Press Conference to Denounce Attacks in El Salvador

SALVADORAN COMMUNITY and LEADERS, U.S. HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE TO CONDEMN ESCALATING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN EL SALVADOR;
DEATH THAT HAS RESULTED FROM ATTACKS

Join us on Thursday, November 29th from @ 11am
Salvadoran Consulate (Polk & Golden Gate) in San Francisco

Police and military have invaded and occupied a small community in El Salvador called Cutumaya Camones in the department of Santa Ana. A four-month long struggle by the community to prevent the illegal establishment of a waste treatment plant -- which would poison the community's water supply -- has been met with increasingly violent attacks by the Salvadoran military and National Civilian Police.

On November 22, government helicopters sprayed tear gas on peaceful demonstrators in the State of Santa Ana, canton of Cutumay Camones, causing the death of a 14-year-old boy who was overwhelmed by the gas. The community, in their continuous resistance to the construction of a garbage dump, blocked the entrance of the construction site. Orlando Mena, Santa Ana's mayor, joined with Police Director Rodrigo Avila in sending more than 300 riot police to "dissolve the protest", attacking the community with tear gas fired from surrounding helicopters.

Repression and violence against unarmed civilian populations has escalated at an alarming rate in various parts of El Salvador. The brutal attacks in Cutumay Camones come in the context of such attacks on Salvadoran citizens in various parts of the country including Suchitoto where mass arrests took place against people protesting water privatization.

On Thursday, November 29th, Salvadoran President Antonio Saca will be in Washington DC to meet with Bush and receive a medal of honor for "promoting freedom and democracy" in Latin America. With parallel popularity ratings of about 36%, the two presidents intend to showcase their new partnership in training fear, brutality, fraud, and impunity from a US-sponsored regional police training academy in El Salvador (the ILEA).

The "Suchitoto 13" are still facing charges of "terrorism" for blockading a road to stop the president's announcement of his national plan to sell off El Salvador's water.