By Alexis Stoumbelis, Bay Area CISPES coordinator

I held the megaphone in my hand, waiting to speak, wonderingwhat I would say to get everyones attention. An energetic group of 25 peoplehad gathered outside the Salvadoran consulate in SanFrancisco as part of a National Week of Action to stand insolidarity with thirteen people in El Salvador who face up to 60 yearsin prison on charges of terrorism. In July, the Suchitoto-13 participated ina successful protest against the privatization of water, and Salvadorangovernment is retaliating with an anti-terrorism law backed by the United States.

I felt pretty small standing in front of that building. Howcould my words echo the rallying cries in El Salvador, reflect the will ofthousands who are taking to the streets week after week? How could our presenceoutside the San Franciscoconsulate convince a judge hundreds of miles away to defy the orders of theARENA government and the U.S. State Department? Would I be courageous enough tostand here with the megaphone if I could be arrested for terrorism for raisingmy voice?

I looked over at several Salvadoran compañeros who haddriven to the Consulate from hours away, bringing signs with the names of the13 political prisoners. Collective resistance remains the only force that willstop this trial. All of a sudden I heard myself saying, We are here today infront of the Salvadoran consulate to demand that all charges be dropped againstthe Suchitoto-13!

One of the most powerful experiences on the Day of Actionwas to stand together with CISPES activists both old and new. We were joined byactivists who had been observing elections in Central American since the 1980sand by college students who had yet to work closely with CISPES. It was animportant reminder that getting out into  the streets to recruit new people really matters! Thats were we findfriends in the struggle, the people who will help us build our base. Over thesummer, our chapter was doing regular street outreach, tabling and clipboardingto educate people about the current political repression and get them to takeaction. In doing this kind of street outreach, we can connect a new generationof activists with a legacy of struggle and solidarity.  We also met a lawyer who had done sanctuarywork for Central American refugees in the early 1980sI think this was thefirst protest hed been to at the Salvadoran consulate in many years!

It was also really exciting to be joined by allies andspeakers from organizations like Food and Water Watch, Gabriela Network, GlobalExchange, the Living Wage Coalition, and Globalize This! Months of buildingorganizational ties were starting to pay off. It was powerful to see how many people know that El Salvador is still a critical point ofresistance to USintervention in Latin America. New allies atFood and Water Watch explained the insidious role of financial institutionslike the IMF that mandate the privatization of water in El Salvador and how their inspiring struggle isone of many around the world, including in the US, to defend the right to publicwater. Our compañeras at Gabriela Network, doing womens solidarity workbetween the US and the Philippines, illustrated how anti-terrorismlegislation is being used to directly target social movements in countries thatare organizing to get out from under the thumb of the US. This is one criticalway we can act in solidarity with the people of ElSalvador; to build and mobilize a united front against U.S.imperialism from within.

We were very proud that photos from the SanFrancisco protest were recently printed in the Diario CoLatinonewspaper in El Salvador, toshow the movement in ElSalvador that we are still out in thestreets and that we will stand with them for as long as it takes!