SALVADORAN SPECIAL TRIBUNAL GRANTS GOVERNMENT FOUR MONTH EXTENSION TO BULID TERRORISM CASE AGAINST 13 MEMBERS OF THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT : Political Space Closes, Threatening to Violate the 1992 Peace Accords

SYNOPSIS :

A number of major developments in the Salvadoran government?s treatment of community members and social movement organizers in that country have caused great alarm for human rights organizations throughout El Salvador and the US. These include :
* The passage of the new ambiguous ?Terrorism? law, modeled after the US Patriot Act, which is being applied to 13 organizers and community attendees of an anti- water privatization demonstration in July. They could face up to 60 years in prison if convicted before the special terrorism tribunal. A hearing on the case was originally scheduled for Friday, September 28^th. Late last week, however, the terrorism tribunal granted the Attorney General a four month extension to collect more evidence in building their case against the thirteen. The date next court date has just been announced for February 8^th, 2008. There is extensive legal and political response from the Salvadoran social movement, who see their work on social and economic issues being targeted. The campaign has been referred to as the ?Citizens Not Terrorists? campaign. This addresses the case of the thirteen charged with terrorism, but also the issues below.
* Last month?s narrowly passed ?Public Disorder? reform, which increases jail time and the severity of charges (from a misdemeanor to a felony ) for what were once commonplace protest activities. The reform now also prohibits the conditional release or probation of persons charged with public disorder.
*The September 4^th arrest of 8 healthcare trade union members who participated in a demonstration on July 6^th. They are now being charged with disorderly conduct under the new law and could face up to 8 years in prison.
* On September 20th, a health care unionist who was to come to the United States was denied entry by the U.S. Embassy. The tour organized by the the U.S. organization CISPES was to enable her to speakabout her union's work to stop privatization of teh health care system and the increased political repression in El Salvador.  She was told by the interviewing officer, it was because ?this is a very delicate situation?you can not travel because we need to protect US security.?
* On September 20^th , journalist Salvador Sanchez was assassinated. He was known for his extensive coverage of the arrests and prosecution of the thirteen being charged with terrorism. Authorities are saying his killing was not politically motivated, but the social movement organizers are asking for a complete investigation.
* Pedro Juan Hernandez, an econimist and member of CRIPDES (the Association of Rural Communities for the Development of El Salvador), will be visiting the US for a tour addressing the issues mentioned above. CRIPDES' president and vice president are among the thirteen charged with terrorism. Pedro Juan will start the Citizens Not Terrorists tour in Madison, Wisconsin at a press conference on October 8^th, and will end with visit to Congressional Representatives and staffers in Washington DC.

Please read below for press release, with links to US Congressional letters of concern (signed by over 40 of the Congress), and language of new Salvadoran laws. Links to past articles and radio coverage can be found on www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org


 
Press Release
**After signing Inter-American Development Bank loans in 1998 opening the door to water privatization, and 2003 free trade agreements which threaten to put the Salvadoran healthcare system up for sale to the highest bidder, the Salvadoran government has faced increasing resistance from a population opposed to these privatizations. These same populations see their lands threatened by plans of foreign trans-national companies to strip-mine rural communities. In response, the government in October of 2006 approved decree #108, the ?Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism?. The law re-writes several articles of the Salvadoran penal code including elastic language suitable for subjective interpretation by police and judges. Additionally, the decree abrogates basic tenets of due process and imposes penalties of up to 60 years in prison for infractions that previously were constitutionally protected as freedom of expression.
In July, the government launched its new legal instrument in an apparent attempt to decapitate the social movement, starting with the Association of Rural Communities for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES), a leading and historic advocacy organization. Riot police responded violently to a demonstration against water decentralization, seen as a first step to water privatization, by arresting, then imprisoning, thirteen people on charges of ?Acts of Terrorism,? with a maximum sentence of sixty years.

The group includes CRIPDES? president and vice president as well as a journalist, none of whom were at the scene. For nearly a month the group was held in ?preventative detention? under squalid conditions. Currently, government prosecutors are preparing their case to be presented before an extra-judicial special tribunal convened for the trial. On September 28^th, the terrorism tribunal judge assigned the case will hear the prosecution?s request to extend the time before trial, in order to build their case.Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, Tutela Legal (the human rights monitoring office of the Archdiocese of San Salvador) have all sharply questioned the arrests, the use of excessive force by police, and the misuse of the antiterrorism law. A you-tube video provides footage of the capture by National Civilian Police of two CRIPDES executive officers, a journalist, and driver, making it plain that these people?s crime was attempting to attend a political demonstration.
In addition to concern expressed by Salvadoran organizations and human rights monitoring groups, this incident and the Salvadoran government?s apparent determination to prosecute the defendants as terrorists, has precipitated widespread concern in the U.S. and in the U.S. Congress. An open letter to President Saca in the Salvadoran Press in July was signed by 60 U.S.-based organizations. Representative Chaka Fattah has entered remarks into the Congressional Record. Rep. Jim McGovern, whose extensive knowledge of El Salvador is well recognized, has written a lengthy letter to President Saca expressing his concerns. A Dear Colleague letter signed by forty-one Congressional Representatives expressing similar concerns was sent to President Saca on August 2.

**Apparently, stung by an international outcry against hijacking anti-terror statutes to punish political expression, the Saca Administration switched gears but not goals. On August 16, by a one-vote margin, the national assembly modified article 348 of the Salvadoran Penal Code to change disorderly conduct from a misdemeanor to a felony. Within three weeks of passage, the government proceeded to arrest eight executive board members of the Trade Union of Nursing Workers of El Salvador (SIGEESAL). They were charged with disorderly conduct for having participated in a demonstration in July to protest lack of medicines and privatization of health care services. As with the leaders of CRIPDES, those arrested were eventually released from jail but remain charged with felonies, in this case now punishable by up to eight years in prison.

**The deteriorating human rights situation in El Salvador also raises issues of accountability and Congressional oversight. The Salvadoran government?s behavior may represent a breach in its commitment to democratic principles specified by taxpayer supported development funds. The $461 million awarded to El Salvador through the Millennium Challenge Account was predicated on specific criteria for ?Ruling Justly?, four of whose six salient criteria are ?rule of law?, ?political rights? ?civil liberties,? and ?voice and accountability.? The World Bank Institute further evaluates ?voice and accountability? based on indices of human rights, civil liberties and freedom of association of political participation (Governance Matters VI: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators 1996?2006 Appendix B: Components of Aggregate Governance Indicators, 2005 Table B1: Voice and Accountability HUM A26) Included in the specific questions asked is ?Are there any imprisoned people because of their ethnicity, race, or their political, religious beliefs? (italics added).
**A 2003 Human Rights Watch report published for the 59th session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights highlighted the degree to which the United States has muted its criticism of poor human rights behavior of governments which have become newfound allies in the fight against terrorism. El Salvador may be a case in point: El Salvador is the only Latin American Country to participate in President Bush?s ?coalition of the willing? in Iraq. As such, it certainly fits the description of a country that may well assume that our government will wink at its breaches of civil liberties if undertaken as our ally in a global war on terror.
**Since July, the Salvadoran government?s behavior has elicited not one public comment from either our State Department or Embassy. This silence reinforces the concern that the Salvadoran government can reasonably interpret the United States government?s lack of public response as acquiescence, or even tacit approval of its present course. Concerned citizens who have contacted the Embassy or the El Salvador desk at the State Department have been told only that embassy staff has conveyed its concerns privately, and needs to respect El Salvador?s sovereignty. Given the scope of U.S. influence in El Salvador, and given close to half a billion dollars in aid conditioned on specific human rights indicators, such a response appears disingenuous.
**Organizations monitoring human and civil rights in El Salvador since the violently repressive civil war years, see the current actions by the government and police forces as a dangerous sign that the climate for political expression is dramatically slipping. A central component of the 1992 Peace Accords in El Salvador was the creation of a protected space in El Salvador for political expression, free from the extreme repression that originally precipitated the armed conflict. Organizations and community members are questioning whether the Peace Accords are being violated, the constitutionality of the terrorism statutes and public disorder reforms and the apparent aim to chill dissent.

For interviews and further information, please contact:

US El Salvador Sister Cities Network (USESSC):
Emily Carpenter, National Director, US-El Salvador Sister Cities (English and Spanish speaking)(514) 664-1074, sistercities@gmail.com
Marc Rosenthal, US-El Salvador Sister Cities (English speaking)
(608) 215-3358, (608) 257-8571

To Contact CRIPDES member Pedro Juan Hernandez and Emily Carpenter on the USESSC ?Citizens Not Terrorist? tour October 5-18th  Cell -(608) 957 6031 (Madison, WI 5-10th, La Crosse, WI 10th, Minneapolis 11th, Chicago 12th, Cyrstal Lake, IL 13th, Philadelphia 14-16th, Washington DC 17th, Philadelphia 18th)
 
CRIPDES - The Association for Rural Communities for the Development of El Salvador:
Lorena Martinez, CRIPDES (Spanish speaking)
(011-503) 2226-3717, cripdes@telesal.net
Bernardo Belloso, CRIPDES (Spanish speaking)
(011-503) 2226-3717, (011-503) 2235-4005, cripdes@telesal.net
 
CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador):
 Burke Stansbury (English and Spanish speaking)(202) 521-2510 ext 205, burke@cispes.org

 

 

 
 





  


 

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