Since the war ended in El Salvador, the leaders of Cinquera have emphasized the integral development of youth.  Currently, thanks to the Municipal initiatives, INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY     and CIS collaboration there are 19 scholarship students in different universities and 7 that have graduated to date as Professors and Attorneys.  Before the war, no one from Cinquera could attend the University.  After, with the efforts of the local authorities, many youth have been able to achieve this important goal.

Currently, there is no High School in Cinquera.  Despite completing the necessary procedures so that the Ministry of Education would attend to this necessity, there was never the political will to resolve this.  The CIS, at the request of the mayor’s office, managed, with the support of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in the United States, the contribution of $5000 for the planning and design of the school.  The Minister of Education has assigned two professors and only one of who actually teaches classes to high school students.  The mayor’s office, beginning in 2008, has paid for an additional 3 teachers so that the youth can study in Cinquera.

The high school classes are held in the Community House of said municipality, located to one side of the Mayoral Building and on a corner opposite the Central Park of Cinquera, although this building does not meet the basic requirements of an educational center.  When the political demonstration of the presidential candidate of ARENA arrived in the Central Park of Cinquera complete with two sound systems, the teachers could not continue their classes due to the noise generated.  The presidential candidate, furthermore was accompanied by a bus of ARENA supporters from outside the municipality, TWO SOUND SYSTEMS AND A BUS OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE, as well as media representatives.  Furthermore, they handed out ARENA t-shirts exclusively to children in Cinquera.  

Confronted  by this disturbance, the students decided to protest and express their opinion, a right protected by the Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador (Art. 6) and recognized in International Treaties that have been ratified by El Salvador – the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Art. 13); The International Pact of Civil and Political Rights (Article 19); The American Convention on Human Rights (Art. 13); the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Preamble, Art. 19), among others.

Every candidate has the right to visit any town to campaign, but should respect the hours of classes, the students and the social reality of the community.  In Cinquera, the majority of families lost family members at the hands of Government Forces during the armed conflict.  Since there has been no process of reconciliation or justice, these wounds are still fresh and the representatives of the government and its party should know of the pain that can be inflicted in the act of coming with their banners, hymn [which calls for putting the “red” (referring to the FMLN) party members in their tomb], anti-riot police and a loud caravan of party members from outside Cinquera.

Cinquera is one of the few municipalities in El Salvador where gangs do not exist and the town is still healthy.  But this is no accident.  On various occasions, gangs from Ilobasco and Tejutepeque have entered the territory of Cinquera and tried to influence and establish negative leadership with the youth.  But due to the strong leadership and will of the Municipal Authorities and the organization of the communities, the growth of delinquency and gangs has not been permitted, although they exist in the majority of the country.  Therefore, we can say with certainty that neither delinquency nor gangs have found a space in this municipality, a result of a system of community vigilance coordinated by the Municipality in close coordination with the Municipal Association of Reconstruction and Development – despite the lack of action or planning of the Minister of Education and the Central Government.

We want to give our recognition to the Mayor of Cinquera, Guillermo Rivera, the Municipal Council, the Municipal Association of Reconstruction and Development, to the teaching staff and the youth of Cinquera for their will and support for Education, despite their marginalization, poverty and lack of resources.  For the act of creating an alternative model for development, the Central Government has been so sparing of its support for these last 15 years.

At this time we state: