[Cispes-update] Anti-privatization protesters from SIGEESAL health care union jailed

CISPES National Office cispes at cispes.org
Mon Sep 10 16:34:53 UTC 2007


Anti-privatization Protesters from SIGEESAL Health Care Union Jailed

CISPES Update

September 10, 2007



Members of the SIGEESAL union denounce the capture of 8 of their members
(photo: CEAL)

 

 

Eight members of the Salvadoran General Hospitals Union (SIGEESAL) were
illegally arrested on September 4 for participating in a demonstration
against the privatization of the national health system back on July 6.  The
eight jailed union members are: Ana Luz Ordoñez Castro, Mirian Ruth Castro
Lemus, Elsa Yanira Paniagua, Noemí Barrientos de Pérez, Ana Graciela de
Carranza, Jorge Emilio Pérez, Manuel Trejo Artero and Anemias Armando
Cantadeiro.   All being charged with public disorder and damage to private
property.  

 

SIGEESAL is a member of the Salvadoran Union Front (FSS) and has
strengthened its organizing and mobilizing following a merger with the
national hospitals association (ANTMPAS).  The new union brings together
workers in the entire national health care system, and they have organized a
campaign to denounce the corruption within the system, the extreme shortage
within hospitals, and the privatization of some services within the largest
hospitals.  

 

Last week the FSS presented a resolution to the Legislative Assembly calling
the captures a blatant violation of the constitutional right to protest, and
more specifically, a violation of the recently approved International Labor
Organization (ILO) agreements 87 and 98 which grant workers the right to
organize and unionize. The demands of Salvadoran Union Front are for the
immediate release of the protesters and for the respect of the ILO
agreements.  Health Minister Guillermo Maza has been clear about government
intentions to privatize health care and has declared “zero unions” as one of
the goals in his administration.  

 

These arrests have reminded the social movement of the extent to which Saca
and his government are willing to go to fulfill their plans of water and
health care privatization.  Just two months ago, 14 people were arrested in
the department of Suchitoto for protesting against the privatization of
water and will soon go to trial under the anti-terrorism law; now, eight
more members of the movement have been jailed for protesting against the
privatization of health.  For more information go to “Action Alerts” at
www.cispes.org <http://www.cispes.org/> , and expect a new alert about how
to respond to the SIGEESAL situation soon.

 

“Social cleansing” groups inside Salvadoran Police

 

Almost a year after both the governmental Human Rights Defense Office and
the Catholic Church’s Human Rights Commission reported the existence of
social cleansing groups inside the National Civilian Police (PNC), lawyers
have found enough evidence to prosecute Sergeant Nelson Arriaza and police
officer Carlos Chevez Hidalgo for the assassination of eight people in the
departments of San Miguel and La Union.  In total there are six PNC officers
under investigation for having participated in the execution of the victims
and for having aided and concealed evidence about the murders.

 

The western municipality of Chalchuapa has been in a state of alarm as this
past week after an anonymous letter was circulated in town calling for all
citizens specially youth to obey a curfew so that the self-titled “E.L.
death squad” can operate without obstacles.  The FMLN mayor of Chalchuapa is
calling for the authorities to investigate the situation, especially since
the municipal government has recorded 50 murders for the month of August
while police records show there have only been 17.  PNC director Rodrigo
Avila has made weak and uninformed statements about the nature of the
investigations, calling it a case of “a few bad cops.”  Meanwhile, respected
Human Rights Defense Office worker David Morales has publicly criticized
Avila’s response and has called for a thorough investigation and a “purging
of the National Police” at the highest levels, starting with director Avila.


 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.people-link.net/pipermail/cispes-update/attachments/20070910/c2fd948c/attachment-0001.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 24037 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.people-link.net/pipermail/cispes-update/attachments/20070910/c2fd948c/attachment-0001.jpeg 


More information about the Cispes-update mailing list