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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'>One year
of CAFTA in El Salvador: Unfulfilled Promises and More Protests<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 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'>March 5, 2007 <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'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>
Thursday March 1 marked the first anniversary of the implementation of the
U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>. While Presidents
Bush and Saca met in <st1:City w:st="on">Washington</st1:City> <st1:State
w:st="on">DC</st1:State> and made statements about how beneficial CAFTA had
been for “everyone,” back in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> the social movement,
youth groups, economists, and the FMLN party all disputed those claims. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>
There were two protests marking the CAFTA anniversary and calling for a
reversal in the agreement. On Wednesday, February 28, youth organizations
shut down the Boulevard Constitución, one of the main roads into and through <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City></st1:place>, in a peaceful
protest. The riot police moved in and broke up the protest, arresting 27
young people for “public disorder.” The youth were held for
over 24 hours, but had been released by Friday. Then on Thursday, another
group of protestors marched to demand that CAFTA be repealed. <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Campesinos</span></i>, students, informal vendors,
and other social movement organizations went to the Supreme Court to demand
that CAFTA be repealed. The FMLN echoed those criticisms, calling on the
Supreme Court to declare the agreement unconstitutional. The CD/DVD
vendors movement participated in the Thursday march, calling attention to the
way the implementation of CAFTA has criminalized their only means of
survival. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> The
year anniversary proved an important moment for debunking the
government’s promises about the boon CAFTA would bring for all
Salvadorans. Even the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
and Salvadoran governments’ official numbers show that <st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>’s trade deficit with the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> has grown, with <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
exports to <st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region> far
outweighing Salvadoran exports to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> According to the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Salvadoran agricultural exports to the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> fell 3.7% in 2006, and <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> imports to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> grew by 17%, the
greatest rate of growth since 1970. The Latin American economic think
tank CEPAL reports that inflation went up slightly from 2005 to <st1:metricconverter
ProductID="2006 in" w:st="on">2006 in</st1:metricconverter> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Foreign
investment in <st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>
went from $300 million in 2005 to $222 million in 2006, whereas in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Costa Rica</st1:country-region></st1:place>
– where CAFTA has not been implemented – foreign investment is
eight times higher. The protests and denouncements last week all pointed
out these contradictions and called on the government to reverse this trend by
seeking economic programs that diverge from the “free” trade model.
Huge protests occurred in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Costa
Rica</st1:country-region></st1:place> a few days prior to the anniversary
(see <a href="http://www.stopcafta.org/">www.stopcafta.org</a> for more
information.)<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'><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'>Saca and Bush meeting: False Hope for
Immigrants<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>On February 27, Salvadoran President Saca made another trip
to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place>
to meet with President Bush. Unlike past meetings during which Saca had
come with a propagandistic mission– publicizing his supposed support for<font
color=red><span style='color:red'> </span></font>Salvadoran immigrants during
campaign season – this time the purpose of the visit and the declarations
emerging from it were much more vague. Instead of directly requesting an
extension of TPS (temporary work permits that benefit 225,000 Salvadorans
living in the U.S., Saca and Bush focused more on security and organized crime,
while Bush praised Saca’s friendship. In their remarks to the
press, Bush and Saca mentioned immigrants, but without a concrete proposals to
assist those with TPS, not to mention the large number of Salvadorans deported
from the U.S. each week. <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'>Finally, the meeting also gave Bush an opportunity to meet with an ally
in Latin America before going on his trip to Central and <st1:place w:st="on">South
America</st1:place> this week, where friends of the Bush regime are few.
There are major protests planned for a Bush’s visits in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Mexico</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Guatemala</st1:country-region>,
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Brazil</st1:country-region></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'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><b><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Guatemala</span></font></b></st1:country-region></st1:place><b><span
style='font-weight:bold'> murders still under investigation<o:p></o:p></span></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>Four Guatemalan police who confessed being involved in the
murder of the three Salvadoran legislators and their driver were detained on
February 23. One of them was the head of the Guatemalan special police
unit against organized crime, another was a high-ranking police official, and
the others were investigative agents. On February 25 they were being held
in a Guatemalan maximum security prison when they were murdered in their cells.
Although officials initially claimed they were killed in a prison riot,
witnesses say a group of men in military-like clothes and ski masks walked into
the prison and then through a number of locked doors without anyone stopping
them, before carrying out the murders.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> More
details continue to emerge about the crimes. Another Guatemalan police
officer has turned himself in, and the head of Guatemalan Criminal
Investigation, Victor Hugo Soto, was removed from his position on
Saturday. However, there have been differing versions coming from
Guatemalan and Salvadoran authorities about evidence in the cases, leading to
tensions between the two governments. Organizations in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Guatemala</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> speculate that the
murders are connected to organized crime and drug traffickers embedded high in
state powers in both countries. An FMLN Deputy to the Central American
Parliament, Leonel Bucaro, says that the crimes show that the structures of
death squads were not dismantled by the Peace Accords in either country.
Today, Human Rights Ombudswoman Beatrice de Carrillo said that the crimes touch
such high levels of power in both countries and could potentially expose
serious corruption. “I am sure that we will never get to the bottom of
this delicate situation. I think that both countries are trying to
diminish interest in the case.”<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>
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