 |
|||||||||
|
Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Now Available: Fall 2005 issue of Salvanet, “Ecology of a Developing Nation”
Click here to see the latest Salvanet, which focuses on development’s impact on the environment in El Salvador. Also, see reflections from volunteers who participated in this year’s Summer Immersion Program (SIP) and an interview with Oscar Torres, screenwriter of Innocent Voices, the recently released film which depicts El Salvador’s civil war as seen through the eyes of a child. If you subscribe to Salvanet, it should arrive in your mailbox shortly.
Text of ILEA Released
Five months after the agreement was originally announced, Salvadoran legislative representatives have obtained a copy of the official text of the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) agreement between El Salvador and the U.S.
Click here to see a pdf scan of the document in Spanish.
Or click here to read an unofficial translation of the document.
Prisoners Begin New Strike, Protesters Occupy Cathedral
Last month, CRISPAZ News reported on a hunger strike conducted by inmates to call attention to repeated violations of prisoner rights and pressure the government to revoke practices that violate the Constitution and penal code. After three weeks of the hunger strike, with many prison members sick and no response from authorities, the strike was lifted.
The inmates began another strike last Monday, October 31, this time they are eating, but refusing to enter their cells, attend hearings or take part in any other regularly scheduled activities. They have also sought support from family members outside the prisons.
On Monday, several hundred protesters participated in a march organized by the Committee of Prisoners and Relatives of El Salvador. A group of protesters then entered and occupied the metropolitan cathedral. The demonstrators started at Cuscatlán Park and marched to the downtown Civic Plaza, where they blocked traffic in the streets around the cathedral. After a brief, but tense standoff with police, the crowd dispersed.
Human Rights Ombudswoman Beatrice de Carrillo offered to mediate between the two parties, but the General Director of the Prison System Ástor Escalante rejected her offer. As of Wednesday morning, protesters still occupied the Cathedral.
Second Annual Herbert Anaya Congress
On Friday, November 4 the Second Herbert Anaya Sanabria International Congress on Human Rights was held at the National University of El Salvador. Organized by law students and members of the Anaya Perla family, the congress aims to honor Herbert Anaya’s life’s work as a human rights activist and former president of the Non-governmental Human Rights Commission of El Salvador by addressing current human rights issues. Herbert was murdered in the parking lot outside his home on October 26, 1987.
Invited speakers touched on the topics of the state of constitutional law, the role of the media against common crime, white collar crime, the case of the disappearance of the Serrano sisters, how corruption violates and limits human rights and the criminal investigative practices of the Attorney General’s office and the National Civilian Police.
Herbert’s oldest daughter Rosa read a reflection that she wrote this year on the anniversary of his death, emphasizing the importance of remembering the past and the continuing effects of impunity for human rights offenders on Salvadoran society. Read More
Witness Testifies He Was Tortured in El Salvador
A federal court witness testified yesterday that he was tortured in 1983 by a group of men led by a subordinate of a former Salvadoran colonel accused of human rights abuses. Nicolas Carranza, 72, a top officer during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s, is being sued in U.S. District Court by five Salvadorans who accuse him of allowing torture and murder by his soldiers.
The lawsuit rests on federal laws giving U.S. courts jurisdiction over claims for damages because of human-rights abuses abroad. Carranza is being sued for unspecified monetary damages. An amnesty prevents criminal charges for alleged war crimes in El Salvador. Read Associated Press report
U.S. Reaches Agreement With China on Trade Restrictions
The United States and China reached a tentative agreement last Friday to cap exports of Chinese clothing into the United States over the next three years, according to textile-industry representatives for both importers and producers.
Gilberto García, a labor expert with the Center for Labor Studies and Support (CEAL) and the union-representing shareholder of Just Garments, says U.S. producers cannot possibly compete with China and the new restrictions are just a temporary fix to bail out U.S. textile companies. “It’s like trying to stop a river with your hands, and it’s just for a couple of years. Really, I think it’s just enough time for American investors to move their operations from North Carolina to China. Later, they’ll lift the restrictions with no problems.”
“It’s just buying time, but it’s also time in which the labor movement should increase efforts so that the buying criteria in the American market isn’t simply what satisfies the corporate interests, but instead that it be determined by the interests of consumers who want products free of labor violations,” García says. “It is a time to raise more awareness among consumers and increase organizing among workers… including in China.”
Since a 40-year system of global quotas expired at the end of last year, China's textile exports to all countries jumped 22 percent to $55 billion through the first nine months of the year, according to the customs bureau in Beijing.
Even with the various caps imposed on their goods, China's textiles and apparel exports to the United States are likely to rise by more than 60 percent this year from $15 billion in 2004, based on U.S. government data released so far this year.
