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Despite solidarity
victory, activists still face up to 4 years in prison
Para
más información en español, haga ‘click’ aqui
El
Salvador’s
Attorney General last Friday requested that charges of “acts of
terrorism” be dropped against 13 peaceful protesters
arrested at a demonstration against water privatization last July in the
town of Suchitoto .
After more than 6 months of
investigation into the events of July 2, 2007, the Salvadoran government
was unable to substantiate its original terrorism accusations, which
carried a potential sentence of up to 60 years in prison. The charges fell
under the jurisdiction of El
Salvador ’s 2006 “Special Law
Against Acts of Terrorism,” which was championed by the U.S. Embassy
in Sal Salvador. Human rights experts in
El Salvador and on the
international level uniformly concluded that the Suchitoto protest was
lawful and denounced the terrorism charges.
Months of domestic and international
pressure for the charges to be dropped, including dozens of letters from
U.S. Congressional Representatives and two national “weeks of
action” carried out by U.S.
solidarity organizations, culminated in the February 8 announcement, which
was made before a special anti-terrorism tribunal in
San Salvador . In response to grassroots
pressure organized by CISPES and allied solidarity organizations, more than
40 members of Congress signed a letter to Salvadoran President Antonio Saca
last July questioning the application of the anti-terrorism law in the case
of the non-violent Suchitoto protestors. A handful of Congressmen sent
personal letters to the Salvadoran government again last week, reiterating
their concern for the state of human rights in El Salvador and urging
President Saca to respect basic civil liberties, including freedom of
political expression.
The Salvadoran government will now
seek to convict the 13 “political prisoners” of public disorder
and aggravated damages as a result of their participation in last
July’s protest. These reduced charges could carry prison sentences of
up to 4 years. Family members of the ‘Suchitoto 13’ are calling
for all charges be dropped, and have undertaken a 3-day march from
Suchitoto to San Salvador
to draw continued attention to the case.
The family members and their social
movement allies argue that those arrested at Suchitoto have been targeted
not because they committed crimes, but in response to their opposition to
the governing, right-wing ARENA party’s plan to decentralize the
national public water administration. Those who demonstrated in Suchitoto
last summer view this plan as a first step toward the eventual
privatization of the El
Salvador ’s water system. Amnesty
International concurred with this analysis in a statement released July 18,
2007, stating that it feared the arrests had been made “to prevent
future protest.”
As the ARENA government continues to
pursue charges against the protestors arrested at Suchitoto, a number
potentially politically-motivated killings remain unresolved, including
last month’s assassination of Wilber Funes, the mayor of Allegria who
was a member of the FMLN opposition party. Meanwhile,
El Salvador ’s
National Civilian Police (PNC) continues to receive training at the U.S.
State Department’s International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA),
despite international condemnation of its repressive actions against the
Suchitoto prisoners, among other recent cases. Stay tuned to the CISPES
e-mail list and website in the coming weeks for more ways to help defend
democracy and counter U.S.-backed repression in
El Salvador.
For
a detailed analysis of the latest developments in the legal case against
the Suchitoto 13 (put
together by U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities) click here.
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