[Cispes-Alert] Take Action to Denounce U.S. Intervention in El Salvador and Attacks against CISPES

Mon May 5 11:31:24 EDT 2008

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CISPES ACTION ALERT

May 5, 2008

Take Action to Denounce U.S. Intervention in El Salvador and Attacks against
CISPES

     From May 5-9 CISPES chapters around the country are taking action to
denounce U.S. government inquiries into the work of CISPES and to raise
awareness about the U.S. role in ongoing human rights abuses and problems
leading up to the 2009 elections in El Salvador. 

     In January CISPES received a letter from the Department of Justice
saying that the U.S. government suspects the organization of being an “agent
of a foreign principal”, which would require CISPES to register under the
“Foreign Agent Registration Act.” The justification was a claim that the
leftist FMLN party in El Salvador had hired CISPES to do public relations
and fundraising support for its presidential campaign in the U.S., but
little credible evidence was provided. You can read more about the CISPES
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=55&
Itemid=85>  DoJ case here. 

     Bush and the right-wing Salvadoran ARENA party want to stop CISPES from
providing effective solidarity. We understand that this threat is meant to
frighten us into changing the nature of our work, such as our campaign
against the US-sponsored International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA),
against the draconian Salvadoran anti-terrorism law, and in favor of the
right to free and fair elections in El Salvador. They want to make us think
twice about standing with the FMLN as a leading opponent of US dominance in
Latin America. While we take the government’s threat seriously, we have no
intention of toning down our solidarity work.

     Please take a moment to defend CISPES’ solidarity work by denouncing
the government’s attempts to stop our organizing efforts! Organize and join
CISPES’ work against the ILEA, which has brought further human rights abuses
to El Salvador! Speak out against the anti-terrorist law, which is targeting
and criminalizing the social movement! Demand free and fair elections in El
Salvador! Your action is critical in defending the right to organize, in
solidarity with those who are struggling to have REAL democracy in El
Salvador. 

Take Action!

1. Ask your organization to sign on the solidarity letter “Tell the
Department of Justice to Lay Off CISPES!” posted on the website of the Latin
America Solidarity Coalition – LASC. Go here to sign on:
www.lasolidarity.org.

2. Call your Congressional Representative and demand that they challenge
funding for the ILEA, both through the Merida Initiative and the Foreign
Operation Appropriations bill, by encouraging Western Hemisphere
Subcommittee Chairman Elliot Engel to hold a hearing (see below or go to
www.cispes.org/ilea
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=36&
Itemid=31>  for talking points). 

3. Sign onto CISPES’ People’s Pledge to Defend the Right to Free & Fair
Elections in El Salvador (go to www.cispes.org/documents/pledge2009.pdf to
download the pledge)

  _____  

Stop Repression in El Salvador and shut down the ILEA: Background

     This year, the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) is being
funded through both the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill and the
so-called Merida Initiative, the latter of which will be voted on in the
coming weeks in the U.S. Congress. The U.S.-sponsored ILEA has been
operating in El Salvador over two years and has been criticized by social
movement organizations and human rights groups as another potential School
of the Americas (SOA), under a new name and in a new location. Since the
opening of this institution, human rights abuses have increased in El
Salvador, from attacks on peaceful protesters by the National Civilian
Police (PNC) to the documented role of the PNC in at least 8 extra-judicial
killings in one year. 

     When CISPES started its campaign against the ILEA Congress was in the
dark about this institution; now after public education, protests, and
visits to Congress by CISPES activists, people are starting to be aware of
the issues of repression in El Salvador and the nature of the ILEA
In the coming months before the June vote on the Foreign Operation
Appropriations bill we hope to continue to educate Congress by pushing for a
Congressional hearing and challenging Congress to increase oversight of the
ILEA, as part of our campaign to shut down the police academy!

Call the House Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or toll free at 888-355-3588

When you call:

1) Ask the operator for your Representative, and then ask to speak to your
Representative’s foreign affairs legislative assistant, chief of staff or
legislative director.

2) Tell them you are a constituent and want to know your congressperson’s
position on the ILEA. If they don’t know what the ILEA is, inform your rep. 

3) Using the description above and the talking points on the CISPES webpage
(www.cispes.org/ilea), explain why the ILEA is another worrisome project of
U.S. training of Latin American police forces and why groups in El Salvador
are demanding that it be closed. 

4) After you make your points, ask the aid what their position is on this
issue. If they are unsure, urge them to call congressmen Engel’s office to
request a hearing on the ILEA at the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee in
order to provide them with more information about the situation of the
National Civilian Police, human rights abuses in El Salvador, and the ILEA.

5) If the Rep. agrees to help work on the ILEA issue, send an email to
CISPES (elizabeth at cispes.org) with the name of the person you spoke with and
your Rep’s name, and we will send their office more details about the ILEA
and our campaign.

Go here
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=389&Itemid=
29>  for more talking points

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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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