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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-autospace:none'><b><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>President
Saca calls on Military to “Defend the Nation from Populism”<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>CISPES Update<font
color=navy><span style='color:navy'> – <a href="http://www.cispes.org/">www.cispes.org</a>
</span></font><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;text-autospace:none'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>May 21, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In early May, President
Saca celebrated <st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>’s
“Day of the Soldier” with a controversial speech calling on the
Armed Forces of El Salvador to join ARENA in defending <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> from “the
dangerous waves of populism around the world.” Saca said that the
Salvadoran Military had defended the country “from the communist
aggression in the past” and that it should again step up and do the same
in defense of democracy and freedom. This kind of speech calling for the
politicizing of the military is unprecedented in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> since the signing of
the Peace Accords. <i><font color="#7f7f00"><span style='color:#7F7F00;
font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></font></i></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In the same speech to the
military, Saca also declared his admiration for Colonel Domingo Monterrosa whom
he claimed had defended the nation from the communist aggression. Many
Salvadorans were disturbed by the praise since it is widely known that
Monterrosa orchestrated the 1981 El Mozote massacre in which the Salvadoran
military brutally murdered hundreds of innocent people. Salvador Sanchez
Ceren, head of the FMLN fraction in the Legislative Assembly rejected
Saca’s divisive speech, saying “Saca is using language that is
markedly militarist and war-like, even though he has declared 2007 to be the
year of social peace. He is trying to control the Armed
Forces.” Many believe Saca’s speech reflects ARENA’s
fear of the increased popular support for the FMLN as it builds towards the
2009 elections, and therefore a new strategy to publicly involve the military
in its campaign to counteract the Left.<i><span style='font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>ARENA
Continues Targeting Vendors and Labels FMLN “Epicenter of Chaos”<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>The National
Civilian Police (PNC) attacked <st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">San
Salvador street</st1:address></st1:Street> vendors on May 12 after carrying
out a massive confiscation of vendors’ products, including unlicensed
copies of CDs and DVDs. The vendors responded by protesting the assault </span></font>on
their means of survival, while outsiders to the CD-DVD Vendors’ Movement
attacked and looted downtown business and set two vehicles on fire. The PNC and
the Security Minister used the vandalism as a pretext to arrest 19 people,
including two minors and four vendors who belonged to the Vendors’
Movement. The government is charging those arrested with crimes ranging
from public disturbances and vandalism to terrorism and organized crime. <i><span
style='font-style:italic'><a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=201&Itemid=27">Go
here to learn more about the May 10 violence and to take action.</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>ARENA officials’
remarks over the course of the following week have demonstrated the
party’s two-pronged strategy with the attacks. On the one hand,
ARENA officials are using the arrests on Saturday to attack the vendors’
organizing efforts, while at the same time also claiming that the FMLN was
behind the violence. The government is conflating vandalism and
terrorism, since seven of the 19 people arrested on Saturday are being charged
with acts of terrorism. Immediately after the May 12 events, Figueroa
spoke about the dangerous acts of “terrorism” that had
occurred. The National Business Association backed the charges, calling
on Saca to “make use of the [Anti-terrorism] Law to set a precedent and
prevent further acts of terrorism from occurring.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The private sector has
also joined ARENA officials in accusing the FMLN of creating chaos and terror
in the streets of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City></st1:place>.
Figueroa has repeatedly claimed that the FMLN is behind the violence that
occurred on May 12 without citing any evidence. Another ARENA national
deputy, Ernesto Antonio Angulo, tried to smear the FMLN for not approving
international loans that would supposedly fund the police, saying “the
FMLN does not approve funding for security but yet they take the liberty to set
police cars on fire”. The level of irresponsible accusations made by
ARENA officials is alarming given that they have no proof that the FMLN had
anything to do with the acts of vandalism. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Human Rights Ombudswoman
Beatrice de Carrillo called on the government to separate the issues of
vandalism and crime from the street vendors’ issues. Carrillo
demanded the government work to create real alternatives for the vendors and
rejected all acts of violence. All those arrested last week remain in police
custody.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>CD/DVD
Vendors’ Movement Proposes Solutions<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><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-autospace:none'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The CD-DVD Vendors’
Movement held a press conference on May 14 to denounce the recent arrests and
the massive confiscation of goods, which correspond to reforms to intellectual
property laws ushered in as part of the implementation of the Central American
Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in El Salvador. The movement also presented
a proposal that would help create alternative forms of employment for them and
support other groups negatively impacted by the sales of pirated goods.
They propose the creation of a special tax on every imported blank CD or DVD,
to be pooled into a special fund to benefit all sectors involved in the
reproduction, distribution and selling of CDs and DVDs. One of the main
objectives of their proposal is to guarantee that vendors have legal
recognition of their current work, effectively reversing the current
criminalization they face for working to survive. At the same time, the
proposal looks to compensate the formal industries and the artists affected by
the sale of pirated goods. Finally, the vendors’ proposal seeks to
make the laws in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>
respond to the reality of the majority of the people so that they can be
realistically applied. </span></font><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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