[Cispes-ERN] Demand the Immediate Release of Political Prisoners in El Salvador

[CISPES National Office]

S I S T E R   C I T I E S   &  C I S P E S 

ACTION ALERT

 

July 23, 2007

 

Demand the Immediate Release of Political Prisoners in El Salvador!

National Call-in Day Monday, July 30

 

The protestors who were arrested on July 2 in Suchitoto, El Salvador are now
being tried under the new "anti-terrorism" law, a law passed with full
praise from the United States government. This draconian law defines
different forms of public protest as terrorism and sentences offenders up to
60 years in prison for such crimes as occupying a public building. For the
second time this year, the law is now being used against the social movement
in El Salvador, criminalizing acts that do not in any way constitute
terrorism!  Five of the prisoners on trial have now been temporarily
released; the other 9 remain in "preventative detention" for a term of 3
months while the prosecution builds their terrorism case against all 13.  

 

The Salvadoran community has expressed concern that the accusation and
detainment of these 13 political prisoners represents a major step back from
the 1992 Peace Accords. The social movement has taken great care to
collaborate in monitoring the status of the case, the conditions of the
prisoners, and to exert pressure on the government to release the prisoners.
One of the greatest concerns is the conditions in which the prisoners are
being held captive, particularly the women. They have been threatened by
prison employees, denied the rights to receive visits and food from family
members, and have failed to receive needed medical attention. For more
information, see CISPES
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=35&
Itemid=28>  updates and the Sister <http://www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org/>
Cities website.

 

The United States government has a responsibility to speak out against this,
as the anti-terrorism law is targeting and criminalizing the social
movement. Community leaders and non-violent protestors are not terrorists.
If the United States government supported this law, they must maintain its
integrity and apply it only to acts that actually constitute terrorism. This
politicized use of the law renders the term terrorism meaningless and
further proves that the label is only a tool of political manipulation. 

Take Action!

Your action is critical in defending the right to organize and to showing
solidarity with those who are struggling to keep water accessible and public
in El Salvador (see below)! 

1. Call the State Department and demand that the United States government
hold the Salvadoran government accountable for these acts.  Call Jeremy
Cornforth at the U.S. State Department's El Salvador desk on Monday July 30,
National Call-in Day for the Political Prisoners, at 202-647-3505.  See
below for sample script.

2. Contact your Congressional Representative to share your concern about
this situation.  Advise them that a Dear Colleague letter will soon be
ready, demanding that Ambassador Glazer express concern to the Salvadoran
government over the recent arrests, the "preventative detention," and the
application of the anti-terrorism law.  Ask them to sign on to this letter
as soon as it is available.  Call you Representative at the House
switchboard, (202) 224-3121. 

3. Contact media that will publicize these events. Contact CISPES or Sister
Cities to get telephone interviews and English-Spanish translation for
Salvadoran activists who either witnessed the events in Suchitoto or who
have been involved in the organizing against water privatization. Contact:
krista at cispes.orgThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you
need Javascript enabled to view it , 212-465-8115 x204 or
sistercities at gmail.comThis email address is being protected from spam bots,
you need Javascript enabled to view it , or (585) 360-1985. 

Background Information about Suchitoto Arrests

On July 2 the Salvadoran police and military violently attacked a peaceful
protest against water privatization and arrested 14 people in the northern
town of Suchitoto. President Saca was scheduled to announce water
"decentralization" - the first step in the privatization process - in the
town of Suchitoto. A number of campesino, rural community organizations,
women's groups, and others organized a peaceful protest. 

 

Police pulled four movement leaders out of a vehicle kilometers away from
the protest and arrested them. They also arrested people around the police
station, on the roads, and even chased people into rural communities. They
attacked other protestors with rubber bullets and tear gas. In total the
police arrested 14 people; another 25 people were injured with rubber
bullets, 18 suffered serious effects of tear gas, 2 were hospitalized, and
an undetermined number were beaten by police officers. Edgar Mejia, whose
wife Beatriz Nuila was arrested, stated this situation is "evidence that
once more in this country we are traveling down a dangerous road of
repression and human rights violations". For more information, see
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=232&Itemid=
28>  recent CISPES updates. 

 

Call Script for El Salvador Desk at the U.S. State Department. 

 

You can use the following "script" to talk to Mr. Cornforth.  If at any
point you get cut off, be sure to ask the final question - "will you call
the ambassador and assure that he calls for the terrorism charges be
dropped?"

 

1)      I'm calling because I am very concerned about the July 2 arrests of
the people protesting water privatization in Suchitoto, El Salvador.

2)      The Salvadoran police violently captured community leaders -
shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at close range - and local community
members and is now charging them with terrorism.

3)      The Salvadoran government's disproportionate reaction raises serious
concerns about human rights and the freedom of organization and expression.


4)      The U.S. government has publicly supported the Salvadoran
government, including supporting the passage of the anti-terrorism law last
September.

5)      It is extremely important that the U.S. stand up for human rights
everywhere and not let protest be criminalized in the name of a so-called
fight against terrorism.

6)      Will you call Ambassador Glazer and tell him to call for the
terrorism charges to be dropped and the protestors to be freed?

 

For more information, see www.cispes.org <http://www.cispes.org/>  or
www.us-elsalvador-sisters.org <http://www.us-elsalvador-sisters.org/> 

* Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) and
U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities *

 

 

 

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