(A message from CISPES Executive Director Alexis Stoumbelis)

Dear Friend in Solidarity,
 
Greetings this holiday season!  As 2009 comes to a close, we arecelebrating the tremendous victory for El Salvador and US solidarity! Wouldn’t it be great to give a gift in honor of the struggle to build ajust economic alternative from the ground up?
 
All of us are where we are now because someone in our lives that hasshown us what it means to take a stand for justice.  For CISPES, thevivacious movement in El Salvador has inspired us to push for profoundsocial and economic change in the United States for nearly 30 years.
 
It’s time for us to thank our friends and compañeros inspiring us tokeep up the struggle!  By making a donation of $40 or more to CISPES , wewill send you (or as a gift to someone you choose) a CD ofrevolutionary music from El Salvador and a 8.5 x 11 print of oursolidarity mural in honor of past struggles.  For any donation madeover $60 we will also include a special t-shirt commemorating thehistoric 2009 elections!
 
It’s easy and secure to give a tax-deductible gift of solidarity, just click here!

Following the election of the first leftist government in El Salvador, the people of El Salvador are now facing new obstacles.  Most ominously for El Salvador, two North American mining corporations are suing the new FMLN government for at least $180 million.   How can they get away with this?  They are using CAFTA (The Central American Free Trade Agreement) “investor protections” chapter, claiming El Salvador owes them “lost profits,” having refused to grant gold mining permits.
 
In October, CISPES hosted a delegation of Salvadoran anti-mining activists who received a prestigious human rights award for their work in the face of increased violent repression , including the assassination of Marcelo Rivera.  Activists spoke at events in Washington DC and went on tour to CISPES committees in the Pacific Northwest. We heard their call for solidarity loud and clear. As one anti-mining activist said: “The struggle against mining has already been won in El Salvador.  Now it will be won or lost in the U.S!”

 [CISPES activists protest outside Pacific Rim Headquarters in Vancouver  BC]

That’s why CISPES launched our new campaign this fall, mobilizing people across the country to pressure Pacific Rim to drop the lawsuits and to pressure El Salvador’s Attorney General to investigate this death-squad style violence. Please echo their call by taking action here!
 
But that’s not all! CISPES is building a movement in the US to challenge the laws that let corporate profit trump the needs of people.  Free trade is holding backing the critical transformation that the people of El Salvador and Central America need, and CISPES will be there with them in this struggle!

Stopping these lawsuits and ending CAFTA will be a hard fight.  But so was ending the war, implementing the Peace Accords, and electing the first FMLN president.  With your support CISPES played a key role in all of these victories!
 
This holiday season we hope you will give the gift of solidarity to remember those who have inspired you to fight for justice and help us stop corporate abuse in Central America. Together, we will win!
 
In solidarity,
 
Alexis Stoumbelis, Executive Director
 
P.S. Help us stop corporate extortion of El Salvador! Please give as generously as you can today . Be sure to include the name and address of your Gift of Solidarity recipient in the comments line!