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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'>Organizations
Mobilize Against Repression and “Terrorism” Charges on
Romero’s Birthday<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'>August 16, 2007<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'><img width=411
height=274 id="_x0000_i1025" src="cid:image001.jpg@01C7DFF5.5AF0CAA0"><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'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>On Wednesday, August 15 – the day that would have been Monseñor
Romero's 90th birthday – the social movement of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> celebrated his stand
against repression by marching through the streets of the capital. A procession
went from the Hospital de la Divina Providencia, the site of Romero's
assassination, to the National Cathedral in downtown <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">San Salvador</st1:City></st1:place>. In reaction to the climate of
increased government repression of social organizing and protest, the
demonstrators demanded an end to repression and concentrated in front of the
downtown Cathedral, where Romero is buried. The activity concluded with a mass
offered in memory of Romero and his work – hundreds of people came from social
organizations, historic ecclesiastic communities and the Romero Foundation
which continues to work for the canonization of Romero. Before his
assassination by right-wing death squads in March, 1980, Romero said, “It
frightens me, brothers and sisters, when repressive laws and violent attitudes
remove the legitimate ways people have to express themselves.”<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Yesterday’s activity was also motivated by the release on bail
this past July 29 of the 9 remaining prisoners captured in Suchitoto on past
July 2. While people are celebrating the momentary victory of their
provisional release, the action also called attention to the fact that the
terrorism charges are still being applied despite national and international
opposition. All 14 accused of terrorism will go to trial the first days of
October. FMLN and social organizations maintain their support to the prisoners
and their families, continuing to organize and mobilize so that the charges are
dropped.<b><span style='font-weight:bold'><o:p></o:p></span></b></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'>Criminalizing Protest the
“legal” way: Reforms to Penal Code<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Under intense national and international pressure, President Saca and
his cabinet have been making contradictory and diluted statements about the terrorism
charges against the 14 Suchitoto protestors. Saca is now saying that it is
important to make a distinction between “public disorder” and acts
of terrorism, although his <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Fiscal General</span></i>
(chief state investigator), Garrid Safie, continues to insist that that terrorism
charges be applied.<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'>President Saca is moving forward to ensure that even if protestors are
found guilty of lesser crimes than “terrorism” that they still
spend years in jail. Saca has been pushing ARENA and other right wing deputies
in the Legislative Assembly to approve a series of reforms to the Penal Code, including
“public disorder” and the newly created crime of “attacks against
public peace.” Both legal changes would further criminalize protests by
making common protest tactics punishable with 2-10 years of imprisonment. For
example, two or more people who block a road in a “dangerous
manner” could go to prison for three to five years under these reforms,
and anyone who gathers in front of a hospital – presumably to protest the
privatization of health care – can go to jail for a maximum of ten
years. This last reform to the Penal Code may be in response to the increasing
mobilizing against the steps Saca is taking towards the privatization of both
water and health. <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'>Security Minister Rene Figueroa has been unusually frank in speaking with
media, saying that “our interest is that those that are rebellious be punished;
they must be punished, either with the Anti-terrorism law or the Penal Code.”
The FMLN deputies in the National Assembly are opposing the reforms, saying
they are a tactic by the ARENA government to “silence the will of the
people” and eliminate dissent. <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'>Death Squads in the National Civil
Police<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 29, Sergeant Nelson Antonio Arriaza Delgado, head of the
Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Civilian Police (PNC) of San
Miguel, was arrested by the armed forces for the murder of Amado García, and he
is also suspected of ties to extortionists in the region. Also arrested were
Carlos Chévez <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Hidalgo</st1:State></st1:place>,
an ex-PNC agent implicated in this murder and others, and Rember Rolando
Martínez, a civilian accused of involvement in the death of García. The PNC has
admitted that they suspect members of the Division of Investigations have been
involved in extrajudicial homicides, and that they have relationships with
“delinquent groups.” <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 has called for an investigation into this matter, citing the
2006 report of the governmental Human Rights Office (PDDH) which stated the
existence of death squads in the country, and documented police participation
within these groups. Irma Amaya, and FMLN deputy, stated her belief that the
PNC “has been politicized, because its director is a militant of the
official party….dedicated to promoting defamation campaigns against other
sectors instead of investigating these cases fully and professionally.” FMLN
legislator Benito Lara has demanded an investigation into the PNC by the
National Assembly. The president of the non-governmental Human Rights Commission
of El Salvador (CDHES) has presented a denouncement to the Inspector General of
the PNC, calling for an investigation of this matter by the PDDH as well as a
second investigation by both the PDDH and the United Nations Torture Commission
into police brutality and extra-judicial torture. <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'>A number of businesses are accused of backing this practice by paying
or otherwise compelling “hit men” – be they police or
civilian – to carry out these crimes. One such businessman, Domingo
Saravia, is being investigated for involvement with a death squad in which the participation
of PNC members is presumed. PNC Director Rodrigo Ávila says that at this time
Saravia has not been accused of financing criminal structures but that there is
an investigation. While the FMLN and social movement are calling for a real
investigation and an end to the impunity of these organized death squad-like
groups, ARENA officials are trying to brush this new information under the rug
by claiming it is an isolated incident.<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=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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