Bridges Blocked as Protesters Target Government Water Privatization Plan

About 50 union members, campesinos, and environmentalists blocked the Juan Pablo II thoroughfare near El Salvador ’s Legislative Assembly to protest a proposed law that they say will effectively privatize El Salvador ’s water. Protesters held large banners across six lanes and handed out flyers to passers-by. The action was held in coordination with seven other highway closures throughout El Salvador .
In Eastern El Salvador , the famous "Puente de Oro" that crosses the Lempa River --from which Salvadorans draw 60% of their water consumption-- was shut down.  The Action Campaign Against Hunger and Poverty coordinated the events.
According to the President of the national water agency, Cesár Funes, a water sector reform proposal will be introduced early next year. Under the proposal his agency, ANDA, would be downsized in favor of a newly created national water commission, to be called CONAGUA, which would establish a three-person panel to regulate water rates. Representation on that panel, according to the proposal, would come from the President, the Economy Ministry, and the National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP, in Spanish) , a lobby of El Salvador’s most influential businessmen.
That provision had protesters piqued as they stopped traffic. "We want to know why ANEP has representation and we, the people, don’t. Water should not be treated as merchandise," said Francisco Morán of ACAPb, Association of Communities Affected by the Northern Highway.
"This law is repressive, because water is not merchandise. That’s why we are calling a popular referendum on it: we want the government to know the people are against this law," said Mario Chavez of CORDECOM (The Corporation of Communities for Cooperation and Solidarity).
Morán and Chavez said they supported an alternative law proposed by the environmental group UNES. "We’ve submitted what we call the "Consensus Law," because it is what we agreed to as communities and it takes into account environmental protection and people’s needs," said Morán.
ARENA Deputies Hold Minute of Silence for Pinochet and Kirkpatrick
On December 14, right wing deputies from the ARENA and PCN political parties held an offering for the fallen Chilean President/Dictator Augusto Pinochet and the former US Ambassador to the UN, Jeane Kirkpatrick. Human rights groups protested the act and deputies from the opposition CD and FMLN parties boycotted the session.
“We do this to reaffirm our values, principles and beliefs,” said a joint statement released by ARENA and PCN deputies. The ARENA party was founded by Roberto DAubuisson, who is accused of plotting the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980.
“This is an offense to dignity, human rights and humanity,” said FESPAD President Silvia Guillen, who was quoted by Deutsch Press, the German State Press Agency.
Benjamin Cuellar from the IDHUCA Human Rights Center said he was not surprised by the homage, saying, “the same parties erected a monument to D’Aubuisson.”