An El Salvador Alert: Crucial AND Easy!!

Dear friends of Sister City:

Thanks for taking action to help free the Suchitoto 13 and support Human Rights in El Salvador! Your actions are critical to ensure that the thirteen are cleared of all charges and that Salvadorans can express themselves without fear of persecution.

We know many alerts are too complicated and time consuming. So here are three messages we urge you to send, and the addresses they should go to. You can copy and past them, or with two more minutes you can add or subtract a line or two if you wish. Your action will tremendously amplify our message, which could mean "terrorist" trials of 13 Salvadorans including the CRIPDES leaders we work with would be stopped. And that would be fantastic.

Here is the background and strategy in a few lines:

El Salvador is using a Patriot Act inspired Anti-Terror Statute to try to imprison CRIPDES leaders for up to 60 years. The Salvadoran government has also made "disorderly conduct" a felony punishable by 8 years. Their intent is to criminalize political expression. Why? They're threatened by campaigns against mining, water and health care privatization. We're initiating a 2-week campaign to press for congressional hearings about El Salvador's civil liberties violations in light of U.S. taxpayer support. The trials could start October 7.

The 3 Letters: -- Please E-mail! Calls/faxes would be a bonus!:

1. michael.brownlie@mail.house.gov (or E-mail Rep. Tom Allen: megan.murphy@mail.house.gov)

Dear Rep Michaud (or Rep. Allen),

I'm concerned that the Salvadoran Government plans to try members of the Association for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES) as terrorists for participating in a demonstration against water privatization. And I'm upset that U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing a government campaign against civil liberties in that country.
I hope you will do anything you can to contact the Salvadoran government and our own embassy to stop these trials and to repeal laws used to criminalize legitimate political expression. Please also work with your Congressional colleagues to look into these matters further.

2. GlazerCL@state.gov (phone 011-503-2501-2999 x2003)

Dear Ambassador Glazer,

I'm concerned that the Salvadoran government plans to try members of the Association for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES) as terrorists for participating in a demonstration against water privatization. And I'm upset that U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing the Salvadoran government's campaign against civil liberties in that country.
Please to do what you can to urge the Salvadoran government to drop all charges, and state publicly our that our government does not support using the legal system to make political expression a crime.
I am contacting my Congressperson with these same concerns.

3. fmelgar@presidencia.gob.sv Pres. Saca's fax (English is fine)
correo@elsalvador.org (phone 202-265-9671 , fax 202-232-3763) for ES ambassador to the U.S. Leon Rodriguez (speaks English)

Dear President Saca,

I am upset that your government continues its plan to try 13 citizens, including leaders of CRIPDES, as Terrorists. I am also upset that your government has now made disturbing the peace a felony punishable by long prison terms. I don't think that U.S. taxpayer dollars should support El Salvador's efforts to make legitimate political expression a crime. I urge you to drop charges against those arrested in Suchitoto.
I am contacting my Congressperson and your ambassador in my country, with these concerns, as well.

cc: Hon. Rene Antonio León Rodríguez

(You can read the full alert, with more details and longer sample letters, on the US-El Salvador Sister Cities Web site.)

Thank you,

Jon
--
Jonathan Falk, Director
Peace through Interamerican Community Action
170 Park St.
Bangor, ME 04401
207-947-4203
www.pica.ws

Citizens Not Terrorists: Free the Suchitoto 13 Update September 21, 2008

The Suchitoto 13 have continued to organize for freedom and economic justice despite the ongoing case against them. Still charged with Acts of Terrorism and Injuries, and facing up to 60 years in jail, Lorena, Rosa, Haydeé, Manuel, and the rest of the accused have been continuing their work, as well as making sure to comply with the terms of their provisional liberty, including showing up at the Special Tribunal every 2 weeks.

Following the original decree of 3 months preventative detention, Judge Ana Lucila Fuentes de Paz had set a September 28th deadline for the prosecution to present its evidence. After this September 28th date, Judge Fuentes de Paz would then set a court date within the following 30 days.

The Prosecution Requests an Extension:

Just this week, we have received news that the Attorney General's Office, through Judge Fuentes de Paz has solicited a 6 month extension for the deadline to present evidence, which would effectively move the projected court date well into next year. The prosecution cites the complexity of the case, saying that it has solicited information from various public institutions and has yet to carry out a quantity of interviews. Judge Fuentes has accepted the request for an extension, and now formally the Judges of the Special Tribunal, Lic. Sandra Chicas and Lic. Gloria Lizama, must rule on the request or grant a lesser extension.

CRIPDES, the MPR-12 and the Committee of Family Members of Political Prisoners, along with the accused themselves, coincide in concluding that this request for an extension is a clear indicator that the prosecution has thus far been unable to collect substantial evidence against the defendants, and a sign of the political intentions behind the case, obliging the defendants to continue to carry out the terms of their provisional liberty, and live with the fear of a steep jail sentence.

Upon the news of the extension request, CRIPDES, the MPR-12 and the Committee of Family Members of Political Prisoners began a demonstration and a fast for 48 hours in front of the Legislative Assembly and Supreme Court buildings. The defense lawyers are still waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on a motion of Habeas Corpus as well as an appeal to declare unconstitutional the Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism, and the Law against Organized Crime. Dr. Agustín García Calderón, the President of the Supreme Court, declined to meet with the fasters.

Journalist Assassinated:

The morning of September 20th, as he was leaving his home the journalist Salvador Sánchez was brutally assassinated. Sánchez worked as a reporter for Mayavision Radio, the YSUCA Radio and the Radio Cadena "Mi Gente".

Salvador Sánchez had been one of the journalists that had given the most direct and honest coverage of the events leading up to and following the arrest of the Suchitoto 13, and had been in direct contact with leaders from CRIPDES and the Committee of Family Members of Political Prisoners. Officials have alluded to personal enemies and delinquency as the possible explanations of Sanchez's assassination, though the Director of the Natinal Civilian Police Force (PNC) also said Sanchez had received death threats. Social movement leaders are worried that political motives may hide behind the high levels of crime and violence prevalent in Salvadoran society. In an official statement the MPR-12 maintains that they "do not discard the idea that the recent [assassination] may be linked to the journalistic work... that Salvador Sánchez carried out." Salvadoran organizations are demanding that the Attorney General and the National Civilian Police force (PNC) carry out an in depth investigation into the killing of Salvador Sánchez.

Take a minute and read these statements from the Committee of Family Members of Political Prisoners in El Salvador, and the statement from the Popular Resistance Movements October 12th, MPR-12. Highly recommended!

El Salvador Citizens not Terrorists Campaign Update

El Salvador Update: Prisoners Granted Conditional Liberty, Terrorism Trial and the Struggle for Free Speech and the Right to Organize Continue.

(As always, for full information check out www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org)

July 27th: This morning the 9 remaining prisoners originally captured last July 2nd in Suchitoto were granted conditional liberty, and left their respective jails. Marta Lorena Araujo Martínez, Rosa María Centeno Valle, Manuel Antonio Rodríguez Escalante, Héctor Antonio Ventura Vásquez, Vicente Vázquez Bacilio, Marta Yanira Méndez, Clemente Guevara Bátrez, Santos Noé Mancía Ramírez and Patricio Valladares Aquino were granted liberty by Judge Ana Lucila Fuentes de Paz, who had originally decreed their provisional detention weeks earler, and were assigned probation measures that prohibit them from leaving the country, changing their place of residence and that demands that they present themselves to the courthouse every 15 days. The charges against all 13 continue, and the rest of the 3 month period decreed by Judge Fuentes de Paz is expected to culminate with a trial under the anti-terrorism law.

This afternoon rural community members from Suchitoto and around the country came together with leaders of the Salvadoran social movement and the newly freed CRIPDES organizers to share testimony, and celebrate this partial victory.

Amid hugs and tears Marta Lorena Martinez, the President of CRIPDES took the microphone and thanked the representatives of social movement and solidarity organizations present for playing a role in winning this step toward definitive liberation. “We have been struggling alongside with you for the last 25 days, just in a different, darker, and harsher battlefield” said Martinez, giggling at her own reference to the Ilopango women’s prison. “And we owe our strength to each one of you who has spoken out for us.”

CRIPDES-CCR (Chalatenango Province) leader Isabel Membreño also spoke out to highlight the lessons from this victory. “In this most recent struggle, we have learned first and foremost who we are, that is, who we were, and who we continue to be: a strong, peaceful and revolutionary people who have proven to the world again that when we organize together we have the ability to defeat any strategy that our government chooses to employ against us.”

Lorena Martinez again described the Salvadoran government’s strategy: “First 1 year ago with the case of Belloso, and most recently this past July 2nd, our government has kicked-off a clear strategy of terror on the part of the State…. These most recent actions and arrests have taken the mask off of the government rhetoric, and are nothing more than a reflection of [President] Saca’s fear. He is under immense pressure from the elite of our country to protect the economic system, and for this reason he is afraid of our struggles to ensure that Suchitoto always has drinking water, to ensure that all communities have a legal right to land, and to create a country where every person fits, with justice and dignity. This time the Government has made a mistake, because every day we spent in jail was a day that the eyes of the world were fixed on his malicious intentions.”

With her eloquent words, Lorena also shows the way for our ongoing work in the “Citizens not Terrorists” campaign. It of course begins by celebrating this victory. Hugo Flores, a CORDES/CRIPDES leader said that: “[minister of security Rene] Figueroa wanted to keep you in jail for 3 months… He couldn’t even stand the strength of our national and international mobilization and pressure for 1 full month!” The release on conditional liberty of the prisoners is a real sign that the role of international solidarity and advocacy is important, and gives results! And that we need to keep it up to support the legal and political battle to get the charges against the Suchitoto 13 dropped. Those arrested on July 2nd still face jail time of up to 60 years, and an upcoming trial in a special terrorism/organized crime tribunal.

So our first objective is still to free the Suchitoto 13, supporting the legal actions and social and political mobilization of CRIPDES and the social movement.

Our second objective of our Citizens not Terrorist campaign must be to ensure the right of the Salvadoran people to dissent, free speech, protest and organization. This can come through supporting the efforts of the Salvadoran social movement to repeal the Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism, as well as through contact and dialogue with our own government and international institutions to ensure that the Peace Accords signed in 1992 are respected in El Salvador.

These new objectives should be taken into account in our upcoming actions: letters to Salvadoran Government officials, dear colleague letters, call-in days to the E.S. desk at the State Department, and in our discourse on the public stage. The country of El Salvador goes on vacation for the 1st week of August, giving us a little bit of time to again assess and re-orient our campaign, and turn up the heat to support our compañeros and compañeras, brothers and sisters.

At the time this update was posted, Lorena, Rosa, Haydee and Manuel were dancing with their families and 150 or so community leaders and organizers, celebrating this partial victory, all the while reminding each other that “La Lucha Continua…” The Struggle Continues.

Verdict for political prisoners in El Salvador, and what happens next

PICA Friends-

Last week I sent out a series of alerts concerning the arrests of CRIPDES leaders and community members in El Salvador. Thanks to all of you who contacted Salvadoran officials and the US Embassy. On Saturday, at a preliminary hearing, the judge granted liberty to Facundo Dolores García, from the community of Santa Eduviges, in Suchitoto. The judge maintained the charges of terrorism for the other 13 detainees and has decreed "Preventative Prison" for 3 months for them. They could ultimately face prison terms of up to 40 years.

According to US-El Salvador Sister Cities, " The guilty verdict appears to be provisional, granting another 3 months to collect more evidence to substantiate and give a definitive sentence under the Anti-Terrorism law, or present more arguments for the defense. We understand that the defense is allowed to submit an appeal within 3 days, beginning on Monday."

USESSC and other organizations will be meeting today to consider how best to respond to these events, support our colleagues in CRIPDES, and defend the Salvadoran popular movement. As soon as decisions are made about a strategy for proceeding, and there are concrete actions for us to take here in Maine, I will let you all know.

If you haven't already visited the site, the USESSC Web site has an excellent hour-by-hour account of the events at the hearing on Saturday, which not only provides a lot of factual information, but gives a real sense of the nature of the struggle that is unfolding -

Adelante,

Jon Falk

URGENT RESPONSE NEEDED: CRIPDES Members and Leaders Charged with Terrorism

PICA Friends-

Your urgent action is needed! In what appears to be a clear escalation of the repression against the Salvadoran popular movement, 4 national leaders of CRIPDES have been arrested and charged under that country's "anti-terrorism" laws. Their preliminary hearing is scheduled for this Saturday, July 7, so a fast response is essential. The message below from US - El Salvador Sister Cities has details, sample letters, and Salvadoran and US officials who should be called, faxed, or E-mailed.

Marta Lorena Araujo, the president of CRIPDES, has visited Bangor, and has met with many of us on our delegations to El Salvador. Please help send the message to the Saca government that this assault on human rights can not be allowed to go unchallenged.

Jon Falk
PICA Director

***********************************************************

Breaking News: The Case Takes a Dangerous Turn; CRIPDES Members and Leaders Charged with Terrorism

We learned late Wednesday night that the 13 people arrested last Monday, July 2, including CRIPDES leaders and community members, are now being charged with “Creating Public Disorder, Destruction of Property and Acts of Terrorism.” They will be tried under the new Anti-Terrorism Law, (read the specifics here) created by the Salvadoran government and President Saca. This means that they are taken out of the provincial court system and will be tried in special tribunals, created specifically for cases under this law.

Everything seems to indicate that these arrests were strategically planned by the government to discourage social protest and take apart the Salvadoran social movement. There are reports that the Attorney General has planned to call on witnesses from within the National Civilian Police (PNC) and Riot Police (UMO). At the time of publication of this message, CRIPDES members and supporters from the rural communities have peacefully gathered outside the courthouse in San Salvador, the UMO Riot Police has surrounded the entire block, with helicopters circling overhead.

Charges were heard this morning, and preliminary information puts the public hearing of the case for this Saturday, July 7, at 10:00 am.

This turns up the pressure for action on our part. Under the anti-terrorism law possible jail time can reach nearly 40 years! We need to show our solidarity now more than ever, and let the government know that CRIPDES leaders are not terrorists!

Please send faxes and emails to:

1. Excelentísimo Sr. Elías Antonio Saca, Presidente de El Salvador:

Telephone (country code 503) 2248-9000.

Fax (503) 2243-7857 / (503) 2243-9930.

2. Lic. Felix Garrid Safie, Fiscal General de la república de El Salvador (Attorney General of El Salvador)

Telephone (country code 503) 2249-8412 / (503) 2249-8749

Fax (503) 2528-6096

E-mail: fgsafie@fgr.gob.sv

3. Dr. Agustín García Calderón,: Presidente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia (President of the Supreme Court of El Salvador)

Telephone (country code 503) 2231-8300, (503) 2271-8888.

Fax (503) 2243-9930, (503) 22437857.

Web-Page: www.csj.gob.sv

4. Charles L. Glazer, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador

Telephone (country code 503) 2278-4444

Fax: (503) 2278-6011

Web-Page: www.sansalvador.usembassy.gov

Also please contact your congressional representatives and urge them to pressure the Salvadoran government about this situation!

Again, the timeline of events and new sample letters are below. Changes include stronger language around the charges of terrorism. (also please note that we have taken "affiliation" off the letter. If you are affiliated with a civic or religous group, feel free to put it on, but we would like to refrain from writing "US-El Salvador Sister Cities" as our direct affiliation.

----------------------TIMELINE OF EVENTS-------------------------

- A non-violent protest had been organized in Suchitoto for Monday morning, July 2nd, 2007. The protest was organized by the Association for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES), its regional branch in Suchitoto (PROGRESO), and the people of the organized rural communities in that municipality, as well as the the Union of Water Workers (SETA) and a number of other social organizations.

- This protest coincided with the visit of President Elias Antonio Saca and his cabinet to Suchitoto. The purpose of this visit was to inaugurate the public water system in the municipality and with it a “Plan for the Decentralization of Public Services,” a policy which is viewed as a step towards privatization of the public water system. The communities, organized and accompanied by CRIPDES, staged a demonstration and other public protest activities around the visit of President Saca and in opposition to the movement toward privatization of water.

- Four members of the Association for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES) were arrested before their vehicle reached the protest, when their vehicle was stopped by National Civilian Police (PNC) several kilometres before they arrived in Suchitoto, outside the community of Milingo. There a police car pulled in front of them and blocked their path, and officers forcefully arrested the following people: Marta Lorena Araujo, President of the CRIPDES National Directive Council; Rosa Valle Centeno, Vice-President CRIPDES National Directive Council; María Haydee Chicas, CRIPDES journalist and photographer; and Manuel Antonio Rodriguez, driving the CRIPDES vehicle.

- Manuel Antonio Rodriguez, the driver of the vehicle, was struck violently by police officers immediately after the officers approached the car. All four CRIPDES members were handcuffed and thrown into an army vehicle, which took them through back roads to the police station in Suchitoto.

- Shortly thereafter, the CRIPDES leaders arrested were taken from Suchitoto police station to Cojutepeque, the capitol of the Cuscatlán Province. From there they were then taken to the police station in Santa Cruz Analquitos, to the south of Cojutepeque. As of July 4, all the detainees were being held once more in Cojutepeque.

- Those arrested were charged with “Creating Public Disorder,” and lawyers who had been in contact with the police headquarters in Cojutepeque confirmed that their case will be designated under those charges to the Cojutepeque departmental attorneys and court system. Under Salvadoran law the departmental prosecutors have 72 hours (that is, until late morning or midday on the 5^th of July) to present charges at a public hearing.

- Despite the charges of “Creating Public Disorder,” the CRIPDES leaders arrested never came close to the protest activities being carried out in Suchitoto. News footage shown on the Salvadoran Tele-Corporation (TCS) channels clearly showed the police vehicle overtaking the CRIPDES truck on the paved road between Suchitoto and San Martín, swerving in front and stopping the CRIPDES leaders. The video also shows the police forcefully removing the passengers from the pick-up truck, and taking them away in handcuffs, several kilometres away from where the protest took place. (Some news footage can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e9Npsw4Xl8. Also watch this video for footage of the arrests.)

- When news of the arrest reached the protesters in Suchitoto on the morning of July 2, the people moved from the central park protest site to the police station to demand information and the liberation of those arrested.

- The police found themselves surrounded, and called in the “UMO” (Unit for Maintenance of Order) Riot Police, who forcefully dispersed the crowds with tear gas, rubber bullets and wooden batons.

- Repression of the protest was not limited to the crowd at the police station; rather it was widespread. As of the evening of July 3, preliminary reports indicate that a total of 13 people were arrested (including the 4 CRIPDES members and 9 local community members), 25 injured by rubber bullets, 18 suffering serious effects of tear gas, 2 hospitalized, and an undetermined number beaten by police officers.

- In the community of Guillermo Ungo, several kilometres south of Suchitoto, where the UMO riot police attacked community members on the road on their way to the Suchitoto protests, again using rubber bullets and tear gas, forcing the community members to flee into the hills. Police also entered the homes of community members in Guillermo Ungo without legal warrant to do so.

- Fleeing community members were followed by the UMO riot police and the Police Reaction Groups (GRPs) by land and by air for more than 4 hours, with several arrests made. School classes in the nearby community were suspended because of the effects of the tear gas.

- The local community members captured report psychological intimidation after their arrest. One report reveals that detainees were taken in a helicopter above Lago Suchitlán and told by the police holding them that they were going to be thrown out of the helicopter.

- These specific tactics of repression, intimidation, persecution by helicopter, and invasion of homes are reminiscent of the most painful and disturbing moments of the armed conflict in El Salvador during the 1980’s. This repressive events of July 2 represent a step backwards in the process of building democracy that was proposed with the signing of the Peace Accords of 1992.

- 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.

-------------------------------------SAMPLE LETTER-----------------------------------

Sample Letter (Spanish):

5 de julio, 2007

(Title and Name)

Le escribo para expresar mi grave preocupación por las recientes acciones de represión realizadas en contra de la población rural en el Municipio de Suchitoto, así como la captura violenta y arbitraria de líderes de las comunidades.

La desmedida reacción policial se produjo contra la población en manifestación pacífica contra la privatización del agua, que no es otra cosa que la expresión legítima de descontento social ante las políticas anti-populares. Este tipo de acción represiva evidencia la violación de derechos humanos y amenazas a la libertad de organización y expresión. Los golpes, capturas, cateos, persecución y sobrevuelo de helicópteros traen a la memoria los momentos más difíciles para la población rural durante el conflicto armado, y veo con alarma este retroceso en el proceso de construcción de la democracia iniciado con los acuerdos de paz.

A la vez quiero denunciar la captura violenta de 13 personas incluyendo líderes de las comunidades y la organización no-gubernamental, CRIPDES, entre ellos Marta Lorena Araujo, Rosa María Centeno, María Haydee Chicas, y Manuel Antonio Rodríguez. Exijo para ellos el respeto a su integridad física y moral, y el proceso justo de ley que lleve a su inmediata liberación.

Por último quiero expresar mi solidaridad con las comunidades rurales y con CRIPDES en su labor a favor del desarrollo social y económico del país, un trabajo que he visto importante para la construcción de paz y democracia. Rechazo cualquier alegación directa o indirecta para vincular a CRIPDES con actividades terroristas, y asimismo los cargos de esta índole presentados contra ellos. Las personas arrestadas no son terroristas ni deben ser juzgadas bajo la ley anti-terrorista; son ciudadanos comprometidos con la justicia y el desarrollo de su país, y no deben ser criminalizadas.

Atentamente,

(your name)

Translation (send the Spanish version, though)

July 5, 2007

(Title and Name)

I am writing to express my grave concern about the recent actions of repression carried out against the rural population in the Municipality of Suchitoto, as well as the violent and arbitrary capture of community leaders.

The disproportionate police reaction against the population came in response to a non violent protest against the privatization of water, a legitimate expression of social discontent toward policies that hurt the people. This type of repressive action gives evidence of the violation of human rights and threats to the freedom of organization and expression. Beatings, arrests, searches, persecution and helicopter fly-overs bring to memory the most difficult moments for the rural population during the past armed conflict, and I am alarmed by this step backwards in the process of building democracy that was proposed with the signing of the peace accords.

As well I want to denounce the violent arrests of 13 people including leaders from the communities and the non-governmental organization, CRIPDES, among them Marta Lorena Araujo, Rosa María Centeno, María Haydee Chicas, and Manuel Antonio Rodríguez. I ask that you respect their physical and moral integrity, and follow the just process of law that leads to their immediate release.

Finally, I want to express my solidarity with the rural communities and with CRIPDES in their work for the social and economic development of the country, which I have seen to be very important for the construction of lasting peace and democracy. I reject any direct or indirect allegations that try to link CRIPDES with terrorist activities, as well as the charges of this nature brought against them. Those arrested are not terrorists nor should they be tried under the anti-terrorism law; they are citizens committed to justice and the development of their country and should not be criminalized.

Sincerely,

(your name)

April 13 talk by Charles Hardy:"Cowboy in Caracas"

Cowboy in Caracas:

One North American's

Life in Venezuela

a talk by

Charles Hardy

Friday, April 13

7:00 p.m.

Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine

170 Park St., Bangor

A former priest turned journalist, Charles Hardy has lived in Venezuela for eight years, where he has been a witness to history: the discontent that brought Venezuelan Hugo Chávez Frias to power, the U.S.-orchestrated coup that briefly toppled him, and the peaceful, democratic revolution that returned him to the Presidency and has been transforming the lives of Venezuela's poor.

His memoir, Cowboy in Caracas, has just been published by Curbstone Press and is already receiving rave reviews:

"Read this important book, and drop the propaganda sandwich in the trash where it belongs." --Peter Coyote, actor/writer

"Charles Hardy has given us a unique perspective on the Chávista revolution as viewed from a cardboard shack on a hillside barrio in Caracas. Writing in a graceful and conversational style in a series of vignettes, Hardy conveys with genuine affection and admiration the dignity and courage of the ordinary people of Venezuela.... This book is a must read for all Americans--but a must read that you won't be able to put down." --Dave Lindorff, columnist for Counterpunch and co-author with Barbara Olshansky of The Case for Impeachment

"This book is an antidote to the poisonous US government mantra against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Ironically, 'Cowboy' isn't about Chávez, but about the exciting processes he has helped initiate and about the awakening of Venezuela's poor whom the US media neglects." --Saul Landau, author of A Bush & Botox World

April 12 talk by Bob St. Peter - "Local Food in a Global Context

PICA's Comida Justa y Local/Fair and Local Food Committee presents

LOCAL FOOD IN A

GLOBAL CONTEXT

a talk by

Bob St. Peter

Director, Good Life Center

Thursday, April 12

7:00 P.M.

Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine

170 Park St., Bangor

Bob St. Peter is a third generation Mainer from Caribou with a passion for promoting and creating just, sustainable, and self-governing communities. He currently serves as Director of the Good Life Center, which works to "perpetuate the philosophies and lifeways promoted and exemplified by Helen and Scott Nearing, two of America's most inspirational practitioners of simple, frugal and purposeful living." In Spring 2005, Bob founded the Independent Food Project (IFP) to promote community food security and to raise awareness about the negative social, economic, and ecological effects of our industrialized food system. IFP has recently merged with GE Free Maine to become the umbrella group Food for Maine's Future, where Bob serves as a board member and the volunteer Food Independence Campaign Coordinator. He is currently working with the Protect Maine Farmer's campaign, a project of Food for Maine's Future, to pass legislation in Maine that will protect all farmers from negative impacts of GMO contamination.

In addition to his commitment to preserving traditional farming in Maine, Bob has also worked on food, poverty, and rural sustainability issues internationally as the development director for Sustainable Harvest International. Bob serves on the advisory board of the Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative and is an advocate for ending the prohibition of marijuana and hemp as a matter of civil and human rights. He is a freelance writer, subsistence farmer, popular educator, and a devoted husband and father. Much like Scott Nearing, Bob has chosen a simpler life devoted to work with head and hands as a way of limiting his involvement in the current economy. He views this lifestyle as one way to work towards creating change in a world rife with exploitation and over-consumption.

His talk will be the first in a monthly series of educational events organized by PICA's Comida Justa y Local/ Fair and Local Food Committee. The committee is organizing a campaign to connect farmers and farmworkers with consumers, building an alliance to work together for a world in which everyone has enough to eat, those who produce our food are paid and treated fairly, food is grown and processed in ways that are healthy for our bodies and the land, and that sustain rural communities.

Building on twenty years of experience building connections between people working for justice in Maine and El Salvador, PICA is dedicated to building solidarity across geographic and cultural borders in the struggle to create just, democratic, and sustainable communities.

This weekend's UM-Farmington Water Commons Symposium postposed

This weekend's conference, "Who Owns Maine's Water? A Symposium on Water Commons," scheduled to be held March 24 at UM Farmington, has been postponed until later in the spring, due to the cancellation of 2 of the keynote speakers.

According to symposium organizer Kate Harris:

"Two of our keynote speakers have had to suddenly cancel, so we've decided to postpone this Saturday's Water Commons Symposium until mid-June. First Claudia Torrelli received news that her grandmother had taken seriously ill in Uruguay, so she's returned home, but we were going to go on without her. Then we learned that Maude Barlow was mugged this past weekend in Brussels and had all her personal effects, including her passport, birth certificate and driver's license, stolen. It took great effort for her to get home to Canada, and now she can't fly into Maine from Canada (passport required) until she replaces her passport (6-8 weeks from when she replaces her birth certificate), and it was pretty much impossible for her to get here from Ottawa without a driver's license. Plus, she's quite understandably shaken."

For more information, go to defendingwaterinmaine.org.

Jon Falk

Maine Water Conference 3/24 at UMF

Who Owns Maine's Water? A Symposium on Water Commons
Saturday, March 24th, from 9:30am-4:30pm
University of Maine - Farmington
Presented by the Defending Water for Life in Maine campaign

Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians and co-author of Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World's Water will be a keynote speaker. She will draw on her experience as a leader of the international movement for a right to water in speaking about water as a commons in Maine. She will be joined by Colin Woodard author of The Lobster Coast who will describe the protection of the Maine lobster fisheries as a commons. Rounding out the program, Nancy Price, co-chair of the Alliance for Democracy, will present the "Tapestry of the Commons".

To pre-register, or for further information, visit defendingwaterinmaine.org or contact Kate Harris, conference coordinator, at kate@defendingwaterinmaine.org or (207) 338-9509.

Co-sponsors: PICA (Peace through Interamerican Community Action), SEA-Change (Social & Environmental Activists for Change) of UMaine Farmington, the Maine chapter of the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, and the Maine Council of Churches Environmental Justice Program.

Talk by Mexicn Human Rights Activist Sunday, March 4, 7:00 PM in Bangor

Communities Confronting Globalization
a talk by Manuel Mendez Guzman of the Red de Defensores Comunitarios por los Derechos Humanos

Sunday, March 4, 7:00 p.m., Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine
sponsored by PICA (Peace through Interamerican Community Action)

Since the Zapatista uprising began on January 1, 1994, (the first day NAFTA went into effect) the Mexican military and paramilitaries have waged a counter insurgency war against Zapatista communities. Thirteen years after the uprising, human rights abuses continue and the entire state of Chiapas is heavily militarized. The Mexico Solidarity Network presents a speaker from the Red de Defensores Comunitarios por los Derechos Humanos (Community Human Rights Defenders Network) to discuss the impact of this "low-intensity" warfare, and what is being done on the ground to resist.

The Red de Defensores is a network of indigenous human rights observers from Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico. The Red, founded in May 2000, is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the promotion and defense of human rights. The Red developed an alternative model of human rights work in which community members who suffer human rights abuses at the hands of the army, paramilitaries, and the federal government assume control of their own defense. Self-determination and autonomy are the guiding principles of the Red de Defensores. The Red is currently made up of 25 community indigenous defenders from eight regions. In each case, the community chose their representative to the Red in a traditional process that assigns "cargos" (tasks) to highly respected members of the community. All of the defensores live in threatened communities that have a history of suffering from human rights abuses.

The representative from the Red de Defensores will:

- Discuss threats to indigenous communities, such as NAFTA, Plan Puebla Panama, and the agricultural crisis in Mexico.
- Discuss human rights abuses in Mexico, their relationship to globalization, and how indigenous communities are working to end the abuses and impunity.
-Promote a sustainable model of international trade based on economic justice.
- Discuss the leadership of women in fair trade cooperatives.

Talk by Mexican Human Rights Activist March 5 at COA

COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC PRESENTS TALK ON GLOBALIZATION BY MEXICAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Manuel Mendez Guzman talks on Communities Confronting Globalization: Autonomy and Human Rights

BAR HARBOR-Manuel Mendez Guzman, a human rights activist from Mexico, will be talking at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 5 at College of the Atlantic's McCormick Lecture Hall as part of the college's Human Ecology Forum. He will be discussing issues of globalization.

Guzman, a member of the Red de Defensores Communitarios por los Derechos Humanos, or the Community Human Rights Defenders Network, is on a tour of New England communities and college campuses speaking about recent issue in Mexico. His talk, "Communities Confronting Globalization: Autonomy and Human Rights," will be presented in Spanish with an English translation.

Guzman will discuss human rights abuses, their relationship to globalization, the North American Free Trade Agreement, as well as Plan Puebla Panama. It is sponsored by The Mexico Solidarity Network, which is focused on promoting dialogue and collective action for social change between the United States and Mexico.

Since the Zapatista uprising in 1994, the Mexican military and paramilitaries have waged a counter insurgency war against the Zapatista and supporting communities. Thirteen years after the uprising, communities in Mexico are developing new forms of resistance.

According to its website, The Red de Defensores operates as an autonomous human rights model in which community members who suffer human rights abuses from the army, paramilitaries and the federal government assume control of their own defense.

For more information, visit www.mexicosolidarity.org, or call Donna Gold, at 288-2944 ext. 291, or dgold@coa.edu.

Oaxaca

Somewhere right now in Oaxaca, men with ski masks and assault rifles are dragging a woman out to a pick up truck and raping beating her before throwing her into the back of a truck . . .Her only crime was her refusal to be silent about her brother's murder . . this time tommorow guards will be torturing her in a cell in the women's federal prison in Nayarit on the other side of the country. The prisons of Nayarit are Mexico's Guantanamo, black holes from which no messages escape . . .

Riot police in full body armor stand alongside tanks blocking the roadways that go into the Zocalo, the city's historic center . . .

But a few blocks away a street kid in a torn t-shirt with a can of spray paint scrawls messages of liberation on walls freshly painted over earlier today and slips into the night before the patrols return.

The Zapotec legends say that when the people have faced great threats in the past the stones have hidden them . . . and when the time was right they slipped back from underneath the stones wearing the bodies of animals . . .

Friday, still in Oaxaca, I wrote this poem:

The daughters
of the 13th moon
lie battered
in the women's prison
in Nayarit.

As their blood
seeps into the floor,
the stones come alive,
spreading over scarred backs,
molding to them . .

turtle women
walk south
through gates
and checkpoints
unseen

until they come
into the Zocalo
and their shells fall away

becoming cauldrons
boiling water
for the mountains
giving birth
to the sun.

Fifth Avenue Imports and Cheap Labor Exports, the Challenge of the Millennium

November 14th, 2006
Sister Cities Staff

Last week, the U.S. State Department's Development aid branch, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), approved a 461 million dollar grant to the Government of El Salvador. According to Salvadoran President Tony Saca, this aid will be used in large part to revitalize the economies of the northern part of El Salvador, and more than half of the funds will be destined to build transportation infrastructure, primarily in a superhighway to cut through the northern third of the country, a corridor connecting El Salvador with Guatemala in the west and Honduras in the East.

At first glance, anyone would agree that road improvement in that area of the country is a necessity. But who will benefit from the latest US aid and policy implementation? The MCA funds are part of a larger economic plan for Central America, the Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) Plan Pueblo Panama, a regional free trade industrialization plan which calls for mega highways, new hydroelectric dams, telecommunication privatization, amongst other things. El Salvador and Chalatenango happen to lie right at the heart of this transportation corridor for free market trade, yet for the people of the communities of the CCR, the MCA grant is hardly a jackpot.

Last week's MCA news comes as Mayors in the North-eastern region of Chalatenango received word that the Millennium Challenge Fund does not include direly needed repairs to the road connecting Chalatenango City with Arcatao. For the organized communities of the CCR, this means a continued transportation crisis, one that has worsened daily over the last some years. The Chalatenango-Arcatao road has become nearly impassable, with whole sections eroded away, and cavernous potholes. The damage has reached such an extent that this month the people all the municipalities along the road organized community work days to repair the road, despite the fact that the road's maintenance is under the jurisdiction of the central government.

The Chalatenango-Arcatao road is just one of hundreds in the country, but its fate illustrates well US and Salvadoran government priorities, and perhaps what lies behind the MCA. The department of Chalatenango offers a wealth of natural resources, such as mineral and hydrologic wealth, which will be more easily accessed by an east-west highway that could facilitate the movement of products through the Central American corridor. Yet what sorts of opportunities will bigger, wider, highways offer the greater population of Chalatenango? What sort of economic and social policies lie behind the MCA funds? As one way to think about this question, it is worth looking at where similar social and economic policies driven by the same actors (US Government, IDB, ARENA Governments etc.) have taken El Salvador over the last ten years.

In the repopulated community of Guajoyo, in San Vicente (sister city of Austin, Texas) the community board reports that 78 members of the community have immigrated to the US over the last 15 years since the signing of the Peace Accords. Considering that the community is made up of 146 families, that means for one out of every two families there is a community member in the US, who is maybe sending remittances back to mitigate crop damage, natural disaster, and general unemployment which face the community.

That example is representative of the country as a whole. During the last ten years, under successive right wing ARENA governments and free trade policies, as many people have migrated from El Salvador as left the country during the 50 years prior to 1998, which includes the period of the civil war. What that means, is that more people are leaving the country looking for employment and to feed their families now, than fled the country because of the twelve-year war during the eighties and nineties. Currently, a third of the Salvadoran population lives outside the country, with the vast majority residing in the United States, and most of those living in the state of California and Washington DC (two thirds of the more than 2.5 million Salvadorans in the US).

This population sends an average of 157 dollars per month back to nearly a quarter of the more than 6 million people still residing within the country. According to Salvadoran Government figures, remittances are the single largest contributor to the GDP of the country, at 17 percent and rising yearly. While $157 is nearly twice the monthly rural minimum wage, and about equal to the urban minimum wage in El Salvador, it doesn't stop immigration to the north, and an estimated 500 people per day continue leaving El Salvador for the United States. Those who arrive send nearly three billion dollars in remittances back per year (roughly equal to the annual budget of the Salvadoran Government), while paying an average of fourteen thousand dollars per year per family in US taxes. Studies show that of those three billion dollars in remittances, the large majority (83%) are spent in consumption--food, appliances, clothing, etc.

What this means, is that essentially, El Salvador is exporting cheap unskilled labor to the tune of 500 people per day to the United States to keep its families from starving. With this money, the Salvadoran economy stays afloat and pays for half its imports, and more each year, since the agricultural production sector has fallen on hard times, and maquilas continue to leave for Asia. It goes without saying that if the majority of the remittance money is spent in keeping Salvadorans from going hungry, then little is left over to invest in boosting national production or economic opportunities.

So as the Millennium Challenge funds enter the country, who will they benefit? They won't benefit the 500 economic exiles per day that are exported to the North; the immigrants won't be here to use the new roads. They won't benefit the rural population, who have seen their ranks drop from 60 percent of the Salvadoran population in 1990, to 40 percent of the population today, and find themselves travelling to the urban centers such as San Salvador or to the US in search of work, while cheap corn and beans enter the country from the US. They won't build new roads to geographically isolated communities such as the stretch between Chalatenango and Arcatao. But they will benefit the business import sector that the remittances keep afloat (controlled by the 7 richest families in the country, and foreign investors), which requires north-south corridors to move products between Canada to the Panama Canal.

Free market policies such as those included in the MCA aid will only increase immigration. In turn, immigration will continue to benefit the ARENA Government, who reaps the rewards of immigration as a social release, as the unemployed and marginalized leave the country, easing social pressure on the government and poverty, and sending back remittances to feed others who otherwise would go hungry. For the communities of CRIPDES, immigration is seen as one of the principal obstacles to community organization and empowerment, as people leave or become comfortable on remittances and are no longer interested in shared solutions to their difficulties.

In light of this reality, it is important as CRIPDES´ partners, that Sister Cities continue to define strategies to strengthen contacts with immigrants from their communities in the US, and define strategies together to organize across boarders and resist the forces of economic domination which drive youth out of their homes, and tear families apart.

Dear Bono: A Message from Rev. Billy

The latest from the amazing Rev. Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping

http://dearbono.org


REVEREND BILLY TO BONO: “Stop Shopping, Start Giving!”

Dear Mr. Bono,

Let’s give directly to the children of Africa, and to the hungry in our own neighborhoods. You urge us, from a tsunami of ads - to BUY RED. To continue consuming, to shop. But we can never shop enough for the African children, when the cost to the world from ordinary shopping is so destructive. Bono — We need to stop our shopping and start our giving. Change-a-lujah! You are right that the paradox of American giving needs to be solved. This Christian nation doesn’t give. We have tended recently to bomb people in need, rather than help them. But shopping to give is like bombing to save. You got it backwards, Mr. Bono. Don’t glamorize shopping. Amen? Let’s learn to give again.

The thing that we do in creating a good neighborhood, now that is at the heart of giving. The little shop owners, the eccentric on the corner, the funny and heart-rending rituals of trust in a healthy town — this instinct of making a community locally is under general attack by chain stores and super malls, and your participating RED companies are leaders in that aggression. GAP, Nike, Apple — These companies have created the global warming economy - putting us all in cars, driving away from our human-scale stores, looking for discounts that kill us.

You act as if shopping is a neutral act, and that it can be directed this way and that, like a C-5A Cargo plane full of candy. No, consumption is a whole cycle of actions that couldn’t impact us more. It is America’s unhappy drug addiction. Consuming? It’s the psychic prison of shopping that makes giving so impossible. Shopping is the death of our spirit, and of our larger spirit, the earth where we live. Bono? Does it make sense to end life to save lives? You will save some African children and that is a wonderful thing. But we could save more by giving directly.

Let’s NOT buy red, but give to Africa, give directly, and give to our own communities by re-starting our more intimate economies at home.

El Salvador Update

El Salvador Update
3rd of October, 2006

USESSC Staff

San Salvador—Last week in Carasque, Chalatenango, a truckload of soldiers arrived without noticed, and before consulting with local authorities climbed the hill behind the village. When members of the community board of Carasque realized what was going on, they fired up the PA system to call the community together. Given that the inhabitants of this region were persecuted for twelve years during the Salvadoran Civil War by the same army, the presence of soldiers is seen as a threat by many. The community decided to follow the soldiers up the hill, and confront them to find out what they were doing, and if they had permission from the property owners to be on the land. Open being questioned, the soldiers allegedly replied claiming they were surveying the land for environmental damage, deforestation, and erosion. However, community leaders maintain that the soldiers were accompanied by foreigners linked to the mining companies operating in the region; an ominous sign for the population of North-eastern Chalatenango which has overwhelmingly voiced its opposition to mining.

Since the July 5th shootings in the National University in San Salvador, military presence in the organized communities of the Association for the Development of El Salvador—CRIPDES has increased, under an array of different justifications. Military presence has been most pronounced in the departments of Chalatenango and San Vicente. Riding the wave of reactions around the country to the rising violence and especially the shootings at the National University, this month the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly passed an anti-terrorism law, pushed by the Administration of President Tony Saca and his right wing ARENA party.

Debate last month over the law unleashed a fierce barrage of name calling in the Legislative Assembly, calling back the ghosts of the Civil War. While not entirely unusual, the extremes of the debate illustrate the polarized democratic spaces within the country, and the fear-mongering tactics of the Saca Administration. Case in point was the discourse by Walter Guzmán of the right wing ARENA during Assembly discussion of the anti-terrorism bill. He accused the left wing parties and social organizations opposed to the Government of being terrorists, presumably for questioning the law. Guzman’s outburst is alarming, given that some of the principle concerns about the law have to do with its lack of a definition of what is considered terrorism, and consequently, who may be defined as terrorists. Thus, the definition is left up to the Executive Branch (controlled by the same ARENA part, which after the July 5th shootings blamed its principle political opposition the FMLN for being linked to the attacks). ARENA had insisted that the law was not designed to criminalize social protest nor achieve political designs, rather to guarantee public security, yet Guzman’s comments contradict that stance.

The Salvadoran anti-terrorism law defines terrorist organizations as “those groupings…that try to use violent or inhuman methods with the expressed goal of causing terror, insecurity, or alarm.” This definition is vague at best, leaving much up to the interpreter. Likewise, under the anti-terrorism bill, the occupation of public or private buildings, areas of public use, or cities which in any way affects the normal activities, and is done “partially or totally with the use of arms, explosives, or similar articles” is considered an act of terrorism. The Salvadoran social movement and FMLN have questioned who will interpret these definitions of terrorism and what is considered a weapon, and if this clause is not an attempt by the Salvadoran Right to retract the Constitutional right to assembly and protest. Finally, the antiterrorism law also authorizes the Salvadoran Armed Forces and Police to intercept at their discretion any sort of transportation they suspect might be connected to terrorism. Essentially, Army or Police checkpoints now have the authority to do as they will, and then say they suspected terrorism.

The retraction of basic rights, the use of fear tactics and threats on the floor of the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly are not so different than the debate last week on the floor of the USA Senate over the new detainee bill. The Boston Globe on Friday quoted Senator Christopher S. Bond, a Missouri Republican, of claiming that Democrats, in questioning the new detainee antiterrorism bill, ``encourage the enemy," and ``demoralize our troops."

``They're not unpatriotic; they just don't understand the terrorist enemies we face," Bond said. Mr. Bond might just be right, because with new sweeping powers granted by the so called Antiterrorism bill, his Republican colleagues of the Bush Administration, much like the Saca Administration, are in large part authorized to define who the terrorists and enemy combatants are. Now nobody but the President can be sure who will be labelled a terrorist, or what might constitute terrorism. However, legislators from both parties rushed to sign the detainee bill last week.
In our fear of terror, we fear the enemy could be anyone, and that is how it may well be defined, since the recent legislation doesn’t. Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his first inaugural address in 1932 uttered that now famous lines “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” He made this remark in the midst of the Great Depression, calling for optimism and strength in hard times. What can be said of our fear of terror, of terrorism?

In a fitting ending to the story in Carasque, the inhabitants of the community told the soldiers they didn’t want them coming to the area, and did not disperse until the soldiers had trucked out of town. They have since proceeded to raise the alarm in the entire province, so other communities are ready should the soldiers or miners arrive. What might have been a retreat into fear was converted into an act of courage and popular power, a story to be told throughout the region. Despite the machine guns, uniforms and authoritarianism—in the face of fear—the community of Carasque did not stand paralyzed, rather as they have for so many years, they continued to organize for their rights. Roosevelt would say they advanced rather than retreating, for they overcame their fear—the first step in fighting terror.