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<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'>FMLN Holds Successful National Convention;<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></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'>Prepares for 15<sup>th</sup> Anniversary of Peace Accords<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'>January 5,
2006<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'>The year 2006 ended with the FMLN celebrating its 12<sup>th</sup>
National Convention, where changes to party statutes were approved by almost 500
participants. The convention’s focus was on discussion of strategy
and internal changes that aim at unifying and strengthening the party for the
next two years leading up to the major 2009 elections. The FMLN also used
the convention to call for reflection on the advances and problems with the
implementation of the Peace Accords.<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'>At the December 17<sup>th</sup> convention, FMLN
General Coordinator Medardo Gonzalez called for the construction of a
“Common Front” that will bring together all the social and civil
society actors. The call for unity was also extended to the sectors not
historically or currently part of the Salvadoran left but that have been
affected by ARENA’s neoliberal model imposed on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> such as CAFTA.<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'>The main reforms that were approved relate to the
party’s structure and internal functioning: there will now be separate
classification for FMLN “affiliates” and “militants”;
the format for internal election changed to a process of proposals and
ratification rather than always having secret elections between a number of
candidates; and the convention voted to keep the current leadership of the FMLN
in power until after the 2009 elections. The reforms to the statutes had
been consulted with the base committees in all the departments previous to the
convention, leading to a nearly unanimous consensus in approval of the reforms.<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><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Late Night Final
Legislative Session of the Year Passes Anti-Organized Crime Law<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></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'>ARENA concluded 2006 with one more piece of
legislation aimed at criminalizing organizing while pretending to address the
issue of increasing crime. Late in the night on December 20 – just
days after the U.S. Ambassador asked the legislature to do so –ARENA and
two smaller rightwing parties approved the “Anti-Organized Crime”
Law. The FMLN did not support the law because of its repressive nature
towards the social movement and its potential to be applied arbitrarily. <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><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt'>Officially, the law allows for there to be
“legal tools” to punish and halt organized crime, specifically the
creation of new specialized tribunals. However, it has been widely
criticized since it labels gangs “organized crime” and, like Mano
Dura (“Iron Fist”) and other past failed anti-crime policies, makes
gangs out to the be the main source of crime and violence in El Salvador.
Yet even official statistics prove that gang activity is not the main cause of
crime in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
The numbers coming out at the end of 2006 show the continued failure of the
government to curb crime: there was a 3.36% increase in the homicide rate from
2005, and overcrowded prisons now hold almost 15,000 prisoners, more than
double their capacity. There was an increase of 2,500 people incarcerated
last year, many of whom do not even have charges against them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'>2007 Declared the Year of “Peace”<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>January
16 will be the 15<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the signing of the 1992 Peace
Accords. Although the right wing has rarely celebrated the Peace Accords,
Saca has declared the year 2007 the “Year of Peace.”
Additionally, for the first time in years, there will be an official
celebration of the signing of the Peace Accords on the 13<sup>th</sup> of
January. The celebration has caused debate as to whether or not peace can
be celebrated, with violence steadily increasing. Meanwhile, the social
and economic causes of violence are also getting worse, especially with the
implementation of CAFTA and as the ARENA government moves forward with the
neoliberal agenda. The FMLN is celebrating the anniversary by
commemorating the life and death of the historic leader Schafik Handal.
The FMLN will also use the anniversary as a space for evaluating the
fulfillment of the Accords. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Currently,
the FMLN and the social movement are preparing for the Foro de Sao Paulo, an
organization founded in 1990 by the Labor Party of Brazil after the fall of the
Berlin Wall to discuss the consequences of the application of the neoliberal
model in the region. The Foro will be held from the 12<sup>th</sup>-15<sup>th</sup>
of January in San Salvador, where leftist parties and social and popular
organizations of Latin America, Caribbean and other parts of the world will
gather to discuss the advances of the Left in Latin America. Nidia Diaz, FMLN
deputy in the Central American Parliament and one of the organizers of the
Forum, says that discussions will focus on the current struggle for the
integration of the people’s movement throughout Latin America and the <st1:place
w:st="on">Caribbean</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-style:italic'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></i></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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