[CISPES-Update] 120,000 Salvadorans March for International Workers' Day

CISPES National Office cispes at cispes.org
Fri May 14 14:02:07 EDT 2010


 


 


120,000 Salvadorans March for International Workers’ Day


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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


May 14, 2010

 

Included in this update:

*	Metropolitan Police Attack Street <>  Vendors Protesting Forced
Removal
*	FMLN and Social Movement Reject Free <>  Trade Agreement with
European Union

 

 

On May 1st, 120,000 Salvadorans joined with workers around the world to
celebrate May Day, or International Workers’ Day (see photos here
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=692&Itemid=
1> ). The marchers, including workers, unionists, campesinos, students,
feminists, militants of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN)
party and other sectors expressed the unified message that, “The people
achieved the victory, we demand real changes.”  This International Workers’
Day celebration, which had the largest turnout in recent years, is also the
first since El Salvador’s first leftist president, Mauricio Funes, took
office on June 1, 2009.  During the campaign, Funes formed a broad alliance
with FMLN leadership, other progressive parties and politicians as well as
representatives of El Salvador’s private business sectors.  Since taking
office, he has constructed a “unity government,” where the FMLN plays an
important role in many key cabinet positions, along with participation of
other sectors in influential cabinet positions.

 

The 120,000 Salvadorans who marched throughout downtown San Salvador, in
spite of the rain, sent a strong message that El Salvador’s organized social
movement is mobilizing to guarantee the changes that Funes promised on his
campaign and to defend the government they elected from private sector
interests.  Chants like, “What is the change we want?  Structural not
electoral!” expressed that the social movement will not simply be satisfied
with the symbolic right to left shift electoral, but will continue to demand
real changes to the profound power and economic disparities in El Salvador.
Another chant, “With popular participation this government will get better!”
was an important reminder that the social movement wants more spaces to
participate in the government decisions that affect their lives.  Specific
demands for the administration included policies to end violence against
women, improved benefits for workers, job creation and that the Funes
government reject the free trade agreements under negotiation with the
European Union and Canada (see last article), which favor the interest of
transnational corporations over the workers and economic health of El
Salvador.

 

Participants marched to the Plaza Cívica, where festivities continued with
speakers from the union movement and the FMLN; the march was so massive that
the last marchers had not arrived by the time the speakers had finished.
Roxana Deras, a leader in the Salvadoran Union Front and General Secretary
of the Electric Workers Industrial Union, encouraged the social movement to
play an active role with the new administration, calling on the movement to
be “strict guards to guarantee that the [campaign] promises are fulfilled.”
Deras also prompted the social movement to unite forces with the community
and the FMLN in order to consolidate real changes.  Vice President of El
Salvador and member of the FMLN party leader Salvador Sanchez Cerén spoke on
behalf of the party, reiterating its commitment to work alongside El
Salvador’s workers in building a new country.  “Other forces are
participating in the government that are not from the FMLN, but together we
ousted the ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance) party from the
government, and today we have the responsibility to push forward and make
change a reality,” proclaimed Cerén.  He went on to stress the importance of
popular organizing and mobilizing, not only to hold the government
accountable for the promised changes but also to build consciousness in the
general public to demand more profound changes in the future.

 


Metropolitan Police Attack Street Vendors Protesting Forced Removal


 

On Monday, May 10, San Salvador street vendors shut down streets and
overturned the potted plants that had been put in place of their stands to
protest the destruction and forced removal of 215  stands by San Salvador’s
ARENA Mayor Norman Quijano.  Vendors were forcibly dispersed with teargas
canisters by the Corps of Metropolitan Agents (CAM), San Salvador’s local
security force.

 

In recent months, Mayor Quijano has amped up efforts to “reorganize” San
Salvador’s historic downtown area, primarily by ordering the CAM to
confiscate merchandise and destroy vendors’ stands in the middle of the
night, like this last raid which targeted 215 stands.  After decades of
privatizations, free trade policies and neglected domestic production, less
than half of the Salvadoran workforce holds formal sector jobs.  An
estimated 55% of the workforce carves out a living from the informal sector,
with street vendors making up the largest proportion this sector. 

 

Many of San Salvador’s street vendors recognize that it is necessary to set
up stands and markets in a more orderly fashion, but demand that the
reorganization be done in coordination with the vendors to offer them
suitable alternative locations to sell their wares.  Vicente Ramirez, a
vendor who led Monday’s protest, explained that the vendors want a space for
dialogue with the mayor’s office to ensure that vendors are not forcibly
removed and left unable to feed their families; however,  the violent
reaction of Mayor Quijano’s metropolitan police conveyed the strong message
that the mayor has little desire to negotiate.  

 


FMLN and Social Movement Reject Free Trade Agreement with European Union


 

In the past few months as the Funes Administration continues negotiations
for a Central American–European Union Free Trade Agreement (AdA), begun
under the previous right wing Saca Administration, El Salvador’s social
movement and the FMLN have responded with strong denouncements and called
for outright rejection of the agreement.  El Salvador’s social movement
considers the AdA nothing more than a tool for transnational companies to
exploit the region’s natural resources, privatize more water resources and
distribution systems and continue the trend set by the US-Central American
Free Trade Agreement, CAFTA, of defending transnationals’ “right” to profit
over the people’s best interests.  The Confederation of Salvadoran Union
Workers (CSTS) further denounced the inclusion of the Honduran government in
AdA negotiations, which “requires us to
recognize the government [of
Honduras] of Porfirio Lobo, which was the product of a coup d’etats in the
region,” according to CSTS leader María Carmen Molina. 

 

The latest round of AdA negotiations, held in early May, ended in an impasse
when Central American countries and the EU could not agree on tariffs and
import quotas for certain products.  Since then El Salvador’s Minister of
Economy Hector Dada has expressed his desire to work with the other Central
American countries to push forward the negotiations and sign the agreement.
The agreement, which would have to be approved by the Legislative Assembly
has also been denounced by the FMLN legislative fraction and leadersiop.  In
a statement <http://www.fmln.org.sv/detalle.php?action=fullnews&id=426>
released on May 6 by the party, the FMLN called for all Central American
countries to pull out of negotiations since the EU has made clear that it is
negotiating solely in its own interests. 

 

 

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