- A non-violent protest had been organized in Suchitoto for Monday morning, July 2nd, 2007.  The protest was organized by the Association for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES), its regional branch in Suchitoto (PROGRESO), and the people of the organized rural communities in that municipality, as well as the the Union of Water Workers (SETA) and a number of other social organizations.

- Four members of the Association for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES) were arrested before their vehicle reached the protest, when their vehicle was stopped by National Civilian Police (PNC) several kilometres before they arrived in Suchitoto, outside the community of Milingo.  There a police car pulled in front of them and blocked their path, and officers forcefully arrested the following people: Marta Lorena Araujo, President of the CRIPDES National Directive Council; Rosa Valle Centeno, Vice-President CRIPDES National Directive Council; María Haydee Chicas, CRIPDES journalist and photographer; and Manuel Antonio Rodriguez, driving the CRIPDES vehicle.

- Manuel Antonio Rodriguez, the driver of the vehicle, was struck violently by police officers immediately after the officers approached the car.  All four CRIPDES members were handcuffed and thrown into an army vehicle, which took them through back roads to the police station in Suchitoto.

- Shortly thereafter, the CRIPDES leaders arrested were taken from Suchitoto police station to Cojutepeque, the capitol of the Cuscatlán Province.  From there they were then taken to the police station in Santa Cruz Analquitos, to the south of Cojutepeque.  As of July 4, all the detainees were being held once more in Cojutepeque.

- Those arrested were charged with “Creating Public Disorder,� and lawyers who had been in contact with the police headquarters in Cojutepeque confirmed that their case will be designated under those charges to the Cojutepeque departmental attorneys and court system.  Under Salvadoran law the departmental prosecutors have 72 hours (that is, until late morning or midday on the 5th of July) to present charges at a public hearing.

- Despite the charges of “Creating Public Disorder,� the CRIPDES leaders arrested never came close to the protest activities being carried out in Suchitoto.  News footage shown on the Salvadoran Tele-Corporation (TCS) channels clearly showed the police vehicle overtaking the CRIPDES truck on the paved road between Suchitoto and San Martín, swerving in front and stopping the CRIPDES leaders.  The video also shows the police forcefully removing the passengers from the pick-up truck, and taking them away in handcuffs, several kilometres away from where the protest took place.  (Some news footage can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e9Npsw4Xl8)

- When news of the arrest reached the protesters in Suchitoto on the morning of July 2, the people moved from the central park protest site to the police station to demand information and the liberation of those arrested.

- The police found themselves surrounded, and called in the “UMO� (Unit for Maintenance of Order) Riot Police, who forcefully dispersed the crowds with tear gas, rubber bullets and wooden batons.

- Repression of the protest was not limited to the crowd at the police station; rather it was widespread.  As of the evening of July 3, preliminary reports indicate that a total of 13 people were arrested (including the 4 CRIPDES members and 9 local community members), 25 injured by rubber bullets, 18 suffering serious effects of tear gas, 2 hospitalized, and an undetermined number beaten by police officers.

- In the community of Guillermo Ungo, several kilometres south of Suchitoto, where the UMO riot police attacked community members on the road on their way to the Suchitoto protests, again using rubber bullets and tear gas, forcing the community members to flee into the hills.  Police also entered the homes of community members in Guillermo Ungo without legal warrant to do so.

- Fleeing community members were followed by the UMO riot police and the Police Reaction Groups (GRPs) by land and by air for more than 4 hours, with several arrests made.  School classes in the nearby community were suspended because of the effects of the tear gas.

- The local community members captured report psychological intimidation after their arrest.  One report reveals that detainees were taken in a helicopter above Lago Suchitlán and told by the police holding them that they were going to be thrown out of the helicopter.

- These specific tactics of repression, intimidation, persecution by helicopter, and invasion of homes are reminiscent of the most painful and disturbing moments of the armed conflict in El Salvador during the 1980’s.  This repressive events of July 2 represent a step backwards in the process of building democracy that was proposed with the signing of the Peace Accords of 1992.

- Meanwhile, on the same morning as the protests in Suchitoto, the PNC and Salvadoran Armed Forces concluded a massive operation of some 300 officers who worked to capture Mario Belloso, the man accused of killing two police officers during a protest last July. Belloso was apprehended in his own home during the early morning and then paraded in front of news cameras shortly thereafter.  The story filled newspaper and television reports and gave Minister of Security Rene Figueroa and PNC Director Rodrigo Avila the opportunity to attack youth organizations and the FMLN, insinuating that these  groups have been aiding Belloso in his efforts to evade arrest over the last year.

-  In the raid of Belloso’s home, the PNC claims to have found FMLN paraphernalia, along with specific documents in his computer that tie him to various youth organizations.  Perhaps the most ridiculous claim made by President Saca is that Belloso was the “intellectual author� of the disturbances in Suchitoto; Figuero and Avila, meanwhile, accused the FMLN of being behind the protests.  In an official communiqué following the arrest of Belloso the FMLN stated that, “We reject and repudiate the coarse pretenses of extreme right-wing politicians, as well as certain news media aligned with the party in power, who are blaming our party for the regretful events of July 5, 2006. Only perverse minds would have the courage to make such unfounded accusations�.  Human Rights Office ombudswoman Beatrice de Carrillo called the arrest a “political show� by the government, while Ricardo Alfaro Barahona of the Forum for the Defense of the Constitution raised questions about the timing of the arrest, as it coincided precisely with the police repression in Suchitoto.

-  On the morning of July 5, the prosecutors asked for an extension to make formal charges and the courts gave them until Saturday morning, and it came out that there are actually 14 people who were arrested.  Unlike usual procedure which would have had that hearing in a the main court system, this case is being heard in the special, expedited tribunals created this December under the “anti-organized crime� law meant to hear cases against those charged with participation in organized crime.  There is already one high-profile case moving through these special tribunal courts (of questionable constitutionality) – the state’s case charging street vendors with terrorism and organized crime.  See here for more information about the vendors .  This case against the water protestors is now the second case of the government using the new terrorism and organized crime laws against the organized social movement.  For an analysis of the anti-terrorism charges, see “The Salvadoran Anti-Terrorism Law and its Mirror Image�.