The Olympia Chapter of CISPES has been working hard this spring to bring the victory in El Salvador home to the South Puget Sound area of Washington state. Olympia was lucky enough to have three folks travel to El Salvador to witness the triumph of real democracy in El Salvador as part of the CISPES election observation delegation in March. Following the election, our committee focused on organizing a Latin American Solidarity Conference, which culminated with the FMLN inauguration party on June 1st.

The Olympia chapter has grown in numbers and commitment by working with a group of Evergreen State College students who recently returned from a trip to Venezuela. This collaboration is building excitement about the leftward shift taking place in Latin America. This group worked with Olympia CISPES to put together the Latin American Solidarity conference, which was highlighted by visits from Eva Golinger, author of the book Bush vs. Chavez, and Martin Sanchez, the Venezuelan Consul in San Francisco. The weekend included workshops and panels on U.S. intervention and solidarity work, and concluded with the celebration of the inauguration of Mauricio Funes as the first FMLN president of El Salvador.

Olympia also will host the CISPES Victory Tour in early June, featuring FMLN representative William Hernandez. Williams participation in Olympia is part of our continued mission to bring the voices of people leading the struggle in El Salvador and throughout Latin America to our community.
Another really exciting project of Olympia CISPES is the formation of a broader Latin American Solidarity Group.

This group is still in the formation stages, but is comprised of a handful of solidarity groups here in Olympia. The Solidarity Conference was the first project, and we also have a radio show on our local community radio, KOWA FM. Both of these spaces are used to highlight the linkages between struggles across the continent.

Olympia CISPES is now preparing for CISPES 13th National Convention, taking place in Seattle this August. We look forward to helping our Seattle CISPES companer@s put together a great convention and also look forward to being part of this historic moment for CISPES and El Salvador.