[Cispes-Alert] Week of Action to Defend Free and Fair Elections in El Salvador!

[CISPES National Office]

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January 2009

Week of Action to Defend Free and Fair Elections in El Salvador

 

Salvadorans respond to increased violence, CISPES holds press conferences
and vigils to pressure US State Department to declare neutrality

CISPES chapters across the country are taking part in press events,
call-in-days, and vigils this week to support Salvadorans in their quest for
democratic elections, free of violence, US intervention, fraud and
manipulation.  In Los Angeles, CISPES joined allies in a rally outside the
Salvadoran Consulate on Tuesday, and a similar event will take place in San
Francisco on Friday.  In Washington DC, CISPES and allies are holding a
press conference outside the US State Department to pressure Assistant
Secretary of State Thomas Shannon to both declare US neutrality and to
refute recent ads in El Salvador by the right-wing group Fuerza Solidaria.
(Stay up to date with the CISPES actions as well as all-day elections
coverage of the January 18 Salvadoran municipal and legislative elections at
http://cispes.org/09electionsblog/) 

Meanwhile, the assassinations of two
<http://cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=504&Itemid=28>
FMLN activists on January 9, along with continued campaign violence in the
capital city of San Salvador, have increased tensions and led analysts and
social organizations to accuse the government of stoking political violence.

The fear campaign has been spearheaded by the Fuerza Solidaria ads, which
state that a leftist FMLN party victory would mean the end to good relations
with the U.S. government and thus the end to remittances sent home from
Salvadorans living in the U.S.  They also claim that an FMLN victory would
threaten the Temporary Protective Status (TPS) that allows over 200,000
Salvadorans to remain in the U.S. These threats are similar to the ones made
back in 2004 by members of the U.S. Congress, together with the governing
ARENA party, which turned a close election into a decisive victory for the
right-wing party.  In the face of Fuerza Solidaria’s blatant
misrepresentation of the ramifications of an FMLN victory, the U.S. State
Department has remained silent, rather than refute these claims.

          With only a few days left before the January 18 municipal and
legislative elections, the U.S. continues to be complicit in the dirty
campaign by not countering right-wing propaganda related to its foreign
policy.  Take action to demand that Assistant Secretary of State for Western
Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon make a public statement refuting the right
wing’s fear-based threats, and declaring that the US will maintain a
positive relationship with any government freely elected by the Salvadoran
people.

Take Action!

1) CALL Hillary Thompson at the El Salvador desk of the State Department at
(202) 647-4161 and tell her to urge Assistant Secretary of State Thomas
Shannon to refute the baseless threats related to U.S. policy (see call
script below.)  You can also email Shannon directly at shannonta at state.gov

2) Get your organization to sign on to the open letter to the incoming Obama
Administration.  The updated letter can be downloaded
<http://www.cispes.org/documents/ElSAlvador_obama_letter_final.pdf>  here
and the new deadline for signatures is January 30.

3) ATTEND a delegation to monitor the March elections.  More information at
www.cispes.org/delegations 


------------------------------------------------------------

You can use the following script to contact Hillary Thompson at the El
Salvador Desk of the State Department – (202) 647-4161


1. I am calling to urge Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon to publicly
support democracy in El Salvador by refuting Fuerza Solidarida’s baseless
threats, and to state the U.S. government’s intention to maintain a positive
relationship with any government freely elected by the Salvadoran people

2.  Recent ads in El Salvador attempt to scare voters by stating that an
FMLN victory would mean the end to good relations with the U.S .government
and thus an end to remittances sent home from Salvadorans living in the U.S.

*         In addition to threatening remittances, the ads also threaten
Salvadoran American’s Temporary Protective Status (TPS) which allows over
200,000 Salvadorans to remain in the U.S.

*         Similar statements were made in 2004 by Roger Noriega of the State
Department and by Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, among others.

*         These statements caused many Salvadorans to vote out of fear of
U.S. retaliation, rather than according to their convictions. As someone who
believes in democracy, I want to make sure the U.S. does allow untrue,
fear-based threats to affect elections again in 2009.

 

3. It is extremely important that the State Department stand up for the
Salvadoran people’s right to freely elect their government, without fear of
foreign retribution.  I am calling on Mr. Shannon to denounce the Fuerza
Solidaria’s baseless statements regarding the U.S. relationship with El
Salvador, and to assert that the United States will maintain a positive
relationship with any government freely elected by the Salvadoran people.
When a third party lies about U.S. policy, it is the responsibility of the
Department of State to correct those statements.

 

For more background information:

*         read this CISPES
<http://cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=500&Itemid=29>
article in the latest issue of Z magazine

*         Read the summer CISPES
<http://cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=461&Itemid=29>
fact-finding delegation report challenging the US government role in human
rights violations and intervention

*         watch  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CqRotR3qg> “Unidos Por El
Cambio”, the CISPES video about the upcoming elections

 <http://www.cispes.org/> 




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© 2009 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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