¡schafik presente! si me van a recordar que me recuerden exactamente como he sido. como un luchador...
TRANSCRIPT
¡Schafik Presente! “Si me van a recordar
que me recuerden exactamente como he sido. Como un luchador cuya bandera principal que siempre empuñó es la bandera de la democracia en el país, para abrir al pueblo salvadoreño la posibilidad de decidir por sí mismo. Ese ha sido el hilo conductor de toda mi lucha…”
-Schafik Hándal
¡ Hasta La Victoria Siempre!
The CISPES delegation to Observe the 2009 Legislative and Municipal Elections in El Salvador
Outline for Presentation1. Headed into the
Elections2. What’s at stake?3. Strategy of the FMLN
and the social movement
4. The dangerous and desperate efforts of the right-wing
5. Victory in January!6. Call for solidarity
Turning Point: 2009
January 18, Legislative and Municipal Elections March 15, Presidential Elections Polls show strong support for the FMLN, for Mauricio
Funes and Violeta Menjívar, mayor of San Salvador
What’s at Stake?Crisis in El Salvador Strict implementation
of free trade policies and privatization; Dollarization
Massive corruption by the right-wing oligarchy
Impunity; right-wing control of state institutions
Violence and organized crime
From Below, from Within and to the Left: Strategies of the Left
What factors explain the massive support for the FMLN?
1. Organized social movement and relation to the party; grassroots organizing
2. “The Formula”3. Open Social Dialogue4. Good governance
The organized social movement Struggle against
CAFTA Victory in the
struggles against water privatization and health care privatization
Social movement structure; relationship to the party
Victory against Privatization!
Nace la Esperanza, Viene el Cambio In November,
2007, the FMLN launches the Presidential Campaign for 2009 with the presidential “formula” Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sanchez Cerén
The Open Social Dialogues An international
process to develop the platform of the FMLN
“The launch of participatory democracy in El Salvador”
Somos El Cambio: Governance in FMLN municipalities “We will win by
being good government in the places where we already govern”
Examples in Mejicanos and San Salvador
Creating the alternatives, building trust
Strategy of a (fractured) right-wing
1. U.S.-sponsored repression against the social movement
2. Political assassinations in the pre-electoral period
3. Dirty Campaign4. Control of the electoral apparatus5. Fraud
State repression and U.S. intervention
The ILEA and Plan Mexico
Repression against the social movement: 2006-2009
Political assassinations since the opening of the ILEA in 2006
Political Violence Attacks on FMLN
activists Resurgence of
death-squad style killings
Demand of the FMLN before the TSE, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal
U.S. Intervention
Threats of retaliation in 2004
The FARC and the “Magic Laptop”
Puppets of Chavez Silence=Complicity
“La Guerra Sucia”: Fuerza Solidaria
“Un grupo fantasma”
Relentless attacks on Funes and Sanchez Cerén
Threats of U.S. retaliation
Public campaigning in El Salvador
“La Guerra Sucia” in San Salvador & Role of the Media
“Los Grupos Armados” Threat of the
“Armed Groups” Justification to send
military out to countryside, FMLN strongholds
Fears of the war, voter supression
Role of State Institutions Politicized nature
of the TSE Use of state
resources Demands made by
FMLN: political violence, slander, campaigning by Fuerza Solidaria
Behind the Scenes:“El fraude sútil”
The padrón and the National Registry
What allows for this? Control of DUIs and lack of access to the National Registry
Voter mobilization in San Salvador; Three years in the making
The foreign vote Buses detained
from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
Lack of action by Attorney General and Police
Citizen action! San Isidro, arrests, closing the borders
Celebracion!!
The results: Victory for the FMLN!
Municipalities: 96! Special and symbolic victory in Izalco,
Morazán, Usulután Legislative Assembly: 35 seats, the
most of any political party FMLN nearly 100,000 votes over
ARENA in total vote The first political force in the country!
International Observers
CISPES denouncements Press conference Radio interviews Lack of action by
OAS and EU observers
Report to be publicized in El Salvador and in the U.S.
Onwards towards March! Strategy of the
FMLN Critical role of
international observers
Action and solidarity from within the U.S.
Solidarity strategy to defend an FMLN victory
Building Popular Power: From Below, From Within and to the Left!