[Cispes-Alert] January 14-18: Week of Action to Protest Anti-Terrorist Law and Repression in El Salvador

[CISPES National Office]

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January 2008

 

Week of Action to Protest Anti-Terrorist Law and Repression in El Salvador

 

January 14-18 marks the second international solidarity week of action to
demand that terrorist charges against Salvadoran protestors be dropped. On
July 2, 2007 fourteen people were arrested in Suchitoto, El Salvador for
taking part in a protest against water privatization. Police brutality
against the peaceful demonstration and the arrests of 14 of them produced
international outrage, and ultimately this pressure forced the Salvadoran
government to temporarily release the detainees. Nevertheless, protestors
continue to be charged under the “anti-terrorism” law and could face up to
60 years in prison. This draconian law that criminalizes different forms of
public protest as acts of terrorism is being used to silence the social
movement in El Salvador, criminalizing acts that do not in any way
constitute terrorism!

 

The prosecutors have until February 8, 2008 to present the case against the
Suchitoto protesters. The trial was scheduled for the first week of October
2007 but was delayed for three months while the prosecutors build their
“terrorism” case.  However, it is obvious that the trial was delayed for
lack of evidence, since those arrested were in the streets to voice their
opinion against water privatization and for the international community to
forget about the case.   

 

In El Salvador different sectors continue to resist the anti-terrorism law,
claiming that the way it is being employed, both against the social movement
in general and against the 14 demonstrators in particular, represents a step
back from the 1992 Peace Accords. A group of Salvadoran judges declared on
September 2007 that the law is “too confusing” and, more importantly,
declared that “simple street protests are not acts of terrorism”.  Despite
the repression against the Salvadoran social movement, people continue to
organize against privatization and economic and political repression.  

 

The United States government has a responsibility to speak out against the
way the anti-terrorism law is targeting and criminalizing the social
movement. However, the government has consistently supported the
implementation of the law, while bolstering El Salvador’s repressive
National Civil Police through the US-sponsored International Law Enforcement
Academy (ILEA). Your action is critical in defending the right to organize,
in solidarity with those who are struggling to keep water accessible and
public in El Salvador (see below)! Community leaders and non-violent
protestors are not terrorists!   

 

Take Action!

1. Call the State Department and demand that the United States government
hold the Salvadoran government accountable for these acts.  Contact Hillary
Thompson at the U.S. State Department’s El Salvador desk at 202-647-4161.
See below for sample script.

2. Call the Salvadoran Ambassador to the U.S. and demand that terrorist
charges against the Suchitoto protestors are dropped.  Contact Rene de Leon
at 202-265-9671 in the Salvadoran Embassy 

3. Donate to the Suchitoto 13 legal defense fund by going online at
<https://chavez.mayfirst.org/cispes/> https://chavez.mayfirst.org/cispes/
and writing “suchitoto” next to your donation.

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

 

You can use the following “script” to talk to Mrs. Thompson. 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 Rene de Leon and tell him to call for the
terrorism charges to be dropped and the protestors to be freed?

 

The second international solidarity week of action is sponsored by Voices on
the Border, US-El Salvador Sister Cities, SHARE Foundation: Building a New
El Salvador Today!, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
(CISPES)

More background information about Suchitoto Arrests can be found at:
<http://www.cispes.org/> www.cispes.org; ww.votb.org;
<http://www.share-elsalvador.org/> www.share-elsalvador.org;
<http://www.us-elsalvador-sisters.org/> www.us-elsalvador-sisters.org 

 




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© 2008 CISPES - The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
CISPES National Office | ph. 202-521-2510 | 1525 Newton St. NW, Wash. DC
20010| cispes at cispes.org

 

 

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