[Cispes-update] Urgent: Protests against water privatization repressed, 13 violently arrested in Suchitoto

[Krista Hanson, CISPES]

Protests against water privatization repressed, 13 violently arrested in
Suchitoto

El Salvador’s “most wanted man” captured amid Government accusations

CISPES Update

July 3, 2007



Riot Police prepare to attack protesters in Suchitoto (Photo Prensa Grafica)

 

On July 2, various organizations and communities in the municipality of
Suchitoto gathered for a protest against the official announcement of the
“National Policy of Water Decentralization” by President Antonio Saca.  The
peaceful protest was brutally repressed by the riot police (UMO) along with
specialized forces of the National Civil Police (PNC).  In the end, 13
people were arrested by the police and accused of “public disorder”,
including four leaders of the rural development organization CRIPDES.  The
riot police eventually opened fire on the protest with rubber bullets, tear
gas, and pepper spray, injuring around 75 people.  Throughout the day
helicopters circled Suchitoto and San Salvador, and the riot police didn’t
withdraw from the scene until well into the afternoon.

 

Saca was planning to announce his new “decentralization” plan in Suchitoto
but the protests, led by the water workers union SETA, CRIPDES, and a number
of other groups, prevented him from arriving.  Coordinated street blockades
turned back his caravan, and Saca was forced to return by helicopter to the
Presidential Palace in San Salvador, where he then held a press conference
to formally announce the new policy.  The Salvadoran social movement has
increased its opposition to water privatization, bringing together many
groups organizing at the national level to raise awareness about the effects
of water privatization, while countering Saca’s plan to privatize both water
and health care with concrete alternatives.  

 

Social movement and solidarity organizations have denounced the unlawful
arrests of peaceful protesters and the repression against organizers and
movement leaders in general.  Yesterday and today they are holding meetings
with the government’s Human Rights Office ombudswoman Beatrice de Carrillo
to request her accompaniment in their demand to have the 13 jailed
protesters released without charges, and ask that she denounce the
increasing repression against the social movement.  The organizations will
be presenting a resolution to the Legislative Assembly on July 3 to demand
the deputies from the different parties also repudiate recent acts of
repression against the movement. 

 

Mario Belloso captured nearly a year after university repression and police
shooting

 

Meanwhile, on the same morning as the protests in Suchitoto, the PNC and
Salvadoran Armed Forces concluded a massive operation of some 300 officers
who worked to capture Mario Belloso, the man accused of killing two police
officers during a protest last July. Belloso was apprehended in his own home
during the early morning and then paraded in front of news cameras shortly
thereafter.  The story filled newspaper and television reports and gave
Minister of Security Rene Figueroa and PNC Director Rodrigo Avila the
opportunity to attack youth organizations and the FMLN, insinuating that
these  groups have been aiding Belloso in his efforts to evade arrest over
the last year.

 

In the raid of Belloso’s home, the PNC claims to have found FMLN
paraphernalia, along with specific documents in his computer that tie him to
various youth organizations.  Perhaps the most ridiculous claim made by
President Saca is that Belloso was the “intellectual author” of the
disturbances in Suchitoto; Figuero and Avila, meanwhile, accused the FMLN of
being behind the protests.  In an official communiqué following the arrest
of Belloso the FMLN stated that, “We reject and repudiate the coarse
pretenses of extreme right-wing politicians, as well as certain news media
aligned with the party in power, who are blaming our party for the regretful
events of July 5, 2006. Only perverse minds would have the courage to make
such unfounded accusations”.  Human Rights Office ombudswoman Beatrice de
Carrillo called the arrest a “political show” by the government, while
Ricardo Alfaro Barahona of the Forum for the Defense of the Constitution
raised questions about the timing of the arrest, as it coincided precisely
with the police repression in Suchitoto. 

 

Student groups at the National University are bracing for more attacks by
the PNC, as movement organizations strategize about how to respond to the
recent spate of repression and the continued attacks that are sure to
follow.  

 

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