Apr
Community Development Projects, CRIPDES Regional Support, News from Communities
Regional Update: San Vicente – April 10, 2007
Land Transference Struggle
CRIPDES San Vicente continues to support the legalization of properties as part of the Land Transference Act which came out of the 1992 Peace Accords. Land was promised through the Salvadoran Institution for Land Transference (ISTA) to ex-combatants from both sides as part of the negotiated accord, in recognition that in large part the war was sparked by land distribution inequalities. Today there are still thousands of land beneficiaries who have yet to receive titles to the land that was promised them but never legally transferred. CRIPDES has responded to these families struggle for what is rightfully theirs by taking legal action, lobbying, and exercising public pressure. Thus CRIPDES and land beneficiaries have succeeded uniting individual beneficiaries to increase visibility of ISTA cases.
In Santa Marta San Vicente alone there are 83 land beneficiaries who 15 years after the Peace Accords still have not received the titles to the land which was supposed to be transferred to them. Since most of the 83 beneficiaries do not own other properties, they have built houses and planted crops on the land. Legally, they do not own any of what they have been able to accumulate, and as large private sector and government construction projects move into the region, many fear that through imminent domain or resale their land will be taken without compensation, since legally it still belongs to the Salvadoran Government.
In 2002, these 83 beneficiaries were finally able to present their documents as one group, after years of complications. However, ISTA refused to accept much of the documentation of property lines, claiming it was not correctly registered. Coincidentally, ISTA only agreed to process 24 of the 83 cases. Upon further review, ISTA declared all the remaining 24 cases to be invalid due to poor documentation of property lines, even though the properties were officially recognized in the NationalCenter for Registration (CNR), another government institution. Then, in 2005, the ISTA informed 11 of the 24 beneficiaries that they had lost all the documentation which had been presented by the beneficiaries to the ISTA offices, forcing beneficiaries to begin their case from scratch—recollect and resubmit all documentation of their properties.
Recently, according to Miguel Tomás Lopez, President of ISTA, six property titles were supposed to be transferred to beneficiaries on March 9th. When these titles were not transferred to CNR to be legally recognized on the promised date, CRIPDES organized a massive protest on March 27th in front of the ISTA regional office in San Vicente, to demand a resolution to the pending cases (See photo).
At the same time, ISTA has denounced CRIPDES and other organizations that offer support to land transfer beneficiaries, threatening to refuse to resolve the cases of anybody they photograph in activities of protest against ISTA organized by those organizations.
On the national level there are 16 other group cases where lands have yet to be transferred to over 1500 rightful beneficiary families. At the same time, there are reports that 300 manzanas (1 manzana equals a little more than 1.6 acres) were recently transferred to the Tony Saca family by ISTA. This may be of no great coincidence given that ARENA President Tony Saca had a hand in naming Tomás Lopéz as president of ISTA, and that Lopéz is also on the board of directors of COENA, the executive board and ideological force behind the ARENA party.
Community Organizational Support
Community Assemblies are continuously carried out in different communities, including Montesina and La Joya, where CRIPDES facilitated a process of community envisioning and goal setting for the year. Part of this process is the construction of composting latrines and solar energy for the community despite little support from the mayor’s office in San Vicente.
CRIPDES San Vicente continues to support the Associations for Community Development (ADESCO, legally recognized community boards) in their day to day functions, attending monthly meetings, participating in community assemblies, sharing analysis of the situation the communities are facing, etc. Much of this work centers around the administration and protection of community water resources, facilitating citizen participation in community decision making structures, facilitating hygiene awareness in the population, and supporting the community structures in confronting the economic problems and individualism in their communities. CRIPDES also facilitates community board election assemblies in the communities, and supports the different organizing areas such as women’s organizing, youth organizing, etc.
CRIPDES San Vicente also plays an important role in bringing together different community government structures and organizations to coordinate their work in the communities together, creating one united effort towards change rather than many uncoordinated attempts.
In a projected supported by the Romero Interfaith Center, Philadelphia, CRIPDES is currently running leadership training and risk assessment workshops including gender and self-esteem workshops for new leadership in the communities, specifically women leaders. In the second phase of this project, CRIPDES will create risk prevention plans for these same communities, based on the new skills acquired by community leaders. Likewise, CRIPDES continues to facilitate coordination between beneficiaries of agricultural support credits.
Commemorations
The community of Montesina commemorated the 27th anniversary of the assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero this past march 24th. The commemoration of Romero’s death is a new activity for the communities surrounding the Volcano of San Vicente, and has been an opportunity to also remember other compañeros who fell in the Salvadoran Civil War that are not formally remembered on other dates.
Sister Cities Volunteer
CRIPDES San Vicente and Sister Cities Volunteer Beatrice Blake is currently living in San Carlos, San Vicente. Coordinated through CRIPDES, she is giving workshops for five months on leadership and mental health using the Focusing Technique. She travels one day a week to the communities of Granzaso, Las Anonas, San Bartolo and Guajoyo to work with interested community leaders, and is also giving focusing workshops to the CRIPDES San Vicente and CRIPDES National boards.
