[Cispes-update] President Saca calls on Military to "Defend the Nation from Populism"

[CISPES National Office]

President Saca calls on Military to "Defend the Nation from Populism"

CISPES Update - www.cispes.org <http://www.cispes.org/>  

May 21, 2007

 

In early May, President Saca celebrated El Salvador's "Day of the Soldier"
with a controversial speech calling on the Armed Forces of El Salvador to
join ARENA in defending El Salvador from "the dangerous waves of populism
around the world."  Saca said that the Salvadoran Military had defended the
country "from the communist aggression in the past" and that it should again
step up and do the same in defense of democracy and freedom.  This kind of
speech calling for the politicizing of the military is unprecedented in El
Salvador since the signing of the Peace Accords.  

 

In the same speech to the military, Saca also declared his admiration for
Colonel Domingo Monterrosa whom he claimed had defended the nation from the
communist aggression.  Many Salvadorans were disturbed by the praise since
it is widely known that Monterrosa orchestrated the 1981 El Mozote massacre
in which the Salvadoran military brutally murdered hundreds of innocent
people.  Salvador Sanchez Ceren, head of the FMLN fraction in the
Legislative Assembly rejected Saca's divisive speech, saying "Saca is using
language that is markedly militarist and war-like, even though he has
declared 2007 to be the year of social peace.  He is trying to control the
Armed Forces."  Many believe Saca's speech reflects ARENA's fear of the
increased popular support for the FMLN as it builds towards the 2009
elections, and therefore a new strategy to publicly involve the military in
its campaign to counteract the Left.

 

ARENA Continues Targeting Vendors and Labels FMLN "Epicenter of Chaos"

 

The National Civilian Police (PNC) attacked San Salvador street vendors on
May 12 after carrying out a massive confiscation of vendors' products,
including unlicensed copies of CDs and DVDs.  The vendors responded by
protesting the assault on their means of survival, while outsiders to the
CD-DVD Vendors' Movement attacked and looted downtown business and set two
vehicles on fire. The PNC and the Security Minister used the vandalism as a
pretext to arrest 19 people, including two minors and four vendors who
belonged to the Vendors' Movement.  The government is charging those
arrested with crimes ranging from public disturbances and vandalism to
terrorism and organized crime.  Go
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=201&Itemid=
27>  here to learn more about the May 10 violence and to take action.

 

ARENA officials' remarks over the course of the following week have
demonstrated the party's two-pronged strategy with the attacks.  On the one
hand, ARENA officials are using the arrests on Saturday to attack the
vendors' organizing efforts, while at the same time also claiming that the
FMLN was behind the violence.  The government is conflating vandalism and
terrorism, since seven of the 19 people arrested on Saturday are being
charged with acts of terrorism.  Immediately after the May 12 events,
Figueroa spoke about the dangerous acts of "terrorism" that had occurred.
The National Business Association backed the charges, calling on Saca to
"make use of the [Anti-terrorism] Law to set a precedent and prevent further
acts of terrorism from occurring."  

 

The private sector has also joined ARENA officials in accusing the FMLN of
creating chaos and terror in the streets of San Salvador.  Figueroa has
repeatedly claimed that the FMLN is behind the violence that occurred on May
12 without citing any evidence.  Another ARENA national deputy, Ernesto
Antonio Angulo, tried to smear the FMLN for not approving international
loans that would supposedly fund the police, saying "the FMLN does not
approve funding for security but yet they take the liberty to set police
cars on fire". The level of irresponsible accusations made by ARENA
officials is alarming given that they have no proof that the FMLN had
anything to do with the acts of vandalism. 

 

Human Rights Ombudswoman Beatrice de Carrillo called on the government to
separate the issues of vandalism and crime from the street vendors' issues.
Carrillo demanded the government work to create real alternatives for the
vendors and rejected all acts of violence. All those arrested last week
remain in police custody.

 

CD/DVD Vendors' Movement Proposes Solutions

 

The CD-DVD Vendors' Movement held a press conference on May 14 to denounce
the recent arrests and the massive confiscation of goods, which correspond
to reforms to intellectual property laws ushered in as part of the
implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in El
Salvador.  The movement also presented a proposal that would help create
alternative forms of employment for them and support other groups negatively
impacted by the sales of pirated goods.  They propose the creation of a
special tax on every imported blank CD or DVD, to be pooled into a special
fund to benefit all sectors involved in the reproduction, distribution and
selling of CDs and DVDs.  One of the main objectives of their proposal is to
guarantee that vendors have legal recognition of their current work,
effectively reversing the current criminalization they face for working to
survive.  At the same time, the proposal looks to compensate the formal
industries and the artists affected by the sale of pirated goods.  Finally,
the vendors' proposal seeks to make the laws in El Salvador respond to the
reality of the majority of the people so that they can be realistically
applied. 

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