By Jacoby Ballard, CISPES?NationalOrganizer

 From late October through mid-November, CISPES hostedSalvadoran Vendors Movement leader Josefina Fina Lazo and Salvadoran UnionFront leader Ricardo Calderon. Both leaders spoke of the daily effects of theCentral American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the rising repression in El Salvador, and the great potential forprofound change in ElSalvador with the elections of 2009, whilehighlighting the unique impact of neoliberal policies on their own particularorganizing efforts.

Fina toured the West Coast and then culminated her visit atthe annual School of the Americasprotest in Fort Benning, Georgia. Along this tour she metwith vendors in Los Angeles, Latino day laborersin San Franciscoand Seattle, Congressional Representatives, college students and high schoolclasses, and inspiring community organizers. Ricardos tour includedsteelworkers and teachers unions, the AFL-CIO, Washington D.C. and Minneapoliscommittees of the FMLN, graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University, aPresbyterian church in Pittsburgh, and a freshman economics class at theUniversity of Massachusetts.  BostonCISPES organizer Shane Stewart was impressed with Ricardo, saying, if you justpicked a unionist from the U.S.and asked him to talk about the general social, economic and politicalsituation in the U.S.,youd be hard pressed to find someone who can do it.  But Ricardo can!

Attacks on Vendorsand the Social Movement: Although peace was signed, it wasnt achieved

Throughout the tour, Fina painted vivid descriptions ofgovernment repression of street vendors, whose only source of income for theirfamilies is selling items such as CDs and DVDs in the streets. Fina explainedthat the vendors are not just vendors. We also have to pay water, electricity,rent and so we have to be part of the movement against privatization. Finagave powerful evidence about the cost of living in El Salvador, stressing that theminimum wage is $6.50 per day (not per hour, but per day); out of this wage,low-paid workers must find a way to afford the average electricity bill of $40per month.  She explained how she and theother vendors plead with the police: this is our livelihood. How am I going tobuy food for my children tomorrow? How am I going to pay for their exams forschool?

The vendors face police raids on their stalls and then facefalse charges: during a recent raid, vendors were accused of breaking windowsand lighting a car on fire. This is an attempt to criminalize the organizedvendors movement, Josefina explained. Still, their peaceful protests, which include elderly as well as teenagevendors, continue to be met with rubber bullets and tear gas.

In addition to government action, corporate policy ofintimidation, harassment, and targeted firings are tactics used to suppressunions in El Salvador.Ricardo spoke about the specific challenges that union organizing currentlyfaces in El Salvador,citing one example of trying to organize the maquila sector:  We go [to the maquilas] so that workers canknow about their rights.  Owners sendpeople to observe who take the pamphlets, and the next day, these workers arefired.

In the last 3 months, union organizers in the healthcare andwater sectors have been arrested. This [repression] is the destruction, atbirth, of any kind of labor organization. It is possible that these laws willchange with the election of 2009 that could bring in a new government. That isour hope. Ricardo explained.

Free Trade Smacks El Salvador:Dollarization and CAFTA

Fina spoke about the process of being woken up by CAFTA.She shared a story about a TV commercial that was running before the vote onCAFTA that showed a woman wearing one of the vendors aprons and making apupusa. The ad said that with CAFTA, she would be able to export these pupusasright to the US.She said, we looked at each other and said, that sounds pretty good. We didnteven know that television was just lies and manipulation from the right wing.We were eating television for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Intellectual property rights under CAFTA stipulate thatthousands of vendors such as Josefina cannot sell pirated CDs, DVDs, and otherbranded products. Josefina related that as many as 100,000 Salvadorans now workin the informal sector, because of worsening economic conditions due in largepart to CAFTA, and because more and more Salvadorans are being deported backfrom the U.S. to El Salvador.  In SanFrancisco, Lazo talked about how dollarization has increased living expenses;for example, a pound of beans costs $1 and a family needs 6-7 pounds per week,which means that a family spends an entire days wages on a weeks worth ofbeans.

Connecting Locally:Mamas Hot Tamales in LA; SEIU 1199 in Boston;Casa Latina in Seattle

In Boston,Ricardo met with SIEU Local 1199. During the meeting an organizer from Haiti identified the military-governmentalliance of repression as how things are and have been in Haiti. The CISPES-organized meeting inspired 1199 to have monthly meetings to keepabreast of the global context of the struggle.

On October 30 Fina was featured at a lunch at Mamas HotTamales, a delightful restaurant and training center for vendors in the MacArthur Park neighborhood.  Mamas Hot Tamales is a training ground fortamale vendors who seek event contracts and then use the restaurant kitchen toprepare the food.  Rocio, a former street vendor, transitioned into Mamasproject a number of years ago; people broke into applause when she reported shehas one child in college and has bought her own house!  Rocio and Finabonded as two strong, dedicated, hard-working and politically sophisticatedwomen vendors.

On a Saturday morning in Seattle, 30-40 day laborers from Casa Latinacrammed into a little room to meet with Fina. Casa Latina is a Seattle organization working to supportimmigrants through ESL classes, a womens program, and a day laborers center.After Fina spoke about her experiences working in ElSalvadors informal sector, several day laborers spokeabout having been street vendors in Mexicobefore migrating to Seattle.One day laborer, Antonio, spoke of how immigrants here in the U.S. are alsosubject to bad treatment by the police. This meeting made visible that bothvendors in El Salvador andday workers in Seattleare criminalized by the very political system that forces them into these areasof marginalized work in the first place.

Solidarity Toward anFMLN Win in 2009

According to both Ricardo and Fina, the real hope for changein El Salvadorlays in the potential of FMLN wins in 2009, not only on the presidential level,but on every level of government. Now more than ever the movement in El Salvadorsupports the FMLN as the only way to affect real deep social and economicchange in the country.  Unions and the social movement are extremelyhopeful and working more closely to vocalize their support of the FMLN and turnfolks out in support.

Both tourees made it clear that the left in El Salvadorneeds international solidarity movement to send large delegations of electionobservers to the 2009 elections. We are asking for solidarity so that the Bushgovernment can change its attitude and actions in the area, stated Ricardo,referring to the alliance between the ARENA government in El Salvador and the Bush Administration in the United States.Fina echoed this sentiment, stating that, the people will elect Mauricio Funespresident unless corruption and fraud steal the victory.