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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>Teamsters, ILO, and Women’s Rights Organizations all Criticize
ARENA Government for Inaction in Investigating Crime<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>CISPES UPDATE<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>November 29,
2006<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=texto1><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></span></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>This
month ARENA has repeatedly demonstrated its intention of maintaining <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>
in a state of generalized impunity, especially for those who commit political
crimes and violence against women. On Thursday November 16, ARENA deputy
Milena Calderon de Escalon, fierce defender of the Amnesty Law that protects
all those who committed human rights abuses during the war, offended the memory
of all those disappeared during the conflict by making a show in the
Legislative Assembly of tearing up the pronouncement to officially declare
August 30 as the National Victims of Forced Disappearances Day. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>Those
responsible for political crimes of in the past two years also walk free in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>, including the murders of Gilberto
Soto, union leader in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>
who was murdered while on an organizing trip to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> two years ago, and the
murders of the parents of former Radio Venceremos announcer
“Mariposa” Marina Manzanares. The Saca administration has
been impeding any real investigation of either of these murders. After
receiving no response from the government officials charged with investigating
her parents’ murder, Mariposa has gone on an international campaign
denouncing the covering up of the government of these crimes. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>This
November marks the two year anniversary of Gilberto Soto’s murder, and
both the International Labour Organization and the Teamsters have put out
statements this month calling for a real investigation into Soto's
murder. The Teamsters specifically call on Condoleezza Rice and the U.S.
State Department to pressure the Salvadoran government to carry out a real
investigation into Soto’s murder. To support that push, </span>please
call your Congressional Representative (212-224-3121 is the Capitol Hill
switchboard) and the State Department (202-647-5291) to insist that the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
push for an investigation and support the Human Rights office’s work on
the case. </font><span lang=EN-GB>(<i><span style='font-style:italic'>See </span></i></span><i><span
style='font-style:italic'><a
href="http://www.teamster.org/06news/nr_061122_1.asp" target="_blank">http://www.teamster.org/06news/nr_061122_1.asp
</a>for the Teamsters’ demands.)</span></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>Violence continues to rise in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
aggravated by the refusal of the government to address its cause and create
real solutions. The FMLN continues its legal struggle by presenting proposals
concentrated on the prevention of crime and rehabilitation of criminals, which
have been ignored by Saca. Instead, Saca has used his alliances with
right wing catholic and evangelical churches to put on various spectacles of
“Praying for Peace,” including television ads and a national
prayer-for-peace convention.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=texto1><b><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>National
Day of Action and Awareness about Violence against Women<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=texto1><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=texto1><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The issue of impunity and
a legal system that does not protect victims of crime has especially affected
Salvadoran women. <st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>
has the second highest level in Central America, behind <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Guatemala</st1:country-region></st1:place>, of femicides, or murders
of women. In 1995, the Legislative Assembly ratified the Inter American
Convention for the Prevention, Sanction and Eradication of Violence against
Women Act, which means the Salvadoran government is responsible for its
fulfillment, but in reality it has simply been ignored.<o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>Various women right’s organizations
participated in the November 24 annual march in protest against the increasing
murders and violence against women. The actions took place around <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City></st1:place> and in
various cities around the country. The march was the culmination of the
national campaign against violence towards women in which women’s rights
organizations called on different areas of government to start dealing with the
problem. Hundreds of participants marched to the Presidential House,
where they were stopped by riot police. The women attempted to present
the president with their demands for a real solution to prevent violence
against women</span></font><font color=black><span lang=EN-GB style='color:
windowtext'>, including the exhaustive investigation of every murder of women,
and looking beyond bring the murderers to justice, but to create policies
focused on the eradication of gender violence.</span></font><span lang=EN-GB><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>The FMLN participated in the activity and
committed to lobbying in the Legislative Assembly for creation of laws that
truly protect women from violence, since the current laws for the protection of
women are not enforced and the judicial system is failing. Beatrice de
Carrillo, the Human Rights Ombudsperson, also attended the march, making public
her critique of the failing judicial system, making strong statements blaming
the state for perpetrating systemic and social discrimination and violence
against women. </span><span class=texto1><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:windowtext'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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