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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'>Protests
against water privatization repressed, 13 violently arrested in Suchitoto<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><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'>El Salvador</span></font></b></st1:country-region></st1:place><b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>’s “most wanted man” captured amid
Government accusations<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>CISPES
Update<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>July 3, 2007<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><img
width=384 height=255 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01C7BD62.0920AED0"><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=1
face=Arial><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Riot Police prepare
to attack protesters in Suchitoto<i><span style='font-style:italic'> (Photo
Prensa Grafica)<o:p></o:p></span></i></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'>On July 2, various organizations and communities in the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">municipality</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Suchitoto</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> gathered for a protest against
the official announcement of the “National Policy of Water
Decentralization” by President Antonio Saca. The peaceful protest
was brutally repressed by the riot police (UMO) along with specialized forces
of the National Civil Police (PNC). In the end, 13 people were arrested
by the police and accused of “public disorder”, including four
leaders of the rural development organization CRIPDES. The riot police
eventually opened fire on the protest with rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper
spray, injuring around 75 people. Throughout the day helicopters circled
Suchitoto and <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:place></st1:City>,
and the riot police didn’t withdraw from the scene until well into the
afternoon.<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'>Saca was planning to announce his new “decentralization”
plan in Suchitoto but the protests, led by the water workers union SETA,
CRIPDES, and a number of other groups, prevented him from arriving.
Coordinated street blockades turned back his caravan, and Saca was forced to
return by helicopter to the Presidential Palace in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City></st1:place>, where he then held a press
conference to formally announce the new policy. The Salvadoran social
movement has increased its opposition to water privatization, bringing together
many groups organizing at the national level to raise awareness about the
effects of water privatization, while countering Saca’s plan to privatize
both water and health care with concrete alternatives. <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'>Social movement and solidarity organizations have denounced the
unlawful arrests of peaceful protesters and the repression against organizers
and movement leaders in general. Yesterday and today they are holding
meetings with the government’s Human Rights Office ombudswoman Beatrice
de Carrillo to request her accompaniment in their demand to have the 13 jailed
protesters released without charges, and ask that she denounce the increasing
repression against the social movement. The organizations will be
presenting a resolution to the Legislative Assembly on July 3 to demand the
deputies from the different parties also repudiate recent acts of repression
against the movement. <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'>Mario Belloso captured nearly a year
after university repression and police shooting<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'>Meanwhile, on the same morning as the protests in Suchitoto, the PNC
and Salvadoran Armed Forces concluded a massive operation of some 300 officers
who worked to capture Mario Belloso, the man accused of killing two police
officers during a protest last July. Belloso was apprehended in his own home
during the early morning and then paraded in front of news cameras shortly
thereafter. The story filled newspaper and television reports and gave
Minister of Security Rene Figueroa and PNC Director Rodrigo Avila the
opportunity to attack youth organizations and the FMLN, insinuating that
these groups have been aiding Belloso in his efforts to evade arrest over
the last year.<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'>In the raid of Belloso’s home, the PNC claims to have found FMLN
paraphernalia, along with specific documents in his computer that tie him to
various youth organizations. Perhaps the most ridiculous claim made by
President Saca is that Belloso was the “intellectual author” of the
disturbances in Suchitoto; Figuero and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Avila</st1:City></st1:place>,
meanwhile, accused the FMLN of being behind the protests. In an official
communiqué following the arrest of Belloso the FMLN stated that, “We
reject and repudiate the coarse pretenses of extreme right-wing politicians, as
well as certain news media aligned with the party in power, who are blaming our
party for the regretful events of July 5, 2006. Only perverse minds would have the
courage to make such unfounded accusations”. Human Rights Office
ombudswoman Beatrice de Carrillo called the arrest a “political show”
by the government, while Ricardo Alfaro Barahona of the Forum for the Defense
of the Constitution raised questions about the timing of the arrest, as it coincided
precisely with the police repression in Suchitoto. <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'>Student groups at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">National</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> are bracing
for more attacks by the PNC, as movement organizations strategize about how to
respond to the recent spate of repression and the continued attacks that are
sure to follow. <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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