Police Violently Repress Peaceful Demonstration in El Salvador;
Thirteen People Held Under Anti-Terrorist Law.

July 10, 2007

We ask you to immediately send an e-mail message or letter to the Salvadoran embassy in Ottawa and to the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, (1) denouncing the arrest of 14 people in El Salvador and the violent repression of a legitimate protest and (2) calling for the immediate release of the prisoners. This case is extremely important because the detainees are being charged under El Salvador’s new Anti-Terrorist law.

On Saturday, July 7, 14 community members and organizers in El Salvador, who are NOT terrorists and who have committed no crime, were brought to a special tribunal. Included in the group were four people working with the Association of Rural Communities for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES): Marta Lorena Araujo, President, Rosa María Centeno Valle, Vicepresident, María Haydee Chicas, communications director and Manuel Antonio Rodríguez, driver. One of the fourteen was released and the rest are being held in custody for three months to allow both police and defence attorneys to prepare their cases.

The arrests occurred on Monday July 2, during intense police repression of a peaceful protest against the privatization of water in Suchitoto, Province of Cuscatlan, central El Salvador. At least forty-five others were injured by police using rubber bullets, tear gas and truncheons. The CRIPDES people were not at the demonstration but in a pick-up truck on their way to it. (For video clips of the arrests and follow up, go to YouTube.com and type CRIPDES.)

Please send your messages to:

Mauricio Rosales Rivera, Ambassador of El Salvador
209 Kent St
Ottawa, ON K2P 1Z8
Tel: (613) 238-2939 Fax:238-6940 Email: embajada@elsalvador-ca.org

Honourable Peter Mackay,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Lester B. Pearson Bldg.,
125 Sussex Drive,
Ottawa, ON K1A 0G2
Tel. 613-995-1851 fax 613 943-2157
Email: Peter.MacKay@international.gc.ca