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<font size=3>Open Letter to the U.S. Department of Justice concerning
CISPES<br>
<a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1303/1/" eudora="autourl">
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1303/1/</a><br><br>
<br>
Written by Latin American Solidarity Coaltion <br>
Wednesday, 28 May 2008 <br>
</font><font face="georgia" size=3>The following letter is an effort by
the Latin America Solidarity Coalition (LASC) to stand by one of the
founding members, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El
Salvador (CISPES). <br><br>
In January, CISPES
<a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1179/74/">received
a letter</a> from the Department of Justice claiming the organization
might be in violation of the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act.
CISPES is not, of course, a foreign agent, but since we now seem to
inhabit an evidence free-zone here in Washington D.C. it, the LASC felt
it important to take this letter seriously as an effort by the US
Government to intimidate CISPES. <br><br>
We have no doubt that the Bush administration disagrees with the work
that CISPES does. CISPES is working to close the International Law
Enforcement Academy in El Salvador, has worked tirelessly to oppose the
Bush trade agenda in the region, and routinely speaks out against U.S.
interference in the electoral process in El Salvador. The
organization does this while continuing to promote an alternative vision
of democracy based on the desires of the people of El Salvador.
None of this is criminal, but all of it challenges U.S. claims to
hegemony in Central America - and that seems to be "the crime"
the U.S. government is concerned about. The LASC and the
organizations signed on below are saying we will stand with our friends
in telling the Justice Department to "back off."<br><br>
You can find more information about the LASC at
<a href="http://www.lasolidarity.org/">www.lasolidarity.org</a>, and get
background and the latest information about the Department of Justice's
efforts to intimidate CISPES at
<a href="http://www.cispes.org/">www.cispes.org</a>.<br><br>
May 2008 <br><br>
To whom it may concern: <br><br>
We write to express our frustration with the Department of Justice's
recent actions regarding our friends at the Committee in Solidarity with
the People of El Salvador (CISPES). The Department of Justice's
effort to call into question the legality of CISPES' relationship with
actors in El Salvador seems a thinly disguised effort to intimidate
CISPES, whose only "crime," it would seem, is disagreeing with
U.S. foreign policy goals in El Salvador. <br><br>
Though not really surprised by the Department of Justice's action in this
time of policing through fear, we must speak out against any effort to
portray transnational relationships of friendship as criminal. We
also speak out because the Justice Department's history of investigating
organizations for purely political reasons, absent a legitimate criminal
predicate, is well known, and has been a practice aimed at solidarity
organizations before. Indeed, CISPES' was the target of politically
motivated investigations throughout the 1980s that found no evidence of
criminal activity. <br><br>
Our organizations work in solidarity with people in Latin America out of
a deep commitment to principles of self-determination and popular
democracy; to the idea that people everywhere deserve the opportunity to
define for themselves a way of life that is fulfilling and free from
intimidation. <br><br>
Sadly the U.S. government is not interested in promoting such a
perspective. This administration has brazenly threatened countries
in Latin America with sanctions for electing the "wrong
people." This administration and members of Congress have
attempted to sway electoral outcomes in El Salvador (2004) and Nicaragua
(2000, 2006) by threatening the suspension of remittances if the people
did not vote for the choice of the U.S. government. Indeed, the
right-wing ARENA party's entire history, including its founding by U.S.
trained and supported death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson, has been to
service the interests of the U.S. government as well as El Salvador's
tiny elite. <br><br>
CISPES has the right to support alternatives put forward by the
Salvadoran people. Is it U.S. policy that no alternative to
ARENA is permitted?<br><br>
And it is a criminal act to suggest otherwise? We believe that
CISPES should be allowed to continue educating and organizing about the
negative impacts of U.S. policies like CAFTA, while challenging U.S.
Congressional funding for faulty institutions like the International Law
Enforcement Academy (ILEA.) <br><br>
As solidarity organizations we speak out with the conviction that another
world is possible and that the exercise of power can be aimed at
affirming life, not destroying it. And we do this well within
our right to question our own government's actions in Latin America.
<br><br>
We stand in solidarity with our friends at CISPES and in El Salvador by
demanding that the Department of Justice stop its effort to intimidate
CISPES, just as we demand that the State Department stop interfering in
the election processes in El Salvador, as well as elsewhere in the
region. <br>
<br>
Signed: <br><br>
Alliance for Global Justice <br>
American Friends Service Committee, Hartford, CT <br>
Bend-Condega Friendship Project <br>
Center for Alternative Mining Development Policy <br>
Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America <br>
The Coalition for Justice <br>
Colombia Action/CT <br>
Consumers for Peace <br>
Eugene, OR Latin America Solidarity Committee (formerly CISCAP) <br>
Instituto de Relaciones Económicas Internacionales en Ginebra <br>
INTERCONNECT <br>
Marin Interfaith Taskforce on Latin America <br>
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns <br>
May First/People Link <br>
Mexico Solidarity Network <br>
National Labor Committee <br>
The National Network of US-El Salvador Sister Cities <br>
Nicaragua Network <br>
Office of the Americas <br>
Portland Central America Solidarity Center (PCASC)<br>
Quixote Center <br>
The Richland Center-Santa Teresa Sister City Project <br>
SHARE Foundation: Building a New El Salvador Today <br>
SOA Watch <br>
Venezuela Solidarity Network <br>
Willamette Reds</font> <br><br>
<br><br>
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