policies of the Salvadoran right-wing.
Today the struggle for a more just society in El Salvador has arrived at a new
era, with the democratic election of FMLN president Mauricio Funes this past
March—the first leftist head of state in the country’s history. Now is an
incredibly optimistic time in El Salvador for those who have endured decades of
right-wing repression and poverty-inducing policies. The next few years will a
rugged test for the new administration and the social movement as they work to
tackle a bankrupt government, corrupt institutions, and a stubborn right-wing
opposition to enact transformative democratic and economic policies. CISPES
will be accompanying our allies through this new and difficult phase of the
struggle, and as always we will be ready to rally against efforts by the US
government to undermine the sovereignty of El Salvador.
Breny
Herrera began her political life in 1981 when her family was exiled due to
political repression in Nicaragua—where
the Sandinista revolution had just triumphed.
She began contributing to the Popular Sandinista Militias, the
Sandinista Youth, and later joined the youth of the Communist Party of El
Salvador.
After
living in exile for six years, she returned to El Salvador and began working with
the Federation of Secondary Students (FES).
At 16 years of age, she joined the Communist Party of El Salvador—one of
the five organizations that conformed the FMLN—where her mentor was Commander
Shafick Handal. In addition to her work
with the FES, she was also an urban guerrilla
combatant.
When
the Peace Accords were signed in 1992 Ms. Herrera became active in the FMLNYouth,
working on their radio program and informative magazine. In 1994, when Handal ran for Mayor of San
Salvador, she participated helped lead the campaign team and has since
participated in all of the electoral processes.
On Monday, June 1 Salvadorans will congregate to
celebrate the inauguration of Mauricio Funes as president and Salvador Sanchez
Ceren as vice-president. Every five years there is a change of the presidency
in El
Salvador, but this is the first time that the
country will witness a transition of power from a right-wing, conservative
administration to a leftist administration, headed by the Farabundo Marti
National Liberation Front (FMLN). This historic event has the international
community and press focused on El
Salvador.
So far over twenty dignitaries (including 15 presidents)
have confirmed their participation in the event in which current president
Antonio Saca, of the right-wing ARENA party, will officially leave office so
that Funes can assume the presidency. The dignitaries including Spanish Prince
Felipe De Borbon, the U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and presidents
Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Evo Morales of
Bolivia, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Daniel Ortega of
Nicaragua, and Felipe Calderon of Mexico. CISPES will also have a delegation
on hand for the swearing in of Funes. Check out the CISPES
media advisory here.
