6:30 am Breakfast
8:00-10:00 am press conference on elections day
11:00 am The criminalization of Abortion
“The absolute prohibition on abortion violates women’s rights to life and health. Salvador medical personnel cannot offer a woman the option of interrupting a pregnancy, even one that endangers her life or health due to a pre existing condition, cancer or a tubal ectopic pregnancy. The heart beat of the fetus will need to stop in order for interruption. This puts 30.8% of maternal deaths due to indirect causes.
There are currently four proposals in the assembly. 1. To terminate pregnancy when the mother’s health is at risk. 2. to terminate pregnancy when the pregnancy is due to rape. 3. Terminate pregnancy when the fetus will not survive for any given abnormalities. 4. Any incest rape. Currently women serving sentences are in jail for up to 30 years whereas men are given sentences for murder up to 8 years.
Clinical Charges are filed from public hospitals for suspected abortions. It is about 50% of legal complaints from hospitals. Women are interrogated without legal consul and handcuffed in their beds.”
12:30 Lunch
2:00 PM Mirna Perla Former Magistrate
“I am a victim from torture and the massacre October 30, 1975 during a march at the University of El Salvador. My husband was assassinated in 1987 when he was taking our 5 children to school. As part of the committee we are pushing for a law for victims from these atrocities. Because of the armed conflict, we are pressuring the government to help us. There are a lot of victims that are vulnerable. As part of the peace accord, there is a report that they would look to see who were the responsible and come forth to the punishment from these victims because of the grave violation of human rights. From those thousands for victims from the method that was happening by massacring. An operative was used by using national police with tear gas and armed weapons. Currently we have about 25 people that have been disappeared that since 1975 have not appeared. Many people in the wilderness or farms would disappear and this method was used often by massacring. My husband was kidnapped in 1986 he was in the human rights commission. For 15 days he was kidnapped without leaving any signs of physical torture. The torture was cruel that he couldn’t achieve an outcome. The trauma was hard to overcome. The defenders of human rights organization were ready to die in this case. His conviction plus the need to work he was able to overcome this tragedy in eight years and were able to study his torture. There are facts that an 8 month study shows how 90% of the people captured in the war were tortured. Like a proof of my husband after being released 8 months later he was assassinated. They came using with weapons with silencer donated by the U.S. the state tries to hide by using other responsible for that crime. This crime was a protest the government was forced to give a response and accused me as I had to leave for exile. They couldn’t convict me or prosecute me so they looked for a man that was18 years old that has nothing to do with that assassination to leave those responsible as an intellectual author for the assassination. After the peace accords there were great forces systematic torture, genocide, crimes against humanity human rights commission that are against would not remain with impunity. We need to find these responsible to be able to transit to a society with harmony to aspire a democratic society. There were important elements to create basis for a civilized society that both parts would cooperate for those responsible. One month after the embassy law in the peace accords, the Salvadoran oligarchy backed up by the U.S. with the decision to start wiped clean that nothing from the war would be tried. As a human rights movement, we have asked for help from the Inter-Americana Court. Just like Monsenor Romero assassination, he was assassinated just like anyone who would raise his voice. We have to acknowledge the advances from institutions like the judicial that created a human rights ombudsman system. Yet we have to lament that there are always mechanisms of control for the poor for the large concentration of money in very few families. In this sense, the younger are also getting hurt such as organized crime which is also managed by the oligarchy. So we have a situation of crisis that tries to use with Mano Dura. Repression, jail, assassination always used again the poor people. The leftist government currently has been obligated, blackmailed in order to continue these iron fist policies and that has really worked. The poor have not been able to live a normal life, without an opportunity, they have no respect for property or life. We are in a critical situation. Instead of attacking the corrupt that generate these conditions, it is incrementing the loss of security, robbery, assassination has increased with ARENA. This situation is really generated more crime, organized crime, and an ungoverned state. In this context with the FMLN has tried to make social programs to attack in an effective form the vulnerability of these problem sectors. All these programs have been boycotted by the oligarchy of the right wing, therefore it is difficult to be able to stabilize the young from the gangs or drugs, illegal weapon dealing. You can’t satisfy the needs of a marginalized with a job, or security because it’s been impossible. It’s an extermination battalion that has been implemented by the U.S. which is a violation of human rights. Even lately the battalion of 1000 people trained by the U.S. military was dismantled because it is like a boomerang, the women who was head of the battalion was sexually abused from another member of the battalion and created a great scandal. The gangs are not the real problem that the U.S and right wings uses. It is the same thing happening to Guatemala and Honduras. The only thing they are interested are in the 32 state entities. The right wing uses the Gangs like sicarios the fiscal has always elected ARENA. Also, by pushing the death penalty as a judge of the lower court. The gangs say that the drugs and arms are given by the same police which are trained by the police academy which is sort of like the little sister of the school of the Americas.”
Would you please elaborate on the Battalion which you mentioned?
“There is a great problem so this battalion stayed as anti-gangs. Was created with Special measures where legal society will take you to a state of exception. There’s been supposedly confrontations between gangs and cops that during the confrontation died 10 gang members and one cop. That is not a confrontation that is an extermination. This type of actions are backed up by soldiers that get there to the poor communities and any young man that is a gang member or not, is a victim of these action. Preventative actions are not taken. The one doesn’t want to be obedient his life is not worth it. This plan of repression gets all the money because in order to build plans to fix the gang problem with social programs there is not funds, the right wing is always blocking. But to use naval and army force there are always funds. Their questions is as follows: “What do you mean? Give money to these gang members to get educated let’s just kill them all.”
“ILEA school was training this battalion International Law Enforcement Academy trains judges with fiscal policy. It violates our constitution because we have our own training and should be unconstitutional. In El Salvador, we have a school that educates them. ILEA was about to install in San Jose Costa Rica and a deputy anti-militaristic questioned was: Can you assure me that there will not be any military training? Nope can’t assure you. The first courses were for military, judges, and cops to plan destabilize the first people to come to this school was Colombia. It was the plan Colombia. They were trained on how to destabilize Venezuela as well as people from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. They haven’t trained Nicaragua because they are much more controlled and a lot of poverty is in their country.
In terms of the ILEA, 60 men have been convicted by false proof and these people do not have defense at all. I’ve seen how the police are train to provide false evidence. The training of this phenomenon is given were there’s been training such as that of the school of the America’s. These are one of the largest accomplishes one has to purse. An example is that of Danny Valvore Romero who was a gang member and finished his sentence without benefits. He proposed the education and to change gangs with social change. Where is he now? He is currently in maximum security because the U.S. placed him there in the list as a gang leader. Reforming, incorporating and changing in a constructive way has murdered them and taken to jail.”
5:00 pm Prepare for U.S. Embassy
6:30 Dinner.
Bay Area Movement 