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</span></font></i></b><b><font size=5 color=red face=Garamond><span
style='font-size:20.0pt;font-family:Garamond;color:red;font-weight:bold'>Special
Update:<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=6
face=Garamond><span style='font-size:22.0pt;font-family:Garamond'>One year
after the People’s Victory in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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face=Garamond><span style='font-family:Garamond'>On Sunday, March 14, the
streets of San Salvador once again filled with red t-shirts, hats, bandanas
and FMLN flags to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the victory of
the FMLN’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates, Mauricio
Funes and Salvador Sánchez Cerén (March 15, 2009). In a speech before the
crowd of 25,000, historic leader of the FMLN and current Deputy to the
Central American Parliament Nidia Díaz declared, "Today we reassert
the effort and the heroism of thousands of compatriots that continue
fighting and those that gave their lives, without which this victory would
not have been possible." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>Looking back on the accomplishments of the first
year, many Salvadorans are quick to point out that the most significant
accomplishment of the 2009 elections was the electoral defeat of the
right-wing, most notably of the ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance)
party, whose “president for life” is Roberto D’Aubuisson,
the founder of the Salvadoran death-squads. For twenty years, consecutive
ARENA presidents implemented drastic neoliberal measures, from the
privatization of most public services like electricity and
telecommunications to CAFTA, the Central America Free Trade Agreement,
resulting in an unemployment rate of at least 55%. ARENA’s
“iron fist” and “super iron fist” policing policies
failed to lower the country’s violent crime rates and in 2008
El Salvador’s homicide rate became the highest in the Western
Hemisphere, with a documented resurgence of death squad-style “social
extermination” groups. The level of political, economic and military
power held by the elite, not to mention their near-unconditional backing
from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place>,
made their ouster last March a truly historic accomplishment, one that has
been compared to the 1992 signing of the Peace Accords that ended the Civil
War and toppled the country’s military dictatorship.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>Leading into the 2009 elections, many Salvadorans
said that the country simply could not survive another five years of ARENA.
One year ago today, Salvadorans mobilized <i><span style='font-style:italic'>en
masse</span></i> to the polls, casting aside the right-wing and
media’s<font color=red><span style='color:red'> </span></font>vicious
fear<font color=red><span style='color:red'> </span></font>campaign against
the FMLN as well as the<font color=red><span style='color:red'> </span></font><a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=537&Itemid=27">threats
made by Republicans in the U.S. Congress</a> to deport Salvadoran
immigrants in the event of an FMLN victory. Many credit the sheer number of
voters as a key factor in being able to supersede the fraud committed by
the right-wing parties, most notably the buses of “voters” that
arrived overnight from Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The
highly-organized community response to the fraud (several buses were
blocked and turned away at the border!) was more pronounced during the 2009
elections than any other in recent history, demonstrating both the high
level of opposition to allowing ARENA to rule for another five years and
the high level of popular organization that will make social and economic
transformation in El Salvador possible.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>One of the major achievements of the new government
of President Mauricio Funes and Vice President Salvador Sánchez Cerén has
been the re-orientation of the government towards the needs of the
majority, especially through the social ministries. While President
Funes’ commitment to creating a “unity government” means
there are many other sectors besides the FMLN represented in the new
government, the appointment of FMLN leaders to the ministries that work
most closely with the population has been critical to the success of the
new administration. As FMLN general coordinator Medardo González declared
during Sunday’s victory celebration, “These are measures that,
step by step, indicate the vision of a leftist government.” Some
notable examples:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3'><i><font size=3
face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Garamond;
font-style:italic'>Health</span></font></i><font face=Garamond><span
style='font-family:Garamond'>: The required payment—insultingly known
as a “voluntary fee”—at all public hospitals and
clinics has been abolished and the foundation has been laid for a new
maternity hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3'><i><font size=3
face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Garamond;
font-style:italic'>Education</span></font></i><font face=Garamond><span
style='font-family:Garamond'>: For the first time, the government is
providing <a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=624&Itemid=28">school
uniforms, shoes and school supplies</a> to every child in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
as well as extending the school meal program to urban schools, thereby
addressing some of the main impediments for poor families to send their
children to school. The Minister of Education, Salvador Sánchez Cerén,
has also launched a national program to end illiteracy in the style of
successful programs in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Nicaragua</st1:country-region>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cuba</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3'><i><font size=3
face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Garamond;
font-style:italic'>Agriculture</span></font></i><font face=Garamond><span
style='font-family:Garamond'>: President Funes has stated that <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>
needs to return to food production for domestic consumption in order
to ensure food sovereignty for the Salvadoran people. Through
subsidized seeds and fertilizers and new lines of credit for small
farmers, the government is making important steps to addressing the decimation
of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
agricultural sector caused by neoliberal policies. The
government granting of over 4,000 land titles to <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>campesinos/as </span></i>has begun to
rectify past governments’ failure to complete promised land
reform policies<font color=red><span style='color:red'>.</span></font><o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3'><i><font size=3
face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Garamond;
font-style:italic'>Labor</span></font></i><font face=Garamond><span
style='font-family:Garamond'>: For perhaps the first time, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
Minister of Labor, is truly <a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=642&Itemid=87">representing
the interests of workers</a>.<font color=red><span style='color:red'>
</span></font>Dr. de Avilés is transforming the Ministry from an
institute that impeded workers’ searches for justice to an
institute that defends workers’ rights and supports the
organized union movement.<font color=red><span style='color:red'>
</span></font>Several unions, including in the <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>maquila</span></i> sector, have finally been
recognized, drawing the ire of the business elite; unions in sectors
who have been completely or partially privatized, like
telecommunications and water, have finally been granted industrial
union status.<o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3'><i><font size=3
face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Garamond;
font-style:italic'>Housing and Public Works</span></font></i><font
face=Garamond><span style='font-family:Garamond'>: Through the <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Casa para Todos</span></i> program, the new
government plans to build 25,000 houses and generate 100,000 jobs in
the process. After Tropical Storm Ida, priority was given to the <a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=658&Itemid=59">communities
hit by the storm</a>; the government has purchased land to be able to
permanently move entire communities to safer ground. Long-time FMLN
leader Gerson Martinez is now at the head of the most historically
corrupt ministry in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El
Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>, dramatically re-orienting
its priorities to ensure community benefit, safety, seismic
resistance, and accessibility for people with disabilities.<o:p></o:p></span></font></li>
</ul>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>The FMLN, as a political party, was clear that
whenever they were able to take the reigns of the government, their highest
priority would be to rescue the democratic function of the State.
Especially during the past two decades, the state institutions were
profoundly corrupted; millions of dollars disappeared annually into the
personal and political coffers of the right wing (perhaps the Funes
campaign promise that scared them the most was to “open the
books”!) One of the highest priorities of the Funes administration is
to re-create a functional, democratic state, starting with a strict
opposition to corruption. A new Inspector General was brought on board at
the National Civilian Police, resulting in charges against at least 40
officers within the first month of the program, and the new<font color=red><span
style='color:red'> </span></font>Minister of the Interior, FMLN leader
Humberto Centeno,<font color=red><span style='color:red'> </span></font>has
brought charges against former government functionaries including
ex-President Saca’s right-hand man, former Minister of the Interior
Rene Figueroa. Other significant movement toward a real democracy has
been initiated in FMLN municipalities; <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s <a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=670&Itemid=28">first
ever popular consultation</a> was held in Zacatecoluca and many FMLN mayors
continue to promote other participatory processes of governance. Both
the FMLN and the Salvadoran popular movement see these steps toward
“rescuing the state” as essential precursors to more
fundamental structural change in the future. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>Another of the most significant factors that has
changed the political landscape in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> is the
near-collapse of the right-wing political parties. Due to power struggles
within ARENA, especially as former President Saca was blamed for the
party’s electoral defeat, a third of the party’s Legislative
Deputies defected and formed a new right-wing fraction, GANA, which will be
requesting political party credentials this year. While not ideologically
much different from ARENA, the breakup has been a blow to the right-wing
dominance in the Legislative Assembly, forcing different fractions to
negotiate with the FMLN as the party with the largest number of seats (36
out of 84). Furthermore, the victory of the leftist party has made many of
the other parties want to appear as “populist” as possible,
making it much easier for the FMLN to pass important legislation, for
example, to approve the budget.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>However, long-time revolutionary leaders of the
party, its members, and the social movement share the understanding that
the victory of Funes is far from all that is needed to challenge the power
structure in El Salvador. For one thing, though the right-wing parties may
be floundering, the Salvadoran elite still hold an incredible amount of
power and the policies they created for their own benefit are still in
place. As Medardo González said to the crowd gathered on Saturday, ARENA
“was defeated but not overcome,” as they still have “partial
control of the state apparatus.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>The new government inherited a nearly bankrupt state,
heavily indebted to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
and international institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. Though
large sums of that money were stolen by former Presidents, Funes has
nonetheless assumed responsibility for paying it all back. With extremely
little state income and a right-wing that goes on the attack anytime
someone suggests big businesses should be paying more taxes, the new
government has continued to accept the “generous” offers of the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
and multi-lateral financial institutions<font color=red><span
style='color:red'> </span></font>in the form of even more loans. While
there is no doubt that the Funes administration and all of the ministries
will use this income to the best extent possible, and for needed
improvements in the country, the vicious cycle remains in place. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>To the disappointment of many in the social movement,
the FMLN and the international solidarity movement, President Funes has
also publicly stated that he will not seek to re-negotiate CAFTA, nor will
he join the ALBA, the co-operative Latin American trade agreement with <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Cuba</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Nicaragua</st1:country-region> and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Bolivia</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
Even a massive investment in social spending to alleviate the effects of
poverty and unemployment will reach its limit as long as <st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region> and the rest of <st1:place
w:st="on">Central America</st1:place> remain strangled by CAFTA. The recent
lawsuits by two North American mining companies, demanding hundreds of
millions of dollars from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El
Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>, have re-energized the popular
and labor movements against CAFTA, despite President Funes’ unwillingness
to challenge it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>Another significant challenge this new phase of
revolutionary struggle is the increasingly visible contradictions between
the Executive Office and the FMLN—the political party that brought Funes
to power. Alongside the social movement, the FMLN has opposed CAFTA and
called for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>
to join the ALBA. As a revolutionary party, founded as an armed struggle,
the party is committed to larger projects like 21<sup>st</sup> Century
Socialism, Latin American integration and anti-imperialism. In one strong
contradiction, the FMLN strongly denounced and mobilized against the June
coup in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Honduras</st1:country-region>;
President Funes, however, has decided to recognize the presidency of Pepe
Lobo and is calling for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Honduras</st1:country-region></st1:place>
to be re-admitted into the OAS. In his speech on Sunday, FMLN coordinator
Medardo González summed it up as follows, “We aren’t going to
coincide on everything. The nature of the FMLN, as a party, is to be a
revolutionary project with a socialist angle, and the project of the
national unity government is broader.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>But perhaps the coup in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Honduras</st1:country-region></st1:place> is one of the very
reasons why President Funes is being so moderate in his position,
especially with regard to foreign policy. Immediately after the coup, the
Salvadoran right-wing told Funes to watch out, lest he be “looking in
the mirror.” Pressure from the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
was not far behind; in a meeting about immigration reform between <a
href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/12/133352.htm">U.S. Secretary
of State Hilary Clinton and El Salvador’s Minister of Foreign
Relations Hugo Martínez</a> following the Honduran coup, <st1:City w:st="on">Clinton</st1:City>’s
main request of <st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region>
was to play a more “protagonist” role in finding an “exit
to the crisis in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Honduras</st1:country-region></st1:place>.”<font
color=red><span style='color:red'> </span></font>Many speculated that
the U.S. State Department used the over 2 million Salvadoran immigrants
living in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> as
leverage to ensure that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El
Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> would get on board with the
Honduran elections in November. The tremendous amount of <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> “aid” money, through such
channels as USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA), the ILEA, and the FBI, make it nearly impossible
for the Salvadoran government to act independently without fear of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
retaliation. Obama and Clinton have praised Funes as being
“pragmatic,” and indeed it seems the Funes administration has
made the decision to act within the established parameters, while doing the
most they can to improve the quality of life and the state of democratic
governance for the Salvadoran people.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>Before his death in 2006 long time leader of the FMLN
and 2004 presidential candidate Schafik Hándal wrote that the Salvadoran
social movement must always stay more radical than the party. Social
movement organizations are currently in the process of reinvigorating their
bases after the movement’s activity waned during the post-election
“honeymoon period” and determining priorities based on their
new relationship with the government. The only way President Funes will
feel capable of making farther-reaching changes is if a visible segment of
society demands them and gives him a mandate to make them. Though <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
social movement is facing its own set of challenges, for example, they face
a right-wing media poised to exploit any and all contradictions, real or
imagined, between the party, the social movement, and Funes, this role is
clear. Certain sectors of the struggle, including the anti-mining movement,
are also contending with a <a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=671&Itemid=27">violent
terror campaign</a> (assassinations, kidnappings, and death threats) that
demonstrates institutionalized impunity in the Attorney General’s
Office and National Civil Police (PNC) resulting from a century of military
dictatorships and right-wing rule. <font color=red><span style='color:red'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>Despite the challenges, the social movement and the
FMLN remain committed to strengthening popular organizing, as their
consolidation and mobilization will be the only ways to ensure that the
next FMLN government is able to take even<font color=red><span
style='color:red'> </span></font>more dramatic steps in challenging the
neoliberal system. One of the priorities of the social movement in the
following year is base-building and political education, such that greater
and greater numbers of the population will question why the current changes
are not enough. Furthermore, if the FMLN can win a majority in the
Legislative Assembly (43 seats), they will have much greater ability to
lead the country in a new direction. The recent popular consultation in
Zacatecoluca is another step towards the participatory democracy and
construction of popular power that began with the “Open Social
Dialogues” to collectively establish the FMLN’s platform for
2009-2014. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>It’s impossible to know whether President Funes
would be taking more radical<font color=red><span style='color:red'> </span></font>steps<font
color=red><span style='color:red'> </span></font>if <st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region> were not in such a vulnerable
position with regard to the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>,
but such a situation calls for a strong international solidarity movement
against <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
economic, political and military intervention. <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
intervention and allegiance with the elite remains one of the major
impediments to revolutionary change in <st1:place w:st="on">Latin America</st1:place>,
much as it was in the 1980s. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>The strength and promise of the Salvadoran struggle
today lies in its ability to work both within and outside of the system, to
create change within the government when possible and to mobilize the
social movement when those changes reach their circumscribed limits; in
doing so, they will consolidate greater popular and political force to
continue to change the system itself. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'>To read more analysis in Spanish:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><a
href="http://www.elfaro.net/es/201003/noticias/1373/"
title="blocked::http://www.elfaro.net/es/201003/noticias/1373/">http://www.elfaro.net/es/201003/noticias/1373/</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><a
href="http://www.diariocolatino.com/es/20100313/nacionales/77829/"
title="blocked::http://www.diariocolatino.com/es/20100313/nacionales/77829/">http://www.diariocolatino.com/es/20100313/nacionales/77829/</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Garamond'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face=Garamond><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Garamond'>To
support CISPES’ solidarity campaigns against <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> intervention in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place> and our ability to
keep bringing the news and analysis from the Salvadoran popular movement, <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>please make a tax-deductible donation <a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=296">here</a></span></b>!
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>¡Mil gracias!</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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