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<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2 color="#FF0000"><b><i>For immediate
release<br>
</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>March 11,
2008<br><br>
Contact: Burke Stansbury, CISPES – 202 521 2510 ext. 205;
<a href="mailto:burke@cispes.org">burke@cispes.org</a> <br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>Central American
Solidarity Activists Dispute Department of Justice Order, Denounce
Possible Repeat of Illegal Harassment<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2><i>Grassroots Group</i>
<i>Accused of Being Foreign
</i></b>"<b><i>Agent</i></b>"</font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2 color="#000080"><b><i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>of Leftist Political Party in
Lead-up to Contentious Salvadoran Presidential Elections<br><br>
</i></b>Washington DC: The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El
Salvador (CISPES), illegally targeted in the 1980's by the largest FBI
Internal Security investigation of the Reagan era, has in recent months
again received threatening communications from the U.S. Department of
Justice. Citing the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, a
letter sent to CISPES in January questions the organization's
relationship with the leftist Salvadoran political party known as the
Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation, or FMLN. CISPES
received similar inquiries in the 1980s which eventually led to an
illegal FBI investigation into its activities.<br><br>
The letter cites the organization's website and an article published in
the Washington Post – which does not mention CISPES – following the
December 2007 visit of the FMLN's presidential candidate Mauricio
Funes. It states that, "it has come to our attention… that the
FMLN, and/or possibly its candidate for El Salvador's 2009 presidential
election, Mauricio Funes, hired your organization for the purposes of
conducting a public relations media campaign to include political
fundraising…" The Department of Justice gave no other evidence
to back up the claim.<br><br>
According to CISPES Executive Director Burke Stansbury, "CISPES has
never had a contractual agreement with the FMLN or Mr. Funes, nor have we
taken orders from the party to do publicity work in the U.S.
Rather, we have a solidarity relationship based on shared political
values that goes back to the struggle for democracy and economic justice
that the people of El Salvador fought against a brutal U.S.-backed
military regime in the 1980s." CISPES was founded in 1980 at
the height of the civil war between the US-backed Salvadoran government
and the FMLN, at that time an internationally recognized guerrilla
force.<br><br>
"That the Department of Justice would wrongly evoke the Foreign
Agents Registration Act (FARA) to target this organization at this
particular moment demonstrates the Administration's fear of progressive
change sweeping Latin America . It is an effort to intimidate and stifle
solidarity groups in the U.S. who oppose the Government's efforts to
install puppet regimes against the will of the people of Latin
America," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a lawyer from the
Partnership for Civil Justice who is part of the team of attorneys
assisting CISPES in this matter.<br><br>
The Salvadoran FMLN and its candidate Funes have gained broad support 12
months ahead of the 2009 election, in large part due to the failure of
U.S.-supported neoliberal policies like the U.S.-Central America Free
Trade Agreement (CAFTA). <br><br>
"This shows that the Bush Administration is terrified of another
Latin American country electing a Left party," said Stansbury.
"People in the region want fair and transparent elections, free of
outside intervention, and such actions by the Bush Administration show a
dangerous tendency towards once again disrupting the electoral process of
a sovereign country." In 2004, the last time the FMLN had a
chance to win the presidency, U.S. government officials issued statements
showing clear support for the right-wing ARENA party and threatening to
cut off money sent from Salvadorans in the U.S. to their families should
the FMLN win. <br><br>
In 1981 FBI investigated CISPES for allegedly acting as a foreign agent
of the FMLN. When that claim proved baseless, the Department of
Justice launched a full-scale investigation based on the claim that
CISPES was a front for the "terrorist" FMLN. The FBI campaign
of surveillance, harassment, and intimidation of CISPES lasted until 1987
and ultimately became a major embarrassment for the Bureau when CISPES
and the Center for Constitutional Rights forced the release of FBI files
under the Freedom of Information Act. Subsequent Congressional
hearings showed the FBI to have conducted numerous illegal operations,
led to an internal inquiry by the Bureau, and curtailed the scope of
domestic surveillance activities which were later expanded again under
the USA Patriot Act.<br><br>
"In the 1980s the Department of Justice set out to intimidate and
repress the powerful Central America solidarity movement," said
Angela Sanbrano, CISPES Executive Director during the FBI investigation
of the1980s. "That infamous witch hunt was a complete failure,
and yet the Bush Administration has the nerve to return to the original
tactics of using an ambiguous law – FARA – to threaten CISPES
again."<br><br>
CISPES has continued its work of supporting real democracy and human
rights in El Salvador by taking delegations of elections observers to El
Salvador; touring prominent Salvadoran labor leaders and human rights
advocates in the U.S.; and working to prevent a repeat of past U.S.
political intervention. CISPES has opposed the opening of the
U.S.-sponsored International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), claiming
that it has served to export repressive U.S. policing tactics – including
harassment of political activists from opposition groups – to Latin
America. <br><br>
"It's no coincidence that the Bush Administration is targeting
CISPES now for our solidarity with movements in El Salvador," said
Sha Grogan-Brown, CISPES's Development Director. "As more and
more progressive forces take power in Latin America, the State Department
is looking for ways to bolster its few remaining allies and to thwart the
rise of parties like the FMLN. But their dirty tactics of
harassment and intimidation will not stop our solidarity work, as we
refuse to submit to their pressure." <br><br>
- Go <a href="http://cispes.org/documents/Doj_CISPES_Page1.pdf">here to
view the Department of Justice letter to CISPES</a><br><br>
- Go <a href="http://cispes.org/documents/Final_response_to_DOJ.pdf">here
to view the CISPES response</a><br><br>
- Go
<a href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=75">
here for an article on the history of FBI harassment targeting CISPES in
the 1980s</a><br><br>
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