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Join the Sister
Cities Election Observation Delegation:
March 6th-14th,
2012!
Join our
delegation to accompany the CRIPDES communities during the March 11th,
2012 municipal and legislative elections. Participating in the Election
Observation Delegation is an exciting way to learn about the Salvadoran
political process, respond to the request for observers from our partners,
accompany the rural communities and advocate for free and fair elections. As
the first elections since the FMLN’s taking control of the executive, the 2012
elections will show the Salvadoran people’s support or disapproval of the
administration of President Mauricio Funes and determine the balance of the
legislative assembly and the legislation that will be passed in the next few
years. In addition, the March election will be the first elections in which new
electoral reforms like the inclusion of independent candidates and residential
voting will be implemented. Read more and
sign up for the delegation>>
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Removing the Veil: El Salvador Apologizes for State
Violence on 20th Anniversary of Peace Accords
From NACLA
On Monday morning, January 16, crowds gathered in the small community of El
Mozote to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Peace
Accords that ended El Salvador´s 12-year-long civil war. El Mozote, in the
rural department of Morazán, is the site of a 1981 massacre of more than
1,000 civilians, primarily children, carried out by the Salvadoran Armed
Forces. At the solemn event, El Salvador’s first leftist president, Mauricio
Funes, named the military officers implicated in the horrific massacre,
stating, we must “remove the veil that has blinded us for three decades.” Read more here>>
Mining Ban: Good for the Grand Canyon, but Not for El
Salvador?
From the Huffington Post
With patriotic fanfare, the Obama administration announced this week that it
would ban new uranium mining projects around the Grand Canyon. He pointed out
that millions of people depend on the Colorado River, which runs through the Grand
Canyon, for drinking water. "We have been entrusted to care for and
protect our precious environmental and cultural resources, and we have chosen a
responsible path that makes sense for this and future generations,"
Salazar said. Makes sense to me too. But too bad U.S. trade partners have to
worry that if they pursue similarly responsible stewardship, they could get
rewarded with a big fat corporate lawsuit. That's what has happened in El Salvador, where
the international corporation Pacific Rim is suing the government for the right to mine
the country's gold resources. Like many in the Colorado River Basin, people in
El Salvador are concerned that mining could contaminate their drinking water.
More than half the population relies on one river, the Lempa. Pacific Rim is
demanding compensation of more than $77 million under the investor protections
of the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement. Read more here>>
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How El Salvador Joined the Occupy Movement
by
Alexandra Early. Originally posted on Counterpunch.org
At
the U.S. embassy here on Thursday (Nov. 24), Ambassador Carmen Aponte held
a gala Thanksgiving dinner for a select group of local and North American guests.
Outside the castle-like embassy compound, there were some uninvited visitors as
well. Nearly 100 Salvadorans and U.S citizens gathered to display our
solidarity with the global Occupy/Indignados
movement in the first Central American OWS-inspired protest. The demonstrators
included university students, environmental activists, and “gringos” (like myself) who work with
human rights and community development organizations based here in the capital…We
were all united around a common concern, namely the impact of corporate
globalization on working people here and in North America. Read more and see more press coverage>>
Press, Pictures and Stories from the Sister Cities 25th Anniversary Midwest Tour
From October 3rd to October 19th, Sister Cities
celebrated our 25th Anniversary out on the open road between the
cornfields visiting our committees in the Midwest. Sister Cities staff members
were accompanied by Agustin Menijivar, president of the CCR (the Chalatenango
regional wing of CRIPDES), and leader of the historic community or Arcatao;
Kenia Ortez, community leader in San Sebastian, the site of the Commerce Group
mine; and Estela Garcia, Salvadoran organizer and new Sister Cities staff
member. We gave several well received presentations about the Salvadoran national
reality and social movement at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Ferris
University, Grand Valley State University, Northeastern Illinois
University,Newman University and the Dorothy Stang Popular Education High
School. We also spoke at community events,
met with Congressional representatives and represented Sister Cities at four
Occupy encampments. Read more>>
In These Times Magazine: Free Trade Deal in Action: Milwaukee Firm Seeks $100 Million From El
Salvador Govt.
For working people, talk of
free trade agreements tends to trigger fear of being pitted against workers in
low-wage nations—and being laid off. But another critical dimension of free
trade agreements and the race to the bottom has just cropped up in Milwaukee. A
multinational company named Commerce Group based in the city is seeking to use
the Central American Free Trade Agreement to overturn El Salvador’s efforts to
block pollution from its gold mine. Commerce Group wants to win $100 million
from the government of that poverty-stricken nation, which has blocked the
company from re-opening the mine. Read more>>
Sister Cities & International Organizations: Climate Change and Hydroelectric
Company to Blame for Historic Flooding in the Bajo Lempa
October 26,
2011- As thousands of Salvadorans return to their homes and begin to rebuild
their lives after last week’s historic rain and floods, many officials and
civil society organizations in the region are blaming climate change for the
catastrophe and calling upon the government to respond appropriately. Officials throughout Central American have attributed the extreme rain totals
to climate change. Raul Artiga of the Central American Commission on Environment
and Development (CCAD) stated,
"Climate change is not something that is coming in the future, we are
already suffering its effects.” Read more>>
The is Sun Shining but the Crisis
Has Not Ended
October 20, 2011- For the first time in 10 days the sun is
shining on El Salvador and the forecast calls for more sun in the upcoming
days. But as President Funes remarked “The emergency has not disappeared, the
emergency continues, that is why we have given instructions, as the central
government, that every public and private institution that is involved in these
efforts keep working, because we still have a lot of families to take care
of.” Read
more>>
The
Rain Continues in El Salvador
October 19, 2011- The crisis caused by a succession of tropical
storms in Central America grows as the rain continues to fall in El
Salvador. There have been 90 deaths reported in Central
America and over 700,000 people affected on a regional level. Read
more>>
El Salvador Declares a State of
Calamity in Response to Tropical Storms
On Monday El
Salvador declared a State of Calamity in response to the
topical storms that continue to hit El Salvador and break records for the
amount of recorded rainfall. The amount of rain that fell during
Hurricane Mitch in 1998 is only about 68% of the rain that has already fallen
in the last week and it continues to rain. Read more>>
El Salvador in State of Emergency Due to Tropical Storm
El Salvador declared a state of emergency on October 14th,
due to flooding from a Tropical Depression and rains that have continued for 12
days without a break. Another Tropical Storm predicted for October 17th.
At present, 20,000 people nationwide are in shelters and 36 people have died in
mudslides or drowned in flooding. The storm has caused severe flooding in the
CRIPDES Regions of San Vicente, La Libertad and Northern San Salvador, as well
as in the regions of Achuachapan, La Paz, Sonsonate and Usulutan. Read more here>>
Sister Cities' 25th Anniversary Marathon Midwest Tour Starts October 3rd!
Starting
October 3rd we are going to be visiting committees and making presentations
with community activists Agustin Menjivar and Estela Garcia in Wisconsin,
Illinois and Kansas. Agustin Menjivar is the president of the Association of
Communities for the Development of Chalatenango and leader of the historic
community of Arcatao. Estela Garcia grew up in the repopulated communities of
Chalatenango and ahs worked for USAID, Oxfam and the Lutheran World Federation
in outreach, education and the documentation of human rights abuses through
Central America. Check out our schedule to see what’s happening in your
area and so you can pass the word on to your friends and family in the Midwest.
Read more>>
A Reflection from the August Arlington Teachers Delegation
As an
educator who lives and teaches in Arlington, I was aware of and a distant supporter
of the Arlington-Teosinte Sister City relationship through the role of the
relationship in the curriculum of my fourth-grade class. The opportunity to
travel to El Salvador and gain first-hand experience with the people who live
there struck me as one I couldn’t pass up. As we landed in San Salvador, I
disembarked from the plane with an open mind and few expectations as to what
would ensue in the next seven days. The beauty of the land was evident even
within a short distance of the airport, as was the economic struggles of its
citizens. Starting from the moment, the six of us teachers embarked on a
learning experience that would not only alter our perception of our sister
community, Teosinte, but of our perception of ourselves as teachers, as learners,
and as people. Read more>>
Social Policy Magazine: Learning From 25 Years of Solidarity, Struggle,
& Tortilla-Making in El Salvador
This summer, Sister Cities celebrates twenty-five years of
cross-border solidarity with the campesinos of El Salvador. Among other things,
this milestone means that North Americans visitors have been coming into rural
communities and trying their hand at making tortillas, a key element of any
Salvadoran meal.Inevitably our well-meaning gringo tortillas turn out square,
burnt, too thick, or too small — much to the amusement of our hosts. However,
many of the most informative and moving discussions with Salvadoran families
occur at the kitchen table and over the tortilla grill. In that setting, our
obvious culinary shortcomings are quickly overlooked, amid face-to-face
conversations about the past ordeals of civil war, the condition of local crops
and roads, the tragedy of forced emigration, and what North American and
Salvadoran communities can do together through an on-going cultural exchange
that benefits both partners. What flows from this and many other personal
encounters is a stronger mutual commitment to link struggles for social and
economic justice in our two very different but deeply intertwined countries. Read more>>
Salvadoran Military Officials Facing Possible Extradition for Murder of
Jesuits
Nine
of the military officials accused of the assignation of Jesuit priests at the
University of Central America in 1981 are facing possible extradition to Spain.
Judge Eloy Velasqez, of the National Court of Spain, emitted an international
arrest warrant for the former military chiefs which the National Civilian
Police have been poised to enforce. The officials turned themselves in at a
military installation hoping perhaps to be tried under military law, however it
will be up to the Supreme Court to decide if the officials will be tried at
home or extradited to Spain. Read more>>
Salvadoran Community Radio Association Condemns
Murder of Another Honduran Journalist
Yesterday Nery
Jeremias Orellana was killed, director of the Community radio station, Radio
Joconguera in the municipality of Candelaria in southern Honduras.The young
journalist was also a correspondent of Radio Progreso, located in northern
Honduras. From this editorial space, we at the Association of Participatory
Radios and Programs of El Salvador condemn the murder of this fellow community
journalist. We also condemn the killings of a dozen other Honduran journalists
killed during the past two years, of which none have been solved by the
authorities of this neighboring country. Read more>>
The Nation Magazine Reports: Like Water for Gold in El Salvador
In April, writers John
Cavanagh and Robin Broad visited El Salvador to learn about the fight against
metallic mining and the transnational mining company Pacific Rim. Aided by
Sister Cities staff they visited communities in Cabañas, met with government
officials, and talked with anti-mining leaders throughout the country. In their
August edition, The Nation Magazine printed their powerful recount of the
mining situation in El Salvador. Read the article here>>
Father Fausto, Defender of Human Rights in Honduras and El Salvador
Forced to Into Exile
The death threats against Father Fausto Milla, a commissioner with
the Commission of Truth, and his assistant Denia Mejia have escalated recently,
resulting in their decision to leave the county this Friday. They said good-bye
to fellow Hondurans during a press conference at the Committee of Families of
the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH). Milla's parish is in
Corquin, in the department of Copin, and his parishioners are mostly rural poor
and indigenous peoples, and Milla has initiated efforts to organize the
population to defend their human rights and reclaim their culture. In the 1970s
and 1980s, Milla gave protection to Salvadoran refugees and denounced the
Sumpul Massacre, resulting in the persecution from police and military. Read more>>
President
Funes Condemns Murder of Cabanas Environmentalist and Reaffirms Opposition to
Mining
On June 28th, President of the Republic, Mauricio Funes, energetically
condemned the murder of Juan Francisco Durán Ayala, a volunteer with the
Environmental Committee of Cabañas, which was perpetrated by unknown subjects
last July 3rd. President Funes also reiterated his official position against
mining in El Salvador. Members of the social movement responded to the
declaration by urging Funes to launch an investigation into the violence
against anti-mining activists and immediately pass a law definitively
prohibiting mining in El Salvador. Read more>>
International Activists Call on Salvadoran
Attorney General to End Impunity
On Friday June 24th, fourty members of the organization
Sister Cities and the Committee in Solidarity
with the People of El Salvador, CISPES, gathered in front of the Attorney
General´s office in San Salvador to demand an end to impunity in El
Salvador. Members of the two visiting delegations addressed the press,
calling on the Attorney General to investigate unsolved cases of violence
against labor leaders, and anti-mining activists and journalists in Cabañas,
including the recent murder of 30-year old student Juan Francisco Duran Ayala.
The group included activists from around the United States and many leaders of
the Salvadoran-American community and the press conference was covered by major
radio stations, television channels and newspapers like the Diario CoLatino and Diario La Pagina. Read more>>
Not another Mine, Not Another Death! Salvadoran Social Movement Reacts to
the Murder of Yet Another Anti-Mining Activist
Juan Francisco Durán Ayala, of the Cabañas Environmental Committee
(CAC), was killed on June 4th and his body wasn't identified until
10 days after his disappearance. He is the fourth environmental activist
killed in Cabañas. The last time he was seen by fellow environmental
activists was on June 2nd, distributing fliers against metallic
mining in Ilobasco in preparation for a public consultation about the mining
sector taking place nearby. How many times will we have to repeat it?
Metallic mining projects are a serious threat to human life, not only because
of the environmental impacts they provoke, but also because of the social
destabilization they create in communities. The declarations made by the
Director of Investigations of the National Civilian Police, Howard Cotto, in
2009 are public knowledge. Sotto signaled that the spiral of killings and
threats against defenders of environmental and human rights in Cabañas are
directly linked to the presence of mining projects and mining companies in the
region. Read more and take action>>
<<Read more about Sister Cities here>>
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