Included in President Bush’s Foreign Operations budget request this year is $16.5 million for five worldwide ILEAs; the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill may be voted on in Congress as early as mid-May, though it’s more likely the vote will come in June. Part of the ILEA budget will go towards the construction of the permanent facility of the Salvadoran ILEA (for more information, see www.cispes.org/ilea). U.S. agencies such as the FBI, DEA, and ICE (the immigration authority under Homeland Security) have sent instructors to lead ILEA classes and much of the focus so far has been on fighting gangs and organized crime, including classes on “anti-terrorism.� The Salvadoran government passed “anti-terrorism� and “organized crime� laws recently which expand the reach of police and military, create special tribunals for expediting convictions, and clamp down on common forms of protest such as street blockades and building occupations.

CISPES has documented a series of human rights abuses and political attacks over the last 2 years that have yet to be investigated by the Salvadoran authorities. The installation of the ILEA legitimizes the activities of El Salvador’s corrupt National Civilian Police (PNC) and represents a continuation of U.S. influence in El Salvador’s security apparatus. In the 1980s, the United States backed the country’s brutal military with direct arms support; now the U.S. government backs the repressive and corrupt police force through the ILEA and continued military training at the SOA. Based on the U.S.’s record of training security forces in Latin America and the recent history of rising repression by the government and the PNC, we will not wait for US-sponsored right-wing death squads to return to El Salvador. We demand the closing of the ILEA and the SOA!

Take Action!

1. Call your Congressional representative through the Capitol Hill switchboard [202-224-3121] and ask that they send a letter requesting that CISPES be able to visit the ILEA in San Salvador during its May Day delegation. See below for sample letter.

2. Demand that your Representative vote for an amendment to cut funding for the ILEA! See below for talking points.

3. This week SOA Watch is carrying out a 3-day fast demanding the closure of the School of the Americas. Join the fast and find out more information at http://soaw.org/index.php

**Download ILEA outreach and lobby materials at www.cispes.org/ilea**

Sample letter for Congressional Reps to send to the San Salvador ILEA

Javier Jaquez
Deputy Director
International Law Enforcement Academy San Salvador
El Salvador
FAX: 503-2208-8533

April 26, 2007

Dear Mr. Jaquez,

I am writing on behalf of CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador), a grassroots organization that is active in my Congressional district. 16 members of this organization will be traveling to El Salvador from April 27-May 6 as part of a delegation of CISPES representatives from around the United States. This delegation will be investigating various economic, social and human rights issues in El Salvador. This letter is to request that this delegation be granted an opportunity to meet with you at the current facilities of the International Law Enforcement Academy South in El Salvador in order to learn about the operations, coursework, and future plans of the ILEA.

CISPES representatives have met with my staff to update me on various issues and to inform me that a branch of the ILEA had opened in San Salvador. I remain keenly interested in U.S. foreign policy initiatives in El Salvador and look forward to receiving a report from CISPES members upon their return from El Salvador. To this end, please allow time in your schedule to meet with the CISPES delegation while it is in the country. I would also appreciate receiving any documentation related to the ILEA’s operations and coursework. Such documents can be sent back with CISPES representatives or sent directly to my office.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Cut Funding for the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA). El Salvador is already the second largest recipient of military training in Central America, is the host of a U.S. military base at the Comalapa airport, and in early 2005 an FBI office was opened in San Salvador. The ILEA has the capacity to train 1500 students per year, more than the current Western Hemisphere Institute for Security and Cooperation, also known as the SOA. Salvadorans fear a return to the sort of torture and repression practices used by the graduates of that US-sponsored school in the 1980s. More surveillance does not make Salvadorans safer; it threatens daily life and the right to protest!

Background Information

* Resurgence of death squad-style threats and murders: Beginning with the July murder of the Manzanares couple, the parents of long-time activist “Mariposa�, threats and assaults on activists have been increasing. Death threats have been sent to SETA, the water workers’ union; two FMLN activists have murdered in Coatepeque; Rev. Antonio Romero was murdered in September; and student activist and son of well known FMLN activist Luis Edgardo Osorto Gomez was disappeared for 8 days. There are also two youth that remain missing: Jose Omar Chavez, son of a historic community organizer, who has been missing since July 8, 2005, and Francisco Contreras, a youth activist who has been missing since February 6 of this year. In both cases, their families have evidence that leads many people to believe the police and/or death squads were involved in their disappearances, but their calls for investigation have fallen on deaf ears. These political attacks are reminiscent of the intimidation tactics used in the 80s, and we call for immediate investigation of this repression!

* ARENA is militarizing the police, which is a direct violation of the Peace Accords. The separation between police and military in El Salvador has declined dramatically since originally established by Peace Accords in El Salvador. It is now common to have groups of soldiers “patrolling� rural and urban neighborhoods in El Salvador, something that current President Saca has promoted. El Salvador’s National Civilian Police, or PNC, was created by the 1992 Peace Accords to do the work of law enforcement in El Salvador. However, the PNC has increasingly been used to violently repress protests in El Salvador, especially the protests against the CAFTA free trade agreement.

* New Law Criminalizes Organizing: The Salvadoran right wing passed an anti-terrorism law in September. The language in this new law is very vague, therefore incredibly open to interpretation and application. The anti-terrorism law is similar to the Patriot Act in that it threatens civil liberties supposedly protected by the constitution of El Salvador. The US Ambassador to El Salvador even expressed explicit support for this law in a recent speech, condoning the use of police force in protecting US trade interests.