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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=4
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Pastor
and Community Leader Murdered, Social Movement Demands Justice <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 style='font-size:12.0pt'>CISPES <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region> Update<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'>November 8, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> On
Friday, November 4 Francisco Carrillo and Jesus de Carrillo, two religious
leaders, human rights advocates, and activists in a local community volunteer
rescue program, were shot and killed outside their church in the town of <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jayaque</st1:place></st1:City>, La
Libertad. Francisco was a pastor in the Lutheran church; as he was
locking up after Friday’s service, the assailants approached on bicycles
and shot him and then his wife, who was waiting in a nearby car. The
Carrillos were known for being vocal community activists and had recently
received death threats for their work. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> These
murders are striking in the wake of other apparently politically motivated
assassinations, raising fears of a resurgence of death squad activity in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Not only was the couple politically active, but the assailants easily rode away
on bicycles without covering their faces to try to hide their identity.
Some witnesses say they were local gang members, although there is no apparent
motive for the murder and there was no attempted robbery. The police have
been very slow to investigate the murders, even showing up at the crime scene
well after the bodies were found. There have been a number of
well-publicized, similar killings in the past five months: the elderly parents
of Mariposa Manzanares, a former FMLN leader, who were murdered in July; the Montoyas,
another politically active couple murdered in August; and the progressive
Catholic priest Antonio Romero, murdered in September.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> The
reactions to the murders have been of grief and anger. Lutheran Reverend
Roberto Pineda, a member of the Popular Social Bloc, said in a statement the
following day that “these murders are the result of the right
wing’s desperation as they are faced with growing mass protest....
They are worried about the social crisis, about the erosion of their power and
they want to maintain their domination through fear and terror. But we
will not be scared.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> The
Lutheran church and other members of the Jayaque community are calling for the
National Civilian Police (PNC) and the attorney general’s office to do an
immediate investigation into the case, and are also denouncing the murders to
the office of the Human Rights Ombudswoman. Given the PNC’s
extremely slow response to the calls for investigations into the other five
murders, religious groups and BPS leaders are pushing for answers from the
police investigation within two weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>More Criticism of Saca’s
Extended Anti-Crime Plans<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>
</span></font></b>Meanwhile, President Tony Saca and Interior Minister Rene
Figueroa continue moving forward with their numerous proposals to crack down on
crime, including pushing for a U.S.-backed “anti-organized crime”
law and the creation of a 14 member National Commission on Security. The
proposed legislation includes things like the creation of special, secretive
tribunals for “expedited” trials of those with suspected links to
“organized crime.” Judges came out this week criticizing the
legislation, especially the sections creating the special tribunals and
expanding the criteria for admissible evidence. The latter would give legitimacy
to what is being called “third-hand evidence”, such as the
testimony of witnesses who claim to have overheard conversations related to the
trial. Judges have also criticized Saca’s attempt to subvert the
current legal system by replacing certain judges and creating harsher and more
secretive court processes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> Saca
continues to move forward with these ideas despite all the evidence showing
that tough-on-crime policies have actually worsened the situation of crime.
A recent study by the Central America Coalition for the Prevention of Youth
Violence details how the three Central American nations with so-called
“Mano Dura” policies – El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras
– all have increased rates of violent crime, while Nicaragua and Costa
Rica, which have both prioritized social spending, crime prevention and youth
rights, are seeing much lower crime rates. <st1:country-region w:st="on">El
Salvador</st1:country-region> has a murder rate that is double the average for
Latin America and seven times higher that of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Nicaragua</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Ortega Victory gives Hope to
Salvadoran Left <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>FMLN and social movement leaders congratulated
Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega for his victory in Sunday’s Nicaraguan
presidential elections, praising the Nicaraguan people for voting for a
candidate who had been thoroughly demonized by the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> government during the lead-up
to the elections. The State Department and right-wing U.S. Congressional
Representatives used similar tactics as those employed in the 2004 Salvadoran
elections, repeatedly denouncing Ortega and threatening to cut off USAID
funding should he win. They also threatened to cut the flow of
remittances, a tactic which successfully instilled fear in many Salvadoran
voters. In <st1:country-region w:st="on">Nicaragua</st1:country-region>,
a fractured right-wing helped Ortega, but voters also chose to defy the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>
intervention. Though many remain unsure of what direction Ortega’s
social policy will go, he joins the ranks of other left-of-center presidents
who have been recently elected in Latin America, breaking the conservative
stranglehold on <st1:place w:st="on">Central America</st1:place>’s executive
branches. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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