[Cispes-update] Organizations Mobilize Against Repression and "Terrorism" Charges on Romero's Birthday

[CISPES National Office]

Organizations Mobilize Against Repression and “Terrorism” Charges on
Romero’s Birthday

CISPES Update

August 16, 2007



 

On Wednesday, August 15 – the day that would have been Monseñor Romero's
90th birthday – the social movement of El Salvador celebrated his stand
against repression by marching through the streets of the capital. A
procession went from the Hospital de la Divina Providencia, the site of
Romero's assassination, to the National Cathedral in downtown San Salvador.
In reaction to the climate of increased government repression of social
organizing and protest, the demonstrators demanded an end to repression and
concentrated in front of the downtown Cathedral, where Romero is buried. The
activity concluded with a mass offered in memory of Romero and his work –
hundreds of people came from social organizations, historic ecclesiastic
communities and the Romero Foundation which continues to work for the
canonization of Romero.  Before his assassination by right-wing death squads
in March, 1980, Romero said, “It frightens me, brothers and sisters, when
repressive laws and violent attitudes remove the legitimate ways people have
to express themselves.”



Yesterday’s activity was also motivated by the release on bail this past
July 29 of the 9 remaining prisoners captured in Suchitoto on past July 2.
While people are celebrating the momentary victory of their provisional
release, the action also called attention to the fact that the terrorism
charges are still being applied despite national and international
opposition. All 14 accused of terrorism will go to trial the first days of
October. FMLN and social organizations maintain their support to the
prisoners and their families, continuing to organize and mobilize so that
the charges are dropped.

 

Criminalizing Protest the “legal” way: Reforms to Penal Code

Under intense national and international pressure, President Saca and his
cabinet have been making contradictory and diluted statements about the
terrorism charges against the 14 Suchitoto protestors.  Saca is now saying
that it is important to make a distinction between “public disorder” and
acts of terrorism, although his Fiscal General (chief state investigator),
Garrid Safie, continues to insist that that terrorism charges be applied.

 

President Saca is moving forward to ensure that even if protestors are found
guilty of lesser crimes than “terrorism” that they still spend years in
jail.  Saca has been pushing ARENA and other right wing deputies in the
Legislative Assembly to approve a series of reforms to the Penal Code,
including “public disorder” and the newly created crime of “attacks against
public peace.”  Both legal changes would further criminalize protests by
making common protest tactics punishable with 2-10 years of imprisonment.
For example, two or more people who block a road in a “dangerous manner”
could go to prison for three to five years under these reforms, and anyone
who gathers in front of a hospital – presumably to protest the privatization
of health care – can go to jail for a maximum of ten years.  This last
reform to the Penal Code may be in response to the increasing mobilizing
against the steps Saca is taking towards the privatization of both water and
health.  

 

Security Minister Rene Figueroa has been unusually frank in speaking with
media, saying that “our interest is that those that are rebellious be
punished; they must be punished, either with the Anti-terrorism law or the
Penal Code.”  The FMLN deputies in the National Assembly are opposing the
reforms, saying they are a tactic by the ARENA government to “silence the
will of the people” and eliminate dissent. 

 

Death Squads in the National Civil Police

On July 29, Sergeant Nelson Antonio Arriaza Delgado, head of the Criminal
Investigation Unit of the National Civilian Police (PNC) of San Miguel, was
arrested by the armed forces for the murder of Amado García, and he is also
suspected of ties to extortionists in the region. Also arrested were Carlos
Chévez Hidalgo, an ex-PNC agent implicated in this murder and others, and
Rember Rolando Martínez, a civilian accused of involvement in the death of
García. The PNC has admitted that they suspect members of the Division of
Investigations have been involved in extrajudicial homicides, and that they
have relationships with “delinquent groups.” 

 

The FMLN has called for an investigation into this matter, citing the 2006
report of the governmental Human Rights Office (PDDH) which stated the
existence of death squads in the country, and documented police
participation within these groups. Irma Amaya, and FMLN deputy, stated her
belief that the PNC “has been politicized, because its director is a
militant of the official party
.dedicated to promoting defamation campaigns
against other sectors instead of investigating these cases fully and
professionally.” FMLN legislator Benito Lara has demanded an investigation
into the PNC by the National Assembly. The president of the non-governmental
Human Rights Commission of El Salvador (CDHES) has presented a denouncement
to the Inspector General of the PNC, calling for an investigation of this
matter by the PDDH as well as a second investigation by both the PDDH and
the United Nations Torture Commission into police brutality and
extra-judicial torture. 

 

A number of businesses are accused of backing this practice by paying or
otherwise compelling “hit men” – be they police or civilian – to carry out
these crimes. One such businessman, Domingo Saravia, is being investigated
for involvement with a death squad in which the participation of PNC members
is presumed. PNC Director Rodrigo Ávila says that at this time Saravia has
not been accused of financing criminal structures but that there is an
investigation.  While the FMLN and social movement are calling for a real
investigation and an end to the impunity of these organized death squad-like
groups, ARENA officials are trying to brush this new information under the
rug by claiming it is an isolated incident.

 

 

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