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In This Issue:
In Memory of Joseph DeRaymond
Living Life as a Call to Action
 We celebrate the life of Joe DeRaymond, our dear friend and compañero, who passed away on October 1st, 2009, after a year and a half battle with a brain tumor. As many of you know, Joe was a lifelong peace and justice activist and a committed volunteer and supporter of the CIS. Some might remember him leading the observation in a municipality in one of the last four CIS election observer missions. Others might have read his commentary (one of many) shedding light on the struggle of the community ¨Sitio de Niño¨ in San Juan Opico, La Libertad after environmental contamination and lead poisoning of citizens, including children, from the waste of the Record Battery Company located there. Others may have accompanied Joe on a visit to a community: La Loma, Cinquera, San Antonio or another community Joe visited often in El Salvador. Still others might have sat with him in Spanish class here at CIS.
The fact is, through his commitment to walking with the poor majority, speaking out against injustice, and working to create a just peace, Joe has touched every corner of the CIS with his  far-reaching work. Even after being diagnosed with a grade 4 brain tumor in April of 2008, he never gave up his commitment to accompany the struggle for peace and justice in El Salvador and elsewhere. He continued to pursue his passion and live out his principles up until the end of his time here on earth.
Joe has volunteered for the CIS since 1997 and has been a volunteer municipal coordinator for the last four CIS election observer missions (2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009). He has visited El Salvador and the CIS almost every year since 1997, bearing witness to the struggle of marginalized communities, writing elections and human rights bulletins, and sharing stories of El Salvador´s history and present struggle with anyone he encountered, thereby recruiting them to be involved.
Two years ago, Joe was part of the Rutilio Grande 30 Year Anniversary Delegation with the CIS, which was the first international delegation to visit the La Loma Community in Comasagua, La Libertad. This was a special delegation that set in motion a campaign to raise funds to build a school in the community. Through the fundraising and donations of this group, as well as contributions from Rainbow of Hope Foundation in Canada and St. Ann Parish in Plattsburg, MO, the CIS and the Community of La Loma were able to build that school with the community and furnish it with desks and other equipment. Joe recruited almost half of that delegation, and returned to La Loma on many occasions, building a special relationship with the community.
On his last international tour, Joe invited Don Adrian Martinez, the president of La Loma Community to travel with him from El Salvador to Colombia to witness and dialogue with Peace Community leaders in La Unión, Colombia. Joe was interested in exchange and solidarity not only between the privileged North and marginalized communities, but also between those same communities, to bridge the isolation that is sometimes experienced within rural communities fighting for peace and survival.
 The school in La Loma is in many ways a tribute to Joe´s commitment. The week of Joe´s passing, Don Adrian, the president of the La Loma, Leslie Schuld, the Director of CIS, and Maira Romero, a CIS grassroots organizer, proposed to the Ministry of Education that the school be named after Joe. The morning of Joe´s death, Leslie received a call that the proposal had been approved. The school will be named ¨Centro Escolar Joseph DeRaymond.¨ While we are all feeling Joe´s loss profoundly, we are also blessed by this good news for the community that was so dear to him, and we can´t help but feel his continuing presence and inspiration in our work.
In addition, another community that Joe visited, Comunidad Monseñor Romero in Tonacatepeque, has also decided to honor Joe by naming a street after them. Comunidad Monseñor Romero is also a member of the CIS Network of Communities for Cooperation and Solidarity, and has fought for four years to win the rights to their land.
Joseph DeRaymond Memorial Fund for Education and Grassroots Organizing
To honor Joe´s memory, and carry on his work of international solidarity, we have created the Joseph DeRaymond Memorial Fund for Education and Grassroots Organizing. Your donation to this fund would support several community projects as needed and on a funds-available basis:
1. Furnishing and equipping a second classroom for ¨Centro Escolar Joseph DeRaymond¨ in Comunidad La Loma : $3,000
2. The Ernest Remer Jenkins School for Solidarity and Social Transformation. This year round school is developed for community organizers, scholarship students and CIS staff for leadership and skills development. Courses include analysis and tools for social actions, including water rights, history of Central America, Conflict Resolution, social violence and its roots in El Salvador and building alternatives, free trade and its impact, environmental issues, and others: $7,500 annual budget.
3. Supporting the Grassroots Organizing Program of the CIS.
A board member and family of the Rainbow of Hope Foundation for Children in Canada is committed to the construction of a second classroom in La Loma. With your help, we can make these projects possible, and sustain the work of the CIS´s Network of Communities for Cooperation and Solidarity. Please help us honor Joe´s legacy by making a donation to the Joseph DeRaymond Memorial Fund for Education and Grassroots Organizing today!
Tax – deductible donations can be made to:
Los Olivos CIS
PO Box 76
Westmont, IL 60559
*Please make a note that your donation is for the Joseph DeRaymond Memorial Fund.
You can read some of Joe´s writings on El Salvador, Central America, and the U.S. and international peace movement in the Lehigh Valley Independent Press.
Workshop and Christmas Design Contest Energize CIS Solidarity Crafts Program!
Design and Marketing Workshop
The Solidarity Crafts program at the Center for Exchange and Solidarity began in 1994 with the objective of supporting Fair Trade Artisan Cooperatives that are creating an alternative economic model that empowers the artisans, their families and their communities. It has rapidly evolved into a substantial network of diverse Salvadoran artisan cooperatives founded on the principles of fair trade, collective ownership, democratic participation, and positive working conditions and opportunities. The Solidarity Crafts program promotes fair, flexible employment opportunities and thus, subsistence for low-income Salvadoran artisans. Continued business for these cooperatives not only directly improves the economies of their families, but also contributes to the well-being of the community, since many of the cooperatives are involved in other projects in their municipalities.
 CIS has sought new ways to strengthen the objectives of its Solidarity Crafts program. With this goal in mind, for the last two summers, CIS has welcomed an intern for the Solidarity Crafts program from York University in Toronto to provide technical and logistical support in creating and updating our online store, and brainstorming and implementing new marketing ideas. This year´s intern, Vivian Trumblay, organized a workshop for the CIS network of Artisan Cooperatives on Design and Product Development focused specifically on fair trade, traditional Salvadoran Crafts. The workshop model was provided by Ingrediente Diseño and facilitated by Celina Andino, a design expert specializing in artisan crafts. The artisans that attended were visibly excited to be present and eager to learn, taking full advantage of the information and methods presented in the workshop.
The objectives of the workshop were the following:
- Train the artisan cooperatives to expand and improve their design and product development methods.
- Expand access to markets in order to increase selling potential.
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the artisan cooperatives, their products and their design processes in order to make recommendations and exchange ideas.
- Facilitate communication in order to establish contacts and strengthen relationships between artisan cooperatives and communities.
- Facilitate the exchange of ideas, techniques, methodologies and collaboration.
The first half of the workshop covered design foundations – using balance, color, movement, rhythm and proportion. These principles were reinforced with practical exercises in which participants engaged hands-on in order to deepen their understanding of the ideas that were covered. The second half of the workshop was focused on the marketing aspects of craft production. Celina presented the elements involved in designing a successful line of artisanal products in order to, ideally, generate a living wage. Some of the focus points that were discussed in this section included fair trade principles, organizational methods, understanding the market and making informed and reasonable design decisions. Again, this was followed by a practical activity in which the artisans made a design plan with all of the new techniques they learned.
 When asked what they discovered or learned in the workshop, one of the participants commented: ¨The possibility of expanding new ideas to create greater opportunities and be more competitive.¨ The CIS plans to continue partnering with Ingrediente Diseño and other organizations committed to artisan development to continue to provide our network of artisans with access to quality training and capacity building resources.
Christmas Design Contest
CIS is currently hosting a Christmas Design contest, with the idea of encouraging our network of artisans to create new designs by engaging the ideas covered in the summer workshop they attended. The contest is an important step in the CIS´ commitment to further developing our Solidarity Crafts program -- generating new craft designs is essential to the artisan cooperatives' ability to keep up to date and thriving.
We have put out the call for new creative artisanal Christmas products, and we are excited to present the results! The winning cooperative with receive a $100 cash prize as well as a $100 order of the winning product, and the second place participant will receive a $100 order of their product. We will be announcing the winning products on our website and in our next Newsletter, so keep an eye out for new and exciting Christmas products to order!
COMING SOON: We will be unveiling a new design for our online catalogue to make your fair trade shopping more convenient and pleasant! Before you know it, you will be supporting Salvadoran Fair Trade Cooperatives in style!
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The CIS Stands with Anti-Mining Activists
On September 24th, 2009, a CIS delegation traveled to San Isidro, Cabañas to accompany the community of San Isidro in demanding justice for the victims of politically-motivated violence and marking 100 days since the disappearance of anti-mining activist Marcelo Rivera, whose body was found twelve days later at the bottom of a dried up well with clear signs of death-squad style torture. For more background information on the recent campaign of violence, please read last month´s Action Alert.
Also present were members of the Sinti Techan Network (of which the CIS is a member), the Cabañas Environmental Committee in Defense of Water and Culture (CAC), the Network of Environmentalists in Action (RAA), the Center for Research on Investment and Trade (CEICOM), the Community Association United for Water and Agriculture (ACUA), members of the Franciscan Office for Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation, Radio Bálsamo, and citizens from San Isidro and surrounding municipalities.
 ¨We can live without gold, but not without water!¨ and ¨We are environmentalists, not terrorists!¨ were two of the many rallying cries of the demonstration. We were impressed by the courage of community members who stood up in front of the mayor´s office to denounce the local authorities, including the town´s mayor, José Ignacio Bautista, and the local police not only for looking the other way in the face of the recent violence and death threats, but also for being complicit in these events and continuing to actively promote the interests of Pacific Rim, the company responsible for drilling at the El Dorado mine near San Isidro.
The speakers also demanded that the recently-elected Attorney General, Romeo Barahona conduct a more in-depth investigation of the assassination of Rivera and of the threats to the journalists from Radio Victoria and environmental activists than that conducted by his predecessor, Acting Attorney General Astor Escalante. Father Óscar Antonio Granados proclaimed ¨a call to the Attorney General to investigate both material authors as well as those that planned this horrendous crime.¨
The CIS delegation had the chance to meet with two of the coordinators of Cabañas Environmental Committee, Francisco Pineda and Seminarian Neftalí Ruiz after the demonstration. Over lunch, we listened to their testimonies of how Pacific Rim has worked through the mayor´s office to destabilize and divide their community, leading up to the current state of violence and threats. Francisco indicated that ¨the mayor´s office has hired people to be promoters and ask people to accept mining.
 They also shared with us the brighter side of the story: the community´s discovery of the presence of the transnational corporation in its backyard had the effect of calling them to action and driving them to organize. Since 2004, they have done this effectively by training young ¨popular environmentalist communicators¨ during Friday workshops, and sending these youth out into their community to spread the word about the devastating effects of mining in Cabañas and what they can do to combat it. Additionally, they are proposing positive environmental changes in the community. The have reached out to families to teach them to use native seeds to plant produce that is local to the region, and to create and use natural fertilizers instead of chemicals for their crops. They have also created a proposal to the ministry of education in the department for environmental workshops with the children and the separation of organic and inorganic garbage in the schools.
Francisco and Neftalí expressed to us how important it was to have both a national and international presence at this event to send a message to the community that when they stand up to intimidation and violence, they are not standing alone. Unfortunately, the intimidation and threats of environmental leaders in Cabañas continues, targeting different activists and their families each time. It is only with continued national and international pressure that these cases will be brought to justice, and that the people who continue to nonviolently and legally oppose mining in their community will be protected from this campaign of terror.
Thank you to all who donated and took action in support of these courageous individuals who are standing up to an international goliath to protect their community and way of life!
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Victory for Christian Base Communities in Cinquera: Historical Memory Preserved!
 The community of Cinquera, Cabañas, one of CIS´s oldest sister communities which is sistered with St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Kansas City, faced a threat to the vestiges of its historic memory on October 13th. That morning, at 7:30 am, the parish priest of the Catholic Church in Cinquera came into town with 100 men in tow, and the intention of demolishing the historic remains of the old church walls, which the population, the former parish priest (1991-2007), and the Municipal Reconstruction and Development Association (ARDM) have worked hard for many years to preserve. Several townspeople managed to mobilize quickly enough to detain the priest before they began the demolition, during which time more townspeople arrived to reinforce them. The argument ended in the Priest, the workers, and the Mayor withdrawing for the time being, and the townspeople peacefully occupying the church in order to protect this historic monument from imminent destruction.
The bullet-ridden walls and bell tower of the church hold within them a great part of the town’s collective memory and identity—they are the only remaining vestiges of Cinquera before the war, and bear powerful witness to the cruel and brutal years suffered by the population during the civil war. For the community, the walls are the tools with which they communicate the atrocities that occurred in Cinquera during the war, with the purpose of preventing it from happening ever again.
From that day on, the Christian Base Communities of Cinquera have held vigil around the church to prevent its demolition. Elba Escalante, one of the original resettlers who returned to Cinquera in 1991, was quoted in Contrapunto saying, ¨It took so much for us to work towards reconstructing everything, and these walls are a part of our history. We will not allow anyone to come in and destroy them. ¨
The parish priest, Emilio Rivas, justified the intention of tearing down the old church walls with an inspection done by CONCULTURA which was solicited by the Catholic church, saying the structures were not sound, because non-compatible material had been added to the original construction material, and there was a risk of the walls collapsing. There was a resolution issued that the remains should be torn down. However, in the church’s reconstruction, the community carried out structural reinforcement work in collaboration with professionals knowledgeable on the subject, who suggested constructing concrete columns to strengthen and protect the original walls.
The community holds that they have felt since Emilio Rivas´ arrival in January of 2009, a direct attack against the community. He has taken both small and large steps to try to erase the strong historical memory that Cinquera has maintained, including tearing down the old baptismal font and the pillars of the former church.
The board of directors of ARDM approached the new Secretary of Culture, Breni Hasel Cuenca Saravia, with a petition to protect the remains of the church as part of the Cultural Heritage of El Salvador. Ms. Cuenca Saravia visited the community on Monday, October 19th, and retracted the resolution to demolish the old church walls, and has promised to name it a site of cultural patrimony in order to protect it.
We congratulate ARDM, the Christian base communities, and the population of Cinquera for protecting the historical memory of this special town. The church has been visited by Salvadoran students from around the country and hundreds of international delegations as a testimony of the horrors of the war. The church also keeps present the memory of those who gave their lives for social and economic justice, who serve as inspiration and hope for our solidarity work.
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