By Susana Solis, Bay Area CISPES

For the twelfth time, CISPES carried out its NationalConvention, this time on the right side of the belly of the beast, which is tosay the east coast, in Boston,Massachusetts.  Forty-fivevaliant people came together from July 27-29, people who fight for realdemocracy and social justice, representing 9 different CISPES committees in theU.S. and El Salvador. For two days, CISPES held deep and intense discussions about differentproposals in order to decide the strategy and program priorities of CISPES forthe next 2 years.

The Convention started on the evening of July 27, with apublic event that attracted around 100 participants and included long-timemembers of different CISPES committees and Salvadoran social organizations,whose participation is an inspiration for those of us younger folks who haveincorporated into the struggle in recent years. Our evening event involvedguess speakers Vijay Prashad and legendary Salvadoran legislator Lorena Peñafrom the FMLN sharing their experiences and analysis on the situation of El Salvador and LatinAmerica. Prashad and Peña made concrete the important advance ofthe popular struggle in the Global South, leaving us with a great feeling ofhope, given that it looks like the next country to join the leftist tide inLatin America may be ElSalvador! 

However, before reaching this goal, there are challenges ahead of us, especially during these next 2 years. CISPES pledged to bepresente! through our accompaniment to the Salvadoran people and the strategyand program decided at the Convention.

July 28 and 29 were intense days for the representatives ofCISPES committees, who had the fortune to take in the great input of the FMLNlegislator Lorena Peña as well as that of Adalberto Cortez, leader and unionorganizer from the SETA Water Workers Union. These long-time Salvadoranorganizers enriched our discussions by giving us a broader analysis on thecurrent situation in ElSalvador, the challenges the socialmovements and the FMLN are confronting, and the projections of possible politicaland social challenges they will confront in the next 2 years.  The right-wing is aware that their repressivepolitics and their devastating economic policies are failing, and theSalvadoran people are refusing to accept another period of ARENAs government.Thus, the Salvadoran right-wing, supported by the US government, is desperate,repressing the social movement, criminalizing organized people, and preparingvast electoral fraud to prevent the left from taking power in 2009.

CISPES decided that our strategy will focus on supportingthe social movement in El Salvadorand the rest of Latin America. We willconfront US interventionthrough the defense of peoples right to organize, denouncing governmentrepression, and supporting a left victory in the Salvadoran elections of 2009through preventing USintervention and accompanying the elections of 2009. In particular, thesestrategies will be developed through a vast program that will include acampaign for the Defense of the Real Democracy in El Salvador, accompaniment of theSalvadoran people and the FMLN during the 2009 electoral process, and continuedfocus on the political development and leadership within CISPES committees.

Finally, CISPES couldnt leave aside one of the most vitalaspects of our work: organizational development. We decided to expand CISPES byprioritizing the creation of new committees and outreaching to existingsolidarity groups to join campaigns and programs, while also working tostrengthen the fundraising capacity of each local committee. We also decided tomake intentional our efforts to incorporate more Salvadorans into ourorganization, developing their leadership as well as that of other Latinos inCISPES at the local and national level.

This may seem like a heavy, ambitious load, but weknow that the decisions we have taken are necessary in order to reach ourprincipal objective: to see that the people of El Salvador are living in a countrythat has justice, dignity, real democracy, and sovereignty.   This is the only way that peace will beachieved, so that the goals of many people who have given, and continue togive, their lives will be reached.  As aSalvadoran living outside of my country, there is no other choice but to strugglefrom here from within the belly of this beast and with the best tool,CISPES, so that substantial changes take place in El Salvador and so that this beaststops terrorizing my people and the people of the world.

 QUE VIVA ELSALVADOR! QUE VIVA CISPES! QUE VIVA EL FMLN!