The Salvadoran National Vendors Movement is facing increased politicalpersecution from President Sacas government through the National CivilPolice (PNC) and the Ministry of Security. The vendors are beingcharged with terrorism for their organizing and face decades ofimprisonment. On May 30 the Security Minister Rene Figueroa and thedirector of the PNC arrested 11 people and announced a list of about 90others they plan to arrest for supposed participation in a May 12vendor protest. Others on the black list that have not yet beenarrested include the Vendors Movement leaders Martin Montoya andSandra Henriquez.

The repression against the Vendors Movement has occurred since theorganization was founded over a year ago, but it has gottensignificantly worse since May 12. On that day, the police carried out amassive and violent confiscation of the vendors goods and arrested 14people 9 of whom they charged with terrorism. With the May 12 and May30 arrests, there are now 22 people in jail some organized vendorsand others unaffiliated individuals, and most are facing charges ofterrorism. This is the first time that the new law will be used againstthe social movement. (for more information go to www.cispes.org/alerts)

When Security Minister Figueroa announced their intentions of arrestingvandals and terrorists within the organized movement, people heardthe threat echo the style of Roberto DAubuisson, founder of thedeath-squads and ARENA party. During the war he would go to the mediaand announce lists of people involved in the struggle, many of whomwould be found dead the next day. The governments terror tacticsagainst the vendors movement and the social movement today isincreasing and has temporarily succeeded in curbing vendor organizingat the national level, given that the priority of the movement now isto evade capture and arrest.

Join the Salvadoran social movement and the FMLN in calling for an endto these acts of political persecution against the Vendors Movementleadership and its members by dropping the charges of Anti-Terrorismand Anti-organized Crime laws! Join the international call to stop theU.S.s role in backing these tactics by working to shut down the U.S.ssupport for the PNC through the ILEA!

1. Fax and email President Saca and Minister of Security Figueroa to demand that they drop the charges of terrorism and stop the political persecution of the Vendors Movement leaders. See below for sample letters and fax numbers.

2. Contact your local Congressional Representatives office about the U.S.s role in backing this repression, especiallyby closely collaborating with the National Civilian Police (PNC)through the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA). See below fortalking points, and see CISPESs report on our visit to the ILEA thisMay, and other outreach and lobby materials at www.cispes.org/ilea)

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President Antonio Saca
Casa Presidencial
San Salvador, El Salvador
Fax: 011.503.243.9947

OR

Minister of Security Rene Figueroa
Fax: 011.503.2281.5959
[email protected]
12 de Junio, 2007

Sr. Presidente Saca y Sr. Ministro de Seguridad Rene Figueroa

Conozco el caso de los vendedores encarcelados a quienes su gobiernoacusa de actos de terrorismo, y me causa gran preocupacion. Los y lasvendedoras de CD/DVD en El Salvador a duras penas están sobreviviendoen el sector informal por no hallar trabajo formal. Su organización ytrabajo por mejorar sus condiciones de trabajo NO es terrorismo.

En vez de estar buscando y creando verdaderas soluciones ante tan cruelrealidad de miles de personas, la violencia de la Policia NacionalCivil y luego los arrestos el 12 y 30 de mayo mas las amenazas dearrestar a docenas de vendedores mas demuestran que la únicasolución que ofrece su gobierno es más y más represión, incluyendo eldecomiso violento de la única forma de subsistencia para estaspersonas.

De nuevo, la protesta y el luchar por sobrevivir no es terrorismo. Aunesas personas que no forman parte del movimiento organizado devendedores y quienes cometieron actos de vandalismo NO son terroristas.Por lo tanto, le pido que libere los vendedores inocentes arrestados el12 y 30 de mayo, que retire todos cargos de terrorismo y crimenorganizado en contra de las personas que fueron arrestadas, y que ya nosiga amenazando con mas arrestos.

Atentamente,

______________ (name)
______________ (city, state, country)

Translation of letter:

Dear President Saca (or Minster of Security Rene Figueroa),

I have heard about the cases of the jailed vendors who your governmentis charging with terrorism, and I am deeply concerned about thesecases. The CD/DVD vendors in El Salvador are people who have searchedfor formal employment but have only found the informal sector as aplace to find basic survival. Their organizing to improve their workconditions is NOT terrorism.

Instead of looking for real solutions to the harsh reality for tens ofthousands of people, the police violence on May 12 and the arrests ofMay 12 and May 30 and the threats to arrest dozens more show thatyour governments only solution is more and more repression,including violently confiscating peoples only means of sustenance.

Once again, protest and struggling for survival is not terrorism. Eventhose individuals, unaffiliated with the organized vendors movement,who committed acts of vandalism are NOT terrorists. Therefore, I urgeyou to release the innocent vendors and drop all charges of terrorismand organized crime against all those who were apprehended on May 12and May 30, and to drop the threats of arrest against movement leaders..

Sincerely,

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ILEA Talking Points more information at www.cispes.org/ilea

* Resurgence of death squad-style threats and murders: In earlyMay 2007 the Archbishops Legal Aid and Human Rights Defense Office(Tutela Legal) released a report implicating the Salvadoran NationalPolice (PNC) in eight death squad style assassinations in 2006 alone.CISPES has published a list of recent repression beginning with theJuly 2006 murder of the Manzanares couple, the parents of long-timeactivist Mariposa. In many of these cases, the evidence leads us tobelieve that the police and/or death squads were involved in theirdisappearances; meanwhile, the calls of family members forinvestigation have fallen on deaf ears. The ILEA does nothing to remedythe central problem of the high-up corruption and links to death squadswithin the Salvadoran police.

* The Salvadoran government is militarizing the police, which is a direct violation of the Peace Accords. Theseparation between police and military in El Salvador has declineddramatically since originally established by Peace Accords in ElSalvador. It is now common to have groups of soldiers patrollingrural and urban neighborhoods in El Salvador. El Salvadors NationalCivilian Police (PNC) was created by the 1992 Peace Accords to do thework of law enforcement in El Salvador. However, the PNC hasincreasingly been used to violently repress protests in El Salvador,especially the protests against CAFTA, such as those led by marketvendors struggling under new-CAFTA imposed intellectual property laws.The addition of the military to these repressive policing tacticsviolates the Peace Accords and the U.S. government, through the ILEA,should not be collaborating so closely with a police that violates thePeace Accords.

* Salvadoran Government using anti-terrorism law to target social movement organizing: TheSalvadoran right wing passed an anti-terrorism law in September 2006,followed by an anti-organized crime law later that year. The languagein these new laws is very vague, leaving them open to interpretationand a wide variety of applications. The anti-terrorism law is similarto the Patriot Act in that it threatens civil liberties supposedlyprotected by the constitution of El Salvador. The laws criminalize andlabels terrorist with long jail sentences protest tactics commonlyused by Salvadorans. The US Ambassador to El Salvador even expressedexplicit support for this law in a speech, condoning the use of policeforce in protecting US trade interests. Similarly, the stated purposeof the ILEA is also to protect U.S. interests and this is not the kindof training Salvadoran police need.

* El Salvador has become the satellite for U.S. military and policetraining in Latin America, despite its poor human rights record: ElSalvador is already the second largest recipient of military trainingin Central America, is the host of a U.S. military base and an FBIoffice. The ILEA has the capacity to train 1500 students per year, morethan the current Western Hemisphere Institute for Security andCooperation, also known as the SOA. Salvadorans fear a return to thesort of torture and repression practices used by the graduates of thatUS-sponsored school in the 1980s. Meanwhile, U.S. officials refuse toacknowledge the corruption, misconduct and human rights violationscommitted by the PNC, and continue to support the Salvadoran police,both through explicit statements and by sponsoring the ILEA in ElSalvador.

* ILEA has a lack of oversight and transparency: Congress hasnot been given sufficient information about the ILEA and itsactivities, and human rights groups that have sought to monitor it havebeen denied basic documentation, such as course descriptions and namesof students and instructors. Though backers of the ILEA promise thatonly civilians would be trained there, in fact the agreement leaves thepossibility of military training open. Such lack of transparency isespecially alarming given that the ILEA would offer immunity to allforeign officials involved in designing the curriculum and teaching thecourses.