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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'>Salvadorans
Prepare to Protest on Third Anniversary of Saca’s Presidency<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'>May 30, 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 style='text-indent:.5in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>June 1 marks three years of President Antonio
Saca’s presidency in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El
Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and many social organizations,
along with the FMLN party, are taking the opportunity to denounce his administration’s
failure to resolve the main problems facing the country. A coalition of
social movement organizations – including the Popular Social Bloc (BPS),
the Salvadoran Union Front (FSS), and the national CD-DVD Vendors Movement –
released a statement in preparation for protests on June 1 asserting that
Saca’s policies have in fact aggravated the crisis of poverty and
unemployment through the implementation of the neoliberal economic model, while
also increasing corruption and violent crime.<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'>This week the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Salvadoran</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Technological</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
released the results of a public opinion poll which shows that 70.5% of the
Salvadoran population thinks that Saca is not doing anything to resolve the
problems of the country. 66.1% of those polled believe that the biggest problem
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>
is the increasingly high cost of living; also, based on the crisis created by
the failure of CAFTA and other economic policies, 67% of those polled said they
want to emigrate outside of the country. Another <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Technological</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
poll found that 30.4% of Salvadorans say they will vote for the FMLN in the
next elections, next to 28.2% for ARENA.<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'>Such statistics are not surprising given the sense among most
Salvadorans that the situation in the country is getting worse. The
Jesuit University (UCA) released a separate poll showing that 51% of the
population believe that crime has actually gone up in this last year, despite
Saca labeling 2007 the “ Year of Peace.” In fact, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region> now has the highest homicide rate in
all of <st1:place w:st="on">Latin America</st1:place>, and a study by the UCA
shows that the number of monthly homicides has nearly tripled since Saca took
power in 2004.<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 FMLN and the social movement are organizing a series of protests on
June 1 at different points throughout the country to denounce Saca’s
repressive and exclusive model of governing, and to counter the
president’s presentation of an official report giving him high marks on
governing over the last 3 years.<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'>FMLN proposes legislation in favor of
market vendors<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><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>FMLN deputies in the Constitutional Law and Issues Commission of the National
Assembly presented a proposal which would reform Article 26 of the Penal Code in
order to reduce punishment for informal vendors arrested on charges of selling
unlicensed CDs and DVDs. The FMLN’s proposal also calls for the
elimination of Article 184, which would prevent jail time for vendors arrested under
the Intellectual Property laws passed as part of the implementation of CAFTA in
2005. The proposal has yet to be analyzed by the other members of the
commission. <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'>As the vendors continue their struggle, reaching new parts of the
country to organize the ever-growing informal sector, more leaders within the
movement are being threatened. Martin Montoya, a leader of the National CD-DVD
Vendors Movement, recently expressed concern about death threats and other attacks
to the movement. “We are under permanent threat of either massive
confiscation of our products or of arrests from the authorities,” said
Montoya.<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'>ARENA uses RCTV closure in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region></st1:place>
to attack the FMLN<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></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'>ARENA’s fear of the possible FMLN victory in the 2009 elections was
shown once again as Saca and his associates in the right-wing media sought to
manipulate the controversy surrounding the television station RCTV in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region></st1:place>
in order to attack the FMLN. On May 28 the Venezuelan government allowed
the license for RCTV – a promoter of the 2002 coup attempt against
President Hugo Chavez – to expire, prompting rallies both in favor and
against of the government’s decision. The main right-wing
newspapers have been filled with anti-Chavez propaganda over the last week, making
subtle and not-so-subtle links to the Salvadoran elections in 2009. Cesar
Funes, a top leader of the ARENA party, sent a warning to the Salvadoran people
stating, “It’s sad that there are parties that support the suppression
of freedom of speech. Salvadorans have to open their eyes and see that
the FMLN is the enemy of freedom and is friends with Chavez.”<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'>Meanwhile, the FMLN and the Salvadoran Committee in Solidarity with <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cuba</st1:country-region></st1:place>
organized a solidarity rally on Sunday in front of the Venezuelan
embassy. FMLN General Coordinator Medardo Gonzalez spoke at the rally and
extended the FMLN’s support to Chavez, clarifying to the Salvadoran press
that Chavez’s decision to not extend the RCTV license is a sovereign one,
and that in El Salvador those that are against the decision “don’t recognize
freedom of speech.”<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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