Participants in the Radical Roots delegation meet with the FMLN Women's Secretariat (2010)
The CISPES Delegation Experience!
At CISPES, we believe that international solidarity is a powerful element in the fight for social and economic justice. Over the past 30 years, we’ve learned that people-to-people connections are necessary to build a lasting solidarity movement based on mutual respect and shared struggle. Our delegations and work brigades to El Salvador are an opportunity for people in the US to learn first-hand about social movements in Latin America and join the struggle to break the chains of US domination and corporate exploitation. This is a particularly exciting and important moment to travel to El Salvador, where the country’s first progressive government and the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) continue to make advances on behalf of the majority.
What can I expect on a CISPES delegation?
During CISPES delegations, we spend most of our time with our partners in the Salvadoran social movement, which range from workers’ unions to farming cooperatives to youth organizations, and our allies in the leftist FMLN party. CISPES delegations are an important opportunity to learn directly from organizers who’ve successfully beat back privatization of public services, resisted state repression, defended their local lands and waterways, and struggled to build real democracy from the ground up.
During a Work Brigade, brigadistas will be working alongside Salvadorans to support several new government initiatives to promote universal access to health care, national literacy and education, and sustainable agriculture.
A guided hike up Cerro Guazapa, historic site of resistance during the Civil War (2011)
We also take time to travel to historic sites and, hopefully, take a break at the beach!
To read reports and press releases from previous delegations, please click here.
Depending on the length of the delegation, the approximate costs are:
- $500-600 for in-country costs (all food, travel, interpretation, accommodations, etc.)
- $150-$200 registration fee, including application and materials
- $500-$700 for plane tickets
We also ask delegates to commit to raising money for our organizational partners upon their return.
CISPES is committed to making delegations accessible and can help with grassroots fundraising support; scholarship money is also available.
Where can I get more information?
Please contact Lisa Fuller, Program Director at (202) 521-2510 ext. 204 or lisa@cispes.org.
For more information on and to download the application for the March 2012 Elections Observation Delegation, please click here.
For more information on the Spring 2012 Community Health Brigade, please click here.
For more information on the Summer 2012 Literacy Brigade, please click here.