Youth Organizations Denounce Disappearance of BPJ Member

On January 31, nine young people were arrested after a peaceful youth-led protest the Anti-Terrorism law. The youth, members of the Youth Popular Bloc (BPJ), were released last week, and all the charges against them have been dropped. However, on February 13, members of same youth and student organizations that organized the January 31 protest held a press conference denouncing the disappearance of another BPJ member, 21 year-old Francisco Contreras, who has been missing since the afternoon of Wednesday February 7. His family reports that he had received death threats before from an owner of a local bus company. Many people see the disappearance of Contreras as yet another case of the repression against those who participate in protest and organizing work. Some people believe Contreras has been kidnapped death-squad like structures, which are connected to the state, and they are therefore calling on the ARENA government to release Contreras and calling for a full investigation.

Members of the Salvadoran social movement see other signs pointing to an increase in politically motivated crimes and violence.  On Monday, a family of FMLN supporters was attacked in the municipality of San Martin.  Rosendo Alas Quintanilla, 68 years old, was murdered, and his wife and two children were physically assaulted.  People believe the
attack may be politically motivated, since he and his family had received threats months ago.  Quintanilla was beheaded and his partner and two children had wounds on their necks, fingers and arms.  The Salvadoran right-wing media is presenting the case as one of common crime, while various social organizations are making the denouncement public and are pressing for the case to be investigated.

Protests Outside Assembly Stop Honors for D'Aubisson

While these and past cases (like the murders of Gilberto Soto and the Manzanares) remain unpunished, the ARENA deputies in the Legislative Assembly moved on Tuesday to give a special national honor – "Honorable Son of the Nation" – for Roberto D'Aubisson.  Founder of the death
squads, mastermind behind the 1980 murder of Archbishop Romero, and founder of the ARENA party, D'Aubisson is one of the most hated personalities in El Salvador, emblematic of the dirtiest elements of the state violence and death-squad actions during the war.

This morning a large gathering of protestors came together outside the National Assembly to call for a reversal of the decision.  A march of young people headed toward the Assembly, but the riot police blocked their path.  The boisterous protest at the Assembly was successful in
getting ARENA to retract their proposal.  However, social movement leaders believe it is possible that ARENA will try to call a legislative session when everyone has left – even if that is in the middle of the night – to approve the honor.  The Archbishop's office for Human Rights sent a letter of protest yesterday to the Legislative Assembly and international bodies including the United Nations, citing
the U.N. Truth Commission's finding that "there is clear evidence that Major Roberto D'Aubisson gave the orders to kill Archbishop [Monseñor Romero] and gave the precise instructions to members of his security apparatus, acting like 'death squads' to organize and supervise the carrying out of the assassination."

Dirty ARENA campaign for more loans

ARENA has publicly announced that they will continue pressuring the FMLN for their votes on an international loan package of $400 million. The loans will supposedly fund the National Police and a government charity program called "Solidarity Network," which hands out about 10 cents a day to poor families in the name of poverty reduction.  The program has received broad criticism based on the fact that the scant funding for the poorest families will have negligible effects on their wellbeing, and that the ARENA government is targeting families in the areas most strategic to their electoral campaign.

The need for another major loan package, after agreeing to a $461 million grant package from the Millennium Challenge Corporation just this past November, illustrate the desperation of Saca and his government for a rapid inflow of dollars.  The neoliberal model, which the right has implemented, has resulted in a staggering increase in
imports, stagnation in the growth of exports, and a decrease in foreign investment.  Therefore, the government needs these loans to alleviate the scarcity of dollars flowing through the economy as a result of their own economic model and policies.   As part of their push to get the FMLN to approve the loans, Minister of Security Rene Figueroa
threatened to "hold them [the FMLN] responsible for the next victims of violence" in the country since the FMLN is not willing to approve these loans.

The FMLN held a press conference yesterday to lay out their position on the loans.  The party opposes taking on more international loans before there is more transparency on existing loans.  Medardo Gonzalez, General Coordinator the FMLN, said that of the 13 audits to existing loans the FMLN has requested, only three have been presented and all of them have serious irregularities. Gonzalez explained that the problem is not the loans per se, but that the FMLN's objection is that ARENA prefers to put the Salvadoran people further into debt rather than taxing corporations or the rich – the backers of the ARENA party.
U.S. Representatives Circulate Dear Colleague Letter Supporting Restrictions on Mining in El Salvador

Communities in rural El Salvador have been organizing to stop the mining exploration and extraction, especially large-scale open-pit and subterranean excavations that use a cyanide extraction process.  These mining practices mean high profits for foreign investors, but can create local environment devastation – deforestation, pollution of
water supplies, contamination of air and soil, and dangerous effects on people's health.

Salvadoran environmental organizations and NGOs proposed legislation at the end of last year that would ban mining of metals in El Salvador. Since the U.S. is giving funds, through the Milenium Challenge Corporation, supposedly for the "human development" and sustainability
of the same region, U.S. Representatives are circulating a letter to the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly expressing their support for the bill.

One year of CAFTA in El Salvador

Various social and youth organizations will be protesting in San Salvador on March 1, marking the one year of CAFTA implementation in El Salvador.  The protest will highlight the impacts CAFTA has had mainly in the agricultural sector as well as the informal sector.  The CD/DVD vendors' movement will be participating in the protest, as one of the
groups most impacted negatively by the implementation of CAFTA so far.