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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=5
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold'>All charges dropped in case against “Suchitoto
13”<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=ES-SV style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman"'>CISPES News Update <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><i><font size=2
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=ES-SV style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman";font-style:italic'><a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=35&Itemid=28&lang=es">*vaya
aqui para CISPES informes en español*</a></span></font></i><font size=2
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=ES-SV style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>February
21, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><img
border=0 width=343 height=267 id="_x0000_i1025"
src="cid:image001.jpg@01C87474.8BB51D30"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=ES-SV style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Also in this update:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><a href="#_ARENA’s_smear_campaign">ARENA’s
smear campaign against FMLN bolstered by U.S. intelligence report; FMLN
proposes campaign finance reform</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><a href="#_Assassinations_of_mayor">Assassinations
of mayor and municipal employee in Alegría remain unsolved</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>On Tuesday, February 19, 13 political
activists arrested last July in the town of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Suchitoto</st1:City></st1:place> were set free, and all charges
against them were dismissed. This victory for the “Suchitoto 13”
comes on the heels of the initial charges of “acts of terrorism”
being dropped on February 8, following a drawn out, 7-month investigation. The
terrorism charges, enabled by <st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>’s
2006 Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism, were universally denounced by human
rights organizations in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El
Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> and around the world, and carried a
potential sentence of up to 60 years in prison. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>After the government’s February 8
admission that it did not have evidence to substantiate the original terrorism
accusations, the charges were reduced to “public disorder” and
“aggravated damages,” crimes carrying sentences of up to 4 years.
Accordingly, the case was moved from the jurisdiction of a special
anti-terrorism tribunal in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San
Salvador</st1:City></st1:place> – also established by the 2006 law
– to the regular court system in Suchitoto. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>On Tuesday, the judge in Suchitoto
dismissed the new, lesser charges, granting the defendants “definitive
liberty” after the prosecution failed to appear at a preliminary hearing
to present evidence. The government’s attorneys later said their car
broke down en route to the court. It is unclear whether the government will
seek to appeal the decision.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The “Suchitoto 13” were
violently arrested at a July 2, 2007, demonstration against Salvadoran
president Antonion Saca’s plan to “decentralize”
Suchitoto’s public water system, a move that was widely viewed as a first
step toward the eventual privatization of that system. Following their arrests,
several of the defendants were psychologically tortured by members of <st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>’s National Civilian Police
(PNC), a police force that the U.S. State Department has praised as one of the
best in Latin America, and which it trains at the International Law Enforcement
Academy (ILEA) in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Starting on Monday, February 11, various
social organizations participated in a three-day march from Suchitoto to <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City></st1:place> to ensure
that public attention remained focused on the case, even after the charges had
been reduced. The march had two clear messages: opposition to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s anti-terrorism
law and the call for all charges to be dropped in the Suchitoto case. The
latter demand was met with Tuesday’s court ruling. In support of the
march, the mayor of Soyapango, Carlos Ruiz of the FMLN party, declared,
“this is a protest to say ‘No more state terrorism!’ It is a
just, rebellious response to oppression.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>In a further development, the Supreme
Court of Justice petitioned the Legislative Assembly to rule on the
constitutionality of the Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism, approved by a
right-wing block in September 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h1><a name="_ARENA’s_smear_campaign"></a><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=ES-SV style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
"Times New Roman"'>ARENA’s smear campaign against FMLN bolstered by <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
intelligence report; FMLN proposes campaign finance reform<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>In a recent visit to the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>, Salvadoran president Antonio Saca
expressed concern about the findings of a recent <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
intelligence report, which predicts that <st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region>
will intervene in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El
Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s 2009 elections. In his
Annual Threat Assessment, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell
states that “we expect [Venezuelan president Hugo] Chávez to provide
generous campaign funding to the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
(FMLN) in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>
in its bid to secure the presidency in the 2009 election.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Similar U.S. national security reports,
later exposed as false and comprised of politically-manipulated intelligence, were
used by the Bush administration to justify its preemptive war against Iraq in
2003. Nevertheless, Saca ordered an investigation into the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>’s claims and recalled a diplomat from
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region> for consultations,
declaring, “we are instructing the diplomat to return to <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>
to provide first hand information on this topic.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Additionally, Saca warned that “any
interference of a government such as <st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region>’s
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
domestic affairs is unacceptable.” Conversely, Saca seems to view
electoral intervention by the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United
States</st1:country-region></st1:place> government as not only acceptable,
but welcomed. In a November 2007 press conference with President Bush, Saca
stated that the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
“can help out a lot in preventing citizen support for certain proposals
in the upcoming elections.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>FMLN presidential candidate Mauricio
Funes denied the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>’s
accusations and pledged that his party would not receive financing from <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
Funes promptly proceeded to propose a campaign finance reform package to the
Legislative Assembly that would cap campaign spending, mandate transparency in
campaign financing and expenditures, and ban donations from foreign sources.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>For his part, Venezuelan president Chávez
also dismissed the intelligence report, stating that the FMLN did not need his
support because it is a “solid” and “well-organized”
party with popular support. “It’s a lie. We don’t need to do
that, and they don’t need it,” Chávez said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>In further response to the U.S.’s
claims, Saca’s right-wing ARENA party accused the FMLN not only of
accepting electoral financing from Venezuela, but also of allowing economic
intervention by means of a petroleum importation agreement between FMLN
municipalities and the Venezuelan state oil company. ENEPASA, the enterprise
that imports and distributes subsidized oil from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region></st1:place>, publicly expressed its
willingness to submit to any type of investigation and insisted that it has
complied with all legal requirements and paid all necessary taxes for the
project.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<h1><a name="_Assassinations_of_mayor"></a><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Assassinations
of mayor and municipal employee in Alegría remain unsolved<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Hundreds of family members and social
organization representatives took part in a public demonstration in the central
park of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">municipality</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Alergría</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> on Sunday,
February 17, to call for justice to be served in the double assassination that
occurred in the town last month. On January 9, the young mayor of Alegría,
Wilber Funes, was shot dead along with municipal employee Zulma Rivera as the
two drove to an outlying area of the municipality to assess progress on a public
works project. Sunday’s activity was supported by Funes’ FMLN
party, which gathered signatures on a petition to Attorney General Félix Safie
demanding that this case not result in impunity.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>More than a month after the killings,
there has been little sign of an investigation moving forward. Although the
Attorney General’s office says it has identified suspects, no arrests
have been made. During Sunday’s event, the father of Zulma Rivera offered
his analysis of the situation, stating, “if justice is not carried out,
it is because they don’t want it. The killers are from here, from
Alegría.” He added that he believes there are people in the municipality
who are concealing the identities of the assassins.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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