Community outraged asMayor Newsom meets with Antonio Saca
April 4, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO: In a pressConference and Demonstration against the mayor's plan to honor President of ElSalvador, Salvadoransand social justice allies expressed outrage that Mayor Gavin Newsom had made plans to declare April 4as the Day of Antonio Saca in SanFrancisco. Spokespeople from the mayor's office denied that such plans had been made, and in the end the event became a "day of friendship" between San Francisco and El Salvador.

At least 50 people stood on the steps of City Hall in San Francisco to show their rejection of President Saca. Led by members of the Salvadoran community, labor unionists, religious groups, students, and solidarity organizations congregated to give a "welcome" to Saca and declare their outrage with Newsom. Saca arrives in Los Angeles on April 5 where more protests are expected.

It is reprehensible thatthe City of San Francisco, which is home to oneof the largest Salvadoran communities in the U.S., would honor the man who isresponsible for their forced displacement, said J.L. Heyward from CISPES, theCommittee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. We can not let thishappen. Once again, Mayor Newsom is betraying a legacy of activism to defendthe city as a sanctuary for political and economic refugees.

Under Sacas leadership, El Salvador is experiencing asevere economic crisis, the resurgence of death squads, and the criminalizationof public protest. PresidentSacas disastrous economic policies of free trade and privatization havedeepened the extreme poverty of millions. Between 500 and 700 Salvadorans are forced to leave thecountry every day to search for survival in othercountries, especially the UnitedStates, resulting in a full third ofthe population living outside the country.

YeniSolis, who moved to San Francisco from San Salvador 5 years agoexplained, This meeting is nothing but a photo-op for the president as his ARENA party looks ahead to the 2009 elections. It's an insult to the Salvadoran community because Saca represents a dictatorship disguised as civil but that is merelya continuation of repressive military regimes of the past. According to theHuman Rights Office of the Archbishop of El Salvador, the National Civilian Policewere implicated in at least 8 death-squad style assassinations in 2006 alone,and there has been no investigation into the assassination of opposition mayorWilber Funes of Alegía, Usulután in January of this year.

With the endorsement of theU.S. government, Sacas government recently brought terrorism chargesagainst peaceful protesters who took to the streets to stop the privatizationof water, threatening jail sentences of 60 years. The Salvadoran government wasdenounced internationally for this blatant attempt to criminalize dissent andpublic protest.

San Francisco residentsnoted the same trend toward repressive policing under Mayor Newsom, pointing tounchecked police violence against youth of color and to the gang injunctionsimposed by City Attorney, Dennis Herrera. It is widely understood that the ganginjunctions are intended to force people of color out of neighborhoods likeBayview-Hunters Point and the Mission that are slated for corporatere-development.

Renee Saucedo of La Raza Centro Legal stated,"Mayor Newsom is obviously out of touch with what is happening to everydaypeople at the local and international levels. By meeting with the current President of El Salvador, he is dismissive ofthe abuses and violations against the Salvadoran people, those living in El Salvador, and those living in San Francisco."

The event was organized by the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), SalvadoranCitizens Network, and Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA).