Adapted from an alert by the Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC)

Over the past few weeks Democratic congressional leaders have announced so-called "deals" with the White House on immigration and trade. While these may be good for big business, the proposals will deal a sharp blow to workers, immigrants and the environment.

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In early May, President Saca celebrated El Salvador’s “Day of the Soldier” with a controversial speech calling on the Armed Forces of El Salvador to join ARENA in defending El Salvador from “the dangerous waves of populism around the world.” Saca said that the Salvadoran Military had defended the country “from the communist aggression in the past” and that it should again step up and do the same in defense of democracy and freedom. This kind of speech calling for the politicizing of the military is unprecedented in El Salvador since the signing of the Peace Accords.

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Salvadoran police attack market vendors on May 12

On Saturday, May 12 the Salvadoran National Civilian Police (PNC) provoked violence and chaos in downtown San Salvador, targeting the organized CD/DVD Vendors Movement. Early in the afternoon, the Finance Unit of the police carried out a massive, aggressive confiscation operation targeting the organized vendors working downtown. A number of people unaffiliated with the organized vendors’ movement responded by ransacking businesses and setting fire to a police car and a truck from the right-wing media. Two hours after the chaos began, 150 anti-riot police showed up and responded by throwing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets at protesters. At the end of the day, four of the movement’s members had been arrested: Victor Mauricio Luna, Rene Salvador Mendoza, Hector Mauricio Mendoza and Fredi Medina. There were also 15 other individuals, including two minors, captured in the round-up.

download the 2007 Spring El Salvador watch here

download the text vesion here

Or click below for the articles included in the May 2007 edition of El Salvador Watch

Contents:

• The ILEA: U.S. Exporting “Criminal Justice” to Latin America from a Base in El Salvador
• Solidarity in Action: CISPES May Day Delegation
• U.S. Intervention in Latin America: the Bush Years
• Paul Raymond, 1932-2007
• CISPES at the Latin America Solidarity Conference: Toward a Strong Coalition, United in Action
• We Are All Together in the Struggle: Intergenerational Organizing

May 3, 2007
More information: www.cispes.org/ilea or
download the word version of this report

Introduction

On May 3, 2007 a group of eight people representing the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) toured the facilities of the U.S.-sponsored International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Santa Tecla, a suburb of San Salvador. The group was part of a larger 16-person delegation that spent ten days traveling around El Salvador meeting with political and social movement leaders, government officials, and experts on the current socio-political situation in El Salvador.

see the article "CISPES will demand to Eliminate funding for the ILEA" in the Diario CoLatino

Statement to the Press, May 4, 2007

We represent the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, a U.S.-based grassroots organization that has worked to support the Salvadoran people for the last 27 years. Our group represents eight cities in the United States as well as Germany and Denmark, and is made up of workers from the non-profit, healthcare and technology sectors, as well as artists, students, scientists, and teachers. Throughout the last seven days, we have been meeting with unions, students, women’s groups, vendors, economists, legislators, and the Salvadoran Human Rights Office. We participated in International Worker’s Day on May 1 in the streets of San Salvador alongside Salvadorans creating positive change and demanding a stop to government repression.

Movement Demands No to Privatization, Down with the Anti-Terrorism Law

On May 1 a CISPES delegation in El Salvador took to the streets with some 75,000 Salvadoran workers, campesinos, students, and FMLN members in a historic International Workers Day march. The march was led by the Salvadoran Labor Front (FSS) and its member unions, followed shortly by National Movement of CD and DVD vendors and other coalitions like the National Agricultural Coordination (CNA), the Popular Social Bloc, and the MPR-12. The labor unions had a huge presence, especially the SETA water workers union which is part of a growing movement to stop the ARENA government’s plans to privatize water resources and distribution in El Salvador. The level of unity within the social movement and the common message put forward was another successful outcome of the march.

On May 1st, CISPES activists took to the streets of cities throughout the U.S. in support of immigrants’ rights. Meanwhile, in San Salvador, I was a member of a 16-member CISPES contingent that marched alongside Salvadoran union members, students, FMLN party activists, and other social movement organizations in one of the biggest May Day marches in recent Salvadoran history. Coming from the US I was not prepared for the incredible outpouring of spirit I witnessed on May Day in El Salvador. With participation estimated at more than75,000 people, I was inspired by the militant spirit, the high level of coordination and the breadth of organizations that came out to celebrate International Workers’ Day. Read an update about the march or listen to a CISPES radio interview about the huge May Day mobilization .