FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 14, 2009 CONTACT: Arturo Viscarra, 617-820-3008

Washington DC – Audelia Lopez, a long-time leader of El Salvador's FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front) party, will visit the U.S. from July 11-19 as a representative of the new progressive Salvadoran government.  President Mauricio Funes was inaugurated on June 1, becoming the first leftist president in the history of El Salvador. Ms. Lopez will meet with members of community groups with ties to El Salvador, leaders of the local immigrant rights movement, and women’s organizations.  Ms. Lopez will speak at various public events and is available for interviews. Ms. Lopez’s tour ofthe eastern United States includes stops in Boston, New York andWashington DC. Ms. Lopez will reflect on the historic victory of theFMLN in El Salvador's March 2009 presidential election, including therole that U.S. activists played in counteracting the electoral intervention of Congressional Republicans in the days before the election. She will also comment on the recent military coup in Honduras, it’s damaging effects on the “rule of law” in the region andefforts by Central American governments to prevent such undemocratic power-grabs from taking place in the future. Finally, she will focus oncertain initiatives of the new Salvadoran government, including effortsto support Salvadoran immigrants living in the United States. Ms. Lopez was a founding member of the FMLN, which was created in 1980 as a political-military organization that fought the repressive Salvadoran government in a 12-year civil war. During the armed struggleshe served as a combatant with the FMLN and has continued to be aleader in the local politics of her home department of Chalatenango.Ms. Lopez currently serves in the National Assembly as an alternate andis a prominent leader of the FMLN’s Women’s Secretariat. To schedule an interview, please contact CISPES – Committee inSolidarity with the People of El Salvador: Arturo Viscarra, 617-820-3008 ###