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Archives: March 2009
EL SALVADOR: Election Reports
ELECTIONS WATCH: from SHARE
Positive Reactions from the US Government Regarding the Salvadoran Presidential Election
The US position towards the outcome of the Salvadoran presidential elections has been clear, strong and positive, despite asseverations from the ARENA campaign -backed by Republican US Congresspeople- that a victory of the FMLN would damage El Salvador-US relations.
Robert Blau, Charge d'Affaires of the US embassy to El Salvador, congratulated Mauricio Funes personally on the evening of Election Day after preliminary results showed that Funes was the new President-elect. "Mauricio Funes has won in a fair and free election. We have said many times that our intention is to continue with the good relations with El Salvador from government to government, and from people to people", Mr. Blau said, according to an Embassy news article.
Below there is a recollection of statements from US government officials regarding the outcome of the Salvadoran election:
President Back Obama Calls Mauricio Funes
Last Wednesday March 18, three days after the presidential elections, US President Barack Obama called President-elect Mauricio Funes to congratulate him for winning the election. According to an Associated Press article, President Obama discussed with Funes his desire to work together on the global economic crisis, energy cooperation and security.
Tom Shannon: US Reaffirms Positive Relations with El Salvador
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon, visited El Salvador on Wednesday, March 15. Mr. Shannon held meetings with current President Antonio Saca, President-elect Mauricio Funes, Minister of Foreign Affairs Marisol Argueta de Barillas, and ARENA's former presidential candidate Rodrigo Ávila.
According to a US Embassy' news article, Mr. Shannon said that "the most important thing is to highlight our countries' common interests and to guarantee good relations between people who are willing to cooperate and get good results. We want to be partners with El Salvador, we consider there is good faith and we are willing to work together." During the meeting with Funes, Shannon reiterated his desire to "further strengthen the solid relationship between the two countries."
State Department Congratulates the People of El Salvador
In a daily press briefing, Robert Wood, acting State Department spokesman, congratulated the people of El Salvador for "a very free, fair, and democratic election." Mr. Wood also congratulated Mauricio Funes and Rodrigo Ávila for "participating in the election and for respecting the election results." According to Mr. Wood, the State Department looks forward to working with the new government of El Salvador.
From the daily press briefing:
QUESTION: Yeah, there’s the El Salvador joining the ranks of leftist governments in Latin America.
MR. WOOD: Well, first and foremost, I want to congratulate the people of El Salvador for, you know, a very free, fair, and democratic election. I want to specifically congratulate Mauricio Funes as the winner of the presidential election, and also his opponent, Rodrigo Avila, for participating in the election and for respecting the election results. So we look forward to working with the new government of El Salvador, you know, on our bilateral agenda. And you know, and that’s what I have.
QUESTION: Do you expect the history of past ties with El Salvador by U.S. governments and, say, right-wing elements in Latin America to hurt chances for working with this new government?
MR. WOOD: I certainly hope that that isn’t the case. You know, this is a democratically elected government. The people of El Salvador made a decision and that – the will of the people needs to be respected. As I said, it was a very free, fair, and democratic election. This is something we’d like to see throughout the hemisphere. And the people of El Salvador deserve congratulations.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) Issues Press Release Regarding the Salvadoran Elections:
On March 16, Congressman Jim McGovern released the following statement:
"Sixteen years after the historic signing of the Peace Accords, we have witnessed the full transformation of the FMLN into a leading political actor with the election of Mauricio Funes as the next president of El Salvador. I commend the people of El Salvador for their massive participation in this vote, which according to media reports occurred calmly and professionally throughout the country. I have been deeply engaged on Salvadoran issues for over 25 years. I know full well how closely our two nations are linked. I look forward to working with President-elect Funes and continuing the strong, respectful and mutually beneficial relationship between our two countries."
Other Resources:
Read the LA Times' article "El Salvador Elects First Leftist President" for comprehensive coverage on the Salvadoran elections.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/
Read the article "El Salvador's Left Wins Historic Election" by the Co-Director of The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/el-salvadors-left-wins-historic-election/
Read SHARE Foundation's preliminary election delegation report. (en espanol)
http://www.share-elsalvador.org/programs/advocacy/SHARE%20preliminary%20election%20report.pdf
Read NLG's preliminary election observation report.
http://www.share-elsalvador.org/programs/advocacy/NLG%20Prelim%20Report%20of%20Salvador%20Delegation.pdf
Read the reports from CISPES
http://cispes.org/documents/March09_analysis.pdf
http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=541&Itemid=29
THANK YOU for your advocacy efforts which helped to convince the US government to take a stand in favor of free and fair elections!
- Claudia Rodriguez Alas, DC Policy Office Director
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GUATEMALA: UPDATE
Guatemala's Military Refuses to Declassify Information
The Guatemala Times
2/26/2009
Earlier this month, the director of Guatemala's National Compensation Program (PNR) announced that the government has filed more than 3,000 criminal complaints for human rights violations committed during the internal armed conflict on behalf of 5000 victims. There remains a backlog of 98,000 civilian complaints, and 1,000 were made in 2008.
Within the incipient process of trying to bring military personal involved in human rights violations and massacres that happen during the civil war in Guatemala to justice, the military have been required to declassify many war documents.
In this particular case, that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Guatemala, the Court dictated a sentence that confirmed the obligation of the Ministry of Defense of Guatemala to hand over the official documentation of four specific military operations: Campana Sofia 82, Victoria 82, Firmeza 83 and Operacion Ixil. The Supreme Court sentence indicated that this achieves had to be declassified and made public yesterday.
These military operations were carried out in the 80s. According to the CEH, Historical Clarification Commission of Guatemala final report contained in "Guatemala: Memory of Silence", these military operations resulted in massacres and severe human rights violations.
The Minister of Defense Abraham Valenzuela yesterday only delivered partial information about plans Victoria 82 and Firmeza 83, two of the four requested plans. He indicated that he had no knowledge of the other two plans before he became Minister of Defense and that he ignores where the documentation could be. He stated that he could not deliver the complete plans "Victoria 82" y "Firmeza 83" because certain information was considered state secret and a concern of national security.
"Plan Sofia" a derivative of "Plan Victoria 82", was of special concern to human rights activists; this plan was conceived in July 1982, four months after General Efrain Rios Montt came into power.
Human Rights activists insist that this is a mockery of the legal procedures that are in place and that the refusal of the Defense Minister to hand over the complete documentation of the four plans has to be interpreted as a direct action of the Defense Ministry to protect General Efarin Rios Montt and other military leaders against prosecution.
Iduvina Hernandez of Organizacion Seguridad en Democracia, Organizations of Security in Democracy, stated that the Minister of Defense has incurred in obstruction of justice and if he refuses to deliver the complete information the reason must be to cover up the responsibility of the genoside during the masacers of the internal conflict.
Amnesty International released a Press statement insisting that it is time that the government of Guatemala brings those responsible for the atrocities and massacres of the internal conflict to justice. See Press Release of Amnesty International.
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We are pleased to share with you some exciting news: two key military documents are now in the hands of the war survivors’ association! These documents will be crucial in demonstrating the role ofGuatemala’s military high command in planning and executing the strategies employed during the armed conflict.
The defendants in the genocide cases have fought tooth and nail to avoid declassifying these files, and two additional documents have yet to be released. However, the unwavering persistence and steadfast work of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) and the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CHRLA) are now bearing fruit with the release of these crucial files. We invite you to join us in celebrating this victory!
NISGUA and GHRC deliver letters to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom: More than 4,200 people demand an end to impunity and the release of military documents
Contact: Sylvia Romo, 510-238-8400, sylvia@nisgua.org
March 11, 2009, Guatemala City - The Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) and the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC/USA) delivered over 4,200 letters and postcards to the presidential office on Friday. The signatories urged the President to take concrete steps to end impunity, emphasizing the release of military documents needed to move the genocide cases forward, and to guarantee the security of human rights defenders.
Letters and postcards poured in from concerned citizens throughout the United States and 18 other countries, calling for justice for ongoing human rights abuses in Guatemala.
Just days before the letters and postcards were delivered, President Alvaro Colom publicly announced that four military counterinsurgency plans had been released in relation to the genocide case, yet key documents have yet to be submitted. Defying judicial orders and claiming that the plans do not exist, Defense Ministry officials failed to submit two of the four documents necessary to move the genocide cases forward. “The release of these documents is not a matter of political will but a judicial order with which the authorities must comply,” stated Sylvia Romo, NISGUA’s Interim Executive Director. “Genocide survivors have waited too long for the judicial system to function.”
GHRC’s postcards highlighted the high number of attacks against human rights defenders that have already been registered this year and an ongoing lack of investigation and prosecution. GHRC Executive Director Amanda Martin stated, “The international community has expressed its outrage over these levels of impunity and demands protection for human rights defenders.”
Signatories to NISGUA’s letter also urged oversight of the Public Prosecutor’s office to ensure the effectiveness of investigations and prosecutions and requested a revision of the Injunction Law, which is frequently used to stall judicial processes.
GHRC/USA is a non-profit, non-partisan, humanitarian organization that monitors, documents, and reports on the human rights situation in Guatemala, advocates for survivors of human rights abuses in Guatemala, and works toward positive, systemic change.
NISGUA is a grassroots human rights organization with members throughout the United States. NISGUA accompanies organizations, including the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CHRLA) and the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR), which have filed national and international legal cases against former dictators Lucas Garcia and Rios Montt and their high commands.
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MEXICO: MERIDA INITIATIVE Action Alert to stop failed "war on drugs"
Last Wednesday the House of Representatives decided to expand the failed "war on drugs" model by committing $410 million more taxpayer dollars to the notorious Merida Initiative. (For background, click here.) The money was buried in a catch-all $410 billion spending bill for fiscal year 2009, representing just 0.1% of the total amount. Defying standard assumptions of democracy, the House's vote on 09's largest spending bill came within mere days of having publicly released the bill's text.
The bill now goes on to the Senate. If the hundreds of millions for Merida are not removed from the Senate version before passage, the U.S. will take another bullheaded leap down the militaristic path of the widely discredited "war on drugs."
Call your Senators today! Ask them to propose an amendment to the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act that would extract Merida Initiative funding from the bill. Use the talking points below. To reach your Senators' offices, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask to be connected to your Senator (give your state if you're not sure who it is).
Talking Points
Merida Initiative supporters assert that the U.S. security assistance is desperately needed given that drug-related violence in Mexico is skyrocketing. There is no doubt that the crisis is real: execution-style murders in Mexico in 2008 totaled 5,630--more than twice that of 2007. The U.S. certainly needs to do something. But the crisis demands a new approach, not simply dusting off the tired "war on drugs" policies of the past. Merida, as a continuation of these policies, would prove tragically ineffective in diminishing the violence. Here's why:
Drugs are a demand-driven business. After spending 7 years and over $5 billion in striving to curtail Colombia's coca production through Plan Colombia, the U.S. admitted last year that Colombians planted twice as much coca in 2007 as in 2000. This spectacular failure shows that attempts to stamp out drug supply abroad are doomed so long as drug demand remains high at home. The same would prove true for Merida's attempts to stamp out drug flow in Mexico. The RAND Corporation estimates that domestic drug treatment programs are 10 times more cost effective than drug interdiction efforts (i.e. Merida). Rather than wasting $410 million more taxpayer dollars on a solution that won't curb Mexico's drug-related violence, the U.S. should bolster drug treatment and rehabilitation efforts at home.
A militarized interdiction approach could even exacerbate the violence. If military or police personnel, aided through the Merida Initiative, are successful in weakening one drug cartel, other cartels will inevitably compete to fill its place so long as U.S. demand keeps the business lucrative. Such competition often means a violent struggle for control in which many innocent civilians are killed in the crossfire.
Merida does little to address another root cause of Mexico's violent drug trade: poverty. Mexico's economy is in shambles. Facing increasingly desperate socioeconomic realities, many of Mexico's unemployed are left with few options, including migration to the U.S. and employment in the illicit drug trade. A significant number inevitably opt for the latter, more profitable choice. The U.S. also needs to recognize that its own free trade policies have contributed to such crime-feeding poverty by displacing small-scale producers and forcing reliance on fickle export industries.
Beyond failing to curb Mexico's escalating violence, nearly doubling Merida Initiative funding would constitute a sincere threat to human rights and freedom of expression in Mexico.
Merida would dangerously blur the line between military and police duties. The security assistance package finances increased military involvement in domestic efforts typically handled by police. In so doing, Merida dangerously puts the civilian populace at the discretion of military personnel who have been trained to eliminate foreign threats.
Counter-narcotics operations in Mexico have a documented history of human rights abuses. As one example, in the past year Mexican soldiers in an anti-narcotics operation in the state of Michoacan beat, tortured, and sexually abused villagers who merely shared the same last name as a wanted drug-trafficker.
U.S. training and equipment could be used to repress civil society's freedom of expression. Such repression has occurred as recently as Fall 2006 and Summer 2007, when federal and state security forces utilized arbitrary detention, torture, and the killing of civilians to suppress peaceful demonstrations in the state of Oaxaca.
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Witness for Peace
3628 12th Street NE. 1st Fl.,
Washington, DC 20017
202.547.6112 - 202.536.4708
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IMMIGRATION: Legislative Update
Omnibus Appropriations: As you may recall, the best Congress could manage last year for funding the government this year was a bill to fund most agencies through the first six months of the fiscal year, ending this month. Congress is now in the middle of passing another "omnibus" appropriations bill (where funding for several agencies is wrapped up in one big package). That bill will fund the government through the end of the fiscal year (September 30). The House has already passed its version. Among other things, the bill contains $730 million for English language Acquisition (through Fiscal Year 2010) and nearly $68 million for "integrated English literacy and civics education" services is earmarked from the pot that goes to state Adult education grants. The existing E-Verify and Employment-Based fifth preference programs are extended until the end of the Fiscal Year. (They would otherwise expire this month.) In a separate action, the House voted to extend to the end of the Fiscal Year two additional programs: religious workers visas and visas for doctors in underserved areas and to provide doctors for underserved medical areas. The Senate may take that bill up separately or may add it in to the omnibus.
The Senate is considering the bill, and may vote on it on Thursday. Technically, failure to adopt the omnibus and sign it into law by Friday, March 6, would lead to a government shutdown or a series of resolutions to keep the government limping along until the Omnibus is completed.
Detention Conditions: On February 26, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard introduced H.R. 1215, the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act. The Act would give ICE's detention standards the force of law. It would also provide special protections for unaccompanied minors. You can read more about the bill in Rep. Roybal-Allard's Press Release. http://www.house.gov/list/press/ca34_roybal-allard/pr090226.html
Text of the bill can be found here. http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1215:/
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security held a hearing on health services for ICE detainees on March 3. Although ICE has plans to detain 100,000 more immigrants, witnesses from ICE said they were not asking for additional funds for health services.
Administrative Update
State and Local Enforcement of Immigration Laws: On March 4th, the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing on ICE's "287(g)" program, to determine whether the program has been targeted as intended-to remove non-citizens who might pose a danger to the community. This program, named for the provision of law which authorizes it, allows state and local police agencies, under contract with ICE, to enforce immigration laws as specified in Memorandums of Agreement between the participating local agencies and ICE.
Among others, the Committee heard from a witness from the Government Accountability Office, which released a report on 287(g) earlier this year. GAO found that ICE lacks controls to ensure that the program is being used as intended. In fact, GAO found that 4 of the 29 state/local program participants it examined used the program to pick up individuals for minor infractions. (Speeding was named as an example.) The report is available here. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09109.pdf
Also testifying were representatives of two police agencies in adjacent Maryland counties, representing opposing views. Chief Thomas Manger, of Montgomery County, represents a jurisdiction with a large foreign-born population. In his testimony, http://homeland.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20090304140934-99719.pdf he expressed the concerns of the Major Cities Chiefs, http://www.majorcitieschiefs.org/pdfpublic/mcc_press_release_june_2006.pdf an association of police executives representing the largest cities in the United States and Canada. All of the testimony, as well as a recording of the hearing, is available on the Homeland Security Committee's Web site. http://homeland.house.gov/Hearings/index.asp?ID=173
You can read the Forum's statement on the hearing in our Press Release. "Congressional Hearing Sheds Light unto Misguided Enforcement Priorities" at http://www.immigrationforum.org/press/release You can also read more in two related articles from the Associated Press http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQhWt9Iqg-9VxMBlTwNXo2ZXapDgD96NJGRO0 and the Arizona Republic.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/03/05/20090305immig0305.html
The President's Budget for 2010: On February 26th, the President released an outline of his budget for Fiscal Year 2010. More details remain to be released (in April). In the section on the Department of Homeland Security, the budget document http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fy2010_new_era/Department_of_Homeland_Security.pdf mentions that ICE will get $1.4 billion, and $110 million will be spent for the expansion of E-Verify. Without specifics, the document says that the budget "supports strengthening the delivery of immigration services by streamlining and modernizing immigration application processes."
For the Justice Department, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fy2010_new_era/Department_of_Justice.pdf the budget includes funds to expand the Community Oriented Policing program and $145 million to strengthen the Civil Rights Division. There are additional funds to support "law enforcement and prosecutorial … efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, and prosecute illegal immigrants and other criminals" (but no details on what that means).
In general, in the immigration arena, the increased allocation for enforcement-related programs (E-Verify, for example) seems to be on auto-pilot, indicating that a new direction in immigration policy has yet to be outlined.
On the other hand, there are other signals in the budget that are positive. The Labor Department http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fy2010_new_era/Department_of_Labor.pdf will get more money for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, for the Wage and Hour Division, and for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs-all offices that enforce worker protection laws. While these components are not directly immigration related, increased enforcement against unscrupulous employers is thought by many to be a better approach than worksite raids targeting workers.
Homeland Security Oversight: On February 25th, Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano testified before the House Committee on Homeland Security. In her prepared testimony, http://homeland.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20090225102118-60844.pdf she gave the Committee an update on her Action Directives (mentioned in a previous update http://www.immigrationforum.org/policy/update-display/administrative-updates/ ). . You can watch the hearing on the Committee's video archive here. http://homeland.house.gov/Hearings/index.asp?ID=171
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CUBA: Send Cuba Travel Ban to the Trash Bin!
Witness for Peace has worked for the past decade to change the senseless and cruel U.S. policies toward Cuba. Along with our partners, we have identified the strategic opportunity to end the ridiculous ban on travel by U.S. residents to Cuba as a first step in building fully normalized relations with our island neighbor. President Obama has promised to open up travel for Cuban Americans to visit their families in Cuba, but we must seize this moment to end the travel ban for all U.S. residents once and for all. If we mobilize now, we have the best chance we've ever had to end the travel ban.
We now have legislation in the House of Representatives calling for an end to the travel ban on Cuba for all Americans. "Travel for All" instead of "Travel for None" or even "Travel for Some." Take action now: Ask your representative to co- sponsor H.R. 874.
The purpose of H.R. 874 is "To allow travel between the United States and Cuba"- but the most important thing to remember about it is that it will allow travel for all Americans--no exclusions. It was introduced by Representatives Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), along with a short list of original co-sponsors (below).
Call and/or email your representative today.
Capitol Switchboard number: (202) 224-3121.
The message:
"Please co-sponsor H.R. 874, the Delahunt-Flake bill "To allow travel between the United States and Cuba."
This bill introduced by Rep. Delahunt (D-MA) and Rep. Flake (R-AZ) calls for lifting travel restrictions to Cuba for ALL Americans, restoring our right as citizens of the United States to travel freely, and takes a giant step toward restoring our country's reputation in Latin America and the world.
[If they ask . . . ]The original co-sponsors are:
Rep. Delahunt,Bill [MA-10]
Rep. Flake,Jeff[AZ-6]
Rep DeLauro,Rosa L. [CT-3] - 2/4/2009
Rep Edwards,Donna F. [MD-4] - 2/4/2009
Rep Emerson,Jo Ann [MO-8] - 2/4/2009
Rep Farr,Sam [CA-17] - 2/4/2009
Rep McGovern,James P. [MA-3] - 2/4/2009
Rep Moran,Jerry [KS-1] - 2/4/2009
Rep Paul,Ron [TX-14] - 2/4/2009
Thank you for your support in ending this inhumane and out-dated travel ban. To co-sponsor H.R. 874 please contact either Cliff Stammerman in Rep. Delahunt's office or Chandler Morse in Rep. Flake's office."
Send your representative an e-mail with this same message.
www.witnessforpeace.org
Give us your feedback about your contact with your congressional office.Send us a message at melinda@witnessforpeace.org with answers to the following questions:
How did you contact your member's office; did you call or e-mail them?
Did your member's office agree or disagree with your position on Cuba policy?
Did the office agree or seem interested in co- sponsoring H.R. 874?
Does the office need more information or a follow-up conversation?
To read H.R. 874 and to see current co-sponsors, visit: thomas.loc.gov, search for bills and enter H.R. 874 in the search box.
Together we can use this unique opportunity to change U.S.-Cuba policy.
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