CISPES Concludes National Youth Tour at Historic Demonstration against the SOA in Georgia

On November 19, CISPES wrapped up a three week, 10-city national tour of Salvadoran student leader Oswaldo Nataran at the massive vigil against the School of the Americas (SOA) in Ft. Benning, Georgia; meanwhile in El Salvador, the Popular Social Bloc (BPS) held a solidarity action in front of the US Embassy.  As part of an international campaign against US militarization and in resistance to the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in El Salvador, representatives of the BPS gathered in front of the US Embassy on November 17 to present an open letter to outgoing US Ambassador Douglas Barclay demanding the closing of the ILEA.  BPS leaders pointed out that the presence of the ILEA has contributed to the tendency of increased repression and human rights violations in El Salvador. Their letter also denounced the US military base in Comalapa, the presence of Salvadoran soldiers in Iraq, and demanded an end to Bush’s so-called war on terrorism (see entire letter in English and Spanish below and attached.)

The agreement to open the ILEA was signed by the Bush Administration and the Saca government and ratified illegally by right-wing parties in the Salvadoran Assembly on November 30, 2005.  ARENA has refused to make the text of the agreement public for review, though officially the ILEA-South will train an average of 1,500 people yearly from different Latin American legal and police entities.

At Friday’s protest, US embassy officials ultimately refused to accept the BPS letter, despite initial negotiations with the police who promised that the US Embassy’s Public Relations representative would receive the letter.  At the end of the protest, BPS leader Guadalupe Erazo stated: “We come to the US Embassy because we know that US government funded and trained the Salvadoran regime to commit the worst human rights violations.”

Salvadoran student leader brings message to thousands in Georgia

The protest to close the SOA in Georgia this year brought the largest ever convergence to the gates of the “School of the Assassins”, an estimated 22,000 people.  CISPES and the FMLN joined forces to bring caravans from New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC to the protest. The protest corresponds with the anniversary of the 1989 massacre in El Salvador of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.  Fifteen people were arrested for trespassing after cutting their way through 3 separate fences in order to perform civil disobedience.  

Salvadoran student leader Oswaldo Nataren, on tour with CISPES for the past three weeks, helped lead two workshops over the weekend and spoke to a large crowd from the main stage on Saturday.  Said Nataren, “everyday we see repression and human rights abuses that parallel the climate in which the Jesuits were murdered in El Salvador seventeen years ago.”  He denounced the recent spate of politically motivated assassinations in El Salvador, the lack of investigation by the government, and the role of the US in creating spaces for training torture and repression in Latin America.  Finally, he called on international solidarity to join the Salvadoran social movement in opposition to continued repression of students and social movement leaders in El Salvador.  For pictures and more information about the Ft. Benning protest check out http://www.soaw.org .  

Organizations prepare appeals against Anti-Terrorist Law

In defiance to the Anti-Terrorism Law, passed in September and effective November 18, social organizations and the FMLN will be presenting cases challenging the law before the Salvadoran Supreme Court of Justice in the coming months.  The newly created “Forum for the Defence of the Constitution” openly denounced the law as unconstitutional; they claim that due to the ambiguity of the term “terrorism” the law would ultimately lead to arbitrary sentences for suspected criminals.  The Supreme Court petition being prepared by the FMLN focuses especially on the way in which the law violates the constitutional right to publicly protest and organize.

For the Salvadoran social movement, controversy continues over the potential impacts of the Anti-Terrorism law, though most organizations and FMLN leaders believe that the law will be used to silence and criminalize progressive organizations and mobilizations. Social movement coalitions such as the so-called “Group of Seven” – which includes the BPS and the Salvadoran Labor Front (FSS), among others - have also pledged to mobilize against the law.