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Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS) |
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Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad – CIS
www.cis-elsalvador.org San Salvador, September 13, 2007 UPDATE SIGEESAL ARRESTS (See Sept 7, 2007 Report below for full details) On Sunday September 9, 2007 eight trade union leaders and members of the Union of Health Care Workers of El Salvador - SIGEESAL, were released from prison, after five days of incarceration. The unionists were captured on September 4th at 2 a.m. in the middle of the night at their homes and workplaces for a protest that had taken place in early July. Five of the union members were from Chalchuapa in Santa Ana and 3 from Ahuachapan. The unionists were charged with public disorder and grave property damage, in the context of an administrative work stoppage and protest against privatization of health care, charges of corruption in some of the public hospitals and due to the lack of availability of medicines in Salvador’s public hospitals. The charge of property damage stemmed from spray painting in a march that took place on July 6th. None the less, as part of negotiations with the Regional health office on July 10 and 11, union members assumed the agreement to paint over the slogans, which they did the week of July 16th, well before the arrests on September 4th. The Regional Health Care office agreed to look into charges of corruption, protect the right to organize and not take reprisals against the protesters. The union activist are currently being charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly blocking traffic during the protest on July 6th. The judge has lifted the order of grave property damage. On July 2007, the Salvadoran government arrested 14 members of CRIPDES and other social organizations defending the right to potable water in a protest that took place in Suchitoto. The activists have been charged with terrorism under the Anti Terrorist Law (approved in September 2006). There was a huge backlash on the Salvadoran government for charging social protesters with terrorism, with denunciations from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, U.S. Congressperson Jim McGovern, the Human Rights office of the Catholic Archdiocese in San Salvador – Tutela Legal, the mayor and City Council of Madison, Wisconsin as well as many individuals and Non-governmental organizations in El Salvador and internationally. As a result, in August of 2007, the Legislative Assembly modified Article 348 of the Penal Code to make disorderly conduct a felony with up to 8 years in prison, instead of a simple misdemeanor. Persons protesting social policies are now no longer being charged with terrorism, but with disorderly conduct, yet the penalties are the same for both actions. The Anti – terrorist Law together with Reform to Article 348 of the Penal Code are instruments being used against the social movement. This is putting the right to free speech and to meet and assemble guaranteed by the Salvadoran Constitution (Art. 6, Art. 5) and many International Treaties that El Salvador is signatory (International Pact for Civil and Political Rights (Art.19, 12) American Convention on Human Rights/Pact of San Jose Costa Rica (Art. 13, 22), among others in jeopardy. Additionally on September 7th 2007 Conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labor Organization entered into Salvadoran law which protect the right to organize and to collective bargaining. These repressive actions are very dangerous, especially when we consider the roots of the civil war in 1979 included very similar laws that closed democratic spaces for change. Even though 8 SIGEESAL members have been temporarily and conditionally released from jail – (as well as 14 CRIPDES and other activists involved in demanding the right to potable water), charges have not been dropped. This is sewing fear and terror in the population and making them afraid to speak out against injustice. Therefore it is important that people continue to write your congressional representatives and make known these violations. Specifically:
CONTINUE TO Contact your Congressional Representatives and other Authorities: Presidente Elías Antonio Saca Tel. (++011-503)2248-9000 FAX: (++011-503)2243-7857; 2243-9930 Charles L. Glazer, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Tel. (011-503)2501-2999 Fax: 2501-2154 Oscar Humberto Luna, Ombudsman for the Defense of Human Rights Tel. ++ 503-2222-0011 Fax: ++503 - 2222-0655 Lic. Felix Garrid Safie, Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador Telephone: ++503-2231-8300 Fax: 503-2243-9930; 2243-7857 Send copies of all correspondence to CIS: Fax: ++011-503-2235-1330 or cis_elsalvador@yahoo.com SIGEESAL needs financial assistance to organize people to defend their constitutional right to health care as well as legal support for unionist members. Please consider making a contribution of $200, $100, $50 or whatever amount you are able to donate: CIS Human Rights Fund will be designated to support SIGEESALs work. Donations can be made out to: Los Olivos CIS PO BOX 76 Westmont, IL 60559-0076 *Make a note for SIGESAL human rights fund.
San Salvador, September 7, 2007 Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad – CIS FREE SIGEESAL TRADE UNIONISTS! DEFEND THE RIGHTS TO UNIONIZE, PROTEST, AND HEALTH CARE STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY IN EL SALVADOR
On Tuesday, September 4thh, 2007, in the cities of Ahuchapan and Santa Ana, 8 trade union members from the board of directors of SIGEESAL (Association of Workers in Health Care of El Salvador), were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, a charge which carried up to 10 years in prison, as a result of a protest carried out on July 6th. Between 6 and 7 a.m. on September 4th special groups of the Civilian National Police carried out an operation where the trade unionists were captured in their homes and their work places - national hospitals and public health clinics. The events and persecution of union leaders occurred after the authorities of the Ministry of Public Health denounced the Board of Directors of SIGEESAL section in the municipality Chalchuapa, in the department of Santa Ana to the Attorney Generals office for a protest carried on July 6th, 2007. The July 6th protest was carried out in solidarity with the members of SIGEESAL in the department of San Vicente who carried out a work stoppage in the Santa Gerturdis National Hospital and the offices of the Basic System of Integral Health (SIBASI), a public clinic in the outskirts of San Vicente. The labor stoppage diminished the administrative activities, while consultation services and emergency services continued being carried out. This activity began on Monday, July 2nd, 2007, to denounce the lack of medicines and the plans for concessions and decentralization (privatization) of public health care services. Furthermore, unionists denounced acts of corruption tolerated by the regional health care director, Manuel Abarca. Members of SIGEESAL in Santa Ana, the Western Region and three department of Hospital Rosales in San Salvador carried out coordinated protests on July 6th in solidarity with hospitals in San Vicente. On July 10 and 11 agreements were signed with the general director of hospitals, Dr. Alcides Urbina, which included a commitment to initiate conversations in the San Vicente and Western Regions and initiate investigations into cases of corruption by the directors and advisors of the San Vicente Hospital, complying and respecting the freedom to unionize and that there were be no reprisals against the unionists who participated in the protests. Unionists agreed to clean up spray paint that was done in the context of the protest and abided by the agreement. The trade union members who were arrested include: Ana Luz Ordoñez Castro, Mirian Ruth Castro Lemus, Elsa Yanira Paniagua, Noemi Barrientos de Perez, Ana Graciela de Carranza, Jorge Emilio Perez, Manuel Trejo Artero y Anemias Armando Cantadeiro. They have been falsely accused by the Attorney General for “Aggravated damages and public disorder”. These accusation, linked, the same as the case of the political prisoners from Suchitoto, to the “Special Law Against Organized Crime and Complex Crimes”, which use “special” non independent Judges and Tribunals and to the recent reforms (August 2007) to the Penal Code and the Penal Process Code in article 348, which are used as repressive instruments in order to criminalize social and popular protest. Because using the Anti-terrorist law against social protest drew an international response, social activists are now no longer being charged with terrorism, but with disorderly conduct. However, the penal code was modified so that the punishment for disorderly conduct is no longer a misdemeanor, but a criminal offense carrying up to 10 years and must be served in jail. This is a clear violation of the right to organize, protest, and free speech. SIGEESAL has recently overcame an attack against their right to associate and organize. The Government only granted the association legal status on June 22, 2007, after a series of activities to demand their right to organize and associate. After a long struggle against the privatization of health care, SIGEESAL continues being attacked and persecuted by the Salvadoran government. On Friday, September 7th, 2007 the International Labor Organization Conventions 87 and 98 became Salvadoran Law. These Conventions guarantee the Freedom of Association and Protect the right to Organize (C87) and the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining (C98). Given the arrest of 8 leaders and board members of SIGEESAL and the ORDER to arrest the rest of SIGEESALs leadership, it is clear these rights guaranteed by the ILO Conventions, the Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador are being violated.1 President Elias Antonio Saca presides over the government to protect interests of a tiny powerful sector of the country. For example, the Ministry of Labor, responsible for protecting worker’s rights and insuring respect for the Salvadoran Labor Code and ILO treaties, mainly protects the profit interests of a tiny minority. The Minister of Health, Dr. Guillermo Maza, has reiterated his anti-union stance and has pushed forward the privatization of health care, responding to interests of a few instead of the Constitution which guarantees the right to public health care. ACCOMPANY SALVADORANS IN THEIR RIGHT TO ORGANIZE, IN DEFENSE OF PUBLIC HEALTH CARE AND DEMOCRACY FREE SALVADORAN POLITICAL PRISONERS
Contact the Authorities: Presidente Elías Antonio Saca Tel. (++011-503)2248-9000 FAX: (++011-503)2243-7857; 2243-9930 Charles L. Glazer, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Tel. (011-503)2501-2999 Fax: 2501-2154 Oscar Humberto Luna, Ombudsman for the Defense of Human Rights Tel. ++ 503-2222-0011 Fax: ++503 - 2222-0655 Lic. Felix Garrid Safie, Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador Telephone: ++503-2231-8300 Fax: 503-2243-9930; 2243-7857 Send copies of all correspondence to CIS: Fax: ++011-503-2235-1330 or cis_elsalvador@yahoo.com SIGEESAL needs financial assistance to organize people to defend their constitutional right to health care as well as legal support for jailed unionists. Please consider making a contribution of $200, $100, $50 or whatever amount you are able to donate: CIS Human Rights Fund will be designated to support SIGEESALs work. Donations can be made out to: Los Olivos CIS PO BOX 76 Westmont, IL 60559-0076 *Make a note for SIGESAL human rights fund. We thank the Center for Labor Studies in El Salvador (CEAL El Salvador), the Salvadoran Union Front and SIGEESAL for the information for this document and their work for human rights and labor rights. 1 The following articles of the Constitution are violated or in danger of being violated by these actions: Art. 3 All persons are equal before the law. Civil rights are guaranteed with no discrimination; Art. 6. All persons can express their opinion freely if it doesn’t subvert public order; Art. 7. The inhabitants of El Salvador have the right to associate freely and meeting pacifically.; Art. 47 guarantees the right to associate and form professional associations or unions at place of work. Art. 48 Workers have the right to strike and bosses to work stoppages; Arts. 65 & 66. Guarantee public health for all inhabitants and especially those with scarce economic resources.
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