SHARE - CAFTA

Letters from SHARE's sister communities in El Salvador regarding CAFTA and the upcoming presidential elections in El Salvador

SHARE feels especially privileged to play a role in communicating these messages to you. So often, in spite of today´s advanced technology, we do not have access to the voices of those who Archbishop Romero has asked us to listen to -- those closest to the reality of global poverty --the poor themselves. Their voices and realities are essential to any study of the impact of today´s international economic policies. Therefore, with great respect for the opinions and observations of the organized poor in El Salvador regarding many of today’s most prominent issues, we share these letters with you.

Respected friends of the sister parish of Guarjila, receive fraternal and sincere greetings from our community and the Directiva, encouraging you always to continue working for development and change in our country.

The reason for this letter is to let you know the thoughts and feelings of the Directive regarding the Free Trade Agreement and the presidential elections here in March 2004. With the TLC we are very certain that the only ones in El Salvador who will benefit are the most rich and the landowners. Small businesses and producers, making up the majority of the country, will be left behind.

We know also that with the TLC imprint, our environment will suffer drastic damage from the presence of international companies and the privatization of the only state services available to us.

In order to express our total disagreement with these agreements we are planning: Marches, road blocks, massive public attendance at legislative assembly, public meetings/assemblies, dialogue exchanges of awareness and information with organizations like CCR, CRIPDES, MPR 12 and Community Directivas.

In these ways we hope to gain a high level of national attention during the month of November regarding our dissatisfaction with the TLC. We believe this will have good results.

Regarding the March 2004 elections, we think the people don’t want more promises or lies from the rightists. They have had 15 years to make improvements in the country and have not done so. For this reason we are sure that in 2004, the leftists will gain the presidency. This will be best both for the people and for the country.

We are always most grateful for the unconditional support you send our community, it is so needed.

Receive cordial greetings from the Regional Directiva of CODEMSA (CRIPDES Sur de la Libertad) and we again wish you every success in your daily activities.
By means of this letter we wish you to know our perspective on TLC, in order that you may know why we fight against them:

We find ourselves with a free competition, in which agricultural products are so expensive, that we are unable to buy them.
We are not able to sell products that we grow, businesses won’t pay the tariffs imposed and so the products don’t qualify for export. In contrast, foreign products easily enter into the markets of Central America, especially El Salvador. Here they excuse the tariffs in order to bring in all of the industrial products that we consume.
The exploitation of labor in the factories of our country is of great impact, especially in respect to women, which is their only means of support. Among these negative effects are low wages, limited medical attention, no time to go to the bathroom, extra work hours for low pay, sexual favors sought by bosses, and limitations on time to eat.

We also want to give you our point of view of the current political situation and we want to say that:

The bottom line is we can’t cover our basic needs from what we said earlier. That is to say with the high cost of living and the minimum wages we are never able to get more than the most basic necessities.
Government policies don’t favor the poor, only the rich. It also is worth mentioning that at the end of this year millions were stolen by state agencies. As in the case of Perla, head of ANDA (the state-owned water company), and Solvan, head of CEL (the state-owned electricity generation company) who left the country in a worse crisis than what we had before.
They have not made an anti-gang law, which will not solve the problem of delinquency much less the problem of the poor. Because this law is for those who steal a chicken and not for one who steals millions of dollars.

Our opinion of the elections is that in the first place the elections were not as democratic as they said. Take the results of the tricolor ARENA party. They went forward promising more of the same and they have never met any of the people’s needs in 15 years. During all of the time the ARENA party has been in power they have abandoned the farming sector. They have not made favorable credit for the farmers; they have not made an internal market for them to sell their products. There has been increased delinquency and corruption on the part of public officials. Now with the new candidate Tony Casaca*, we know that he was the principle force in the privatization of our countries resources since the ANEP (National Association of Private Enterprise) and now he comes with the slogan "Speak with Liberty". We know that the communities need a change of government in this country, a government that believes in the majority and not in the small group of capitalists running Salvadoran big business. This is our opinion.

I think that for the working person who consciously casts their vote for someone who believes in the rural communities because many don’t believe in politicians who promise and promise but don’t do anything because they think the people don’t have a clear idea of their obligations and of their rights as citizens. It is important to realize greater voter turn out in order to generate a more critical voice of the people and that the people realize they must vote for the person who is most likely to fight on behalf of the poor.

We hope that solidarity with SHARE continues as they have always supported us in many things especially in economic, social and political matters. A way in which we would hope you would support us is with a project by which we could increase the awareness of the people of the importance of their vote. And at the same time we ask for your support in the negotiations to try and make the free trade agreement present in any part of our country,
In wait of your favorable reply, we leave you and we thank you.

*Tony Saca is the presidential candidate for ARENA. However, many opposed to his candidacy call him Tony Casaca since “casaca” means “turncoat” in Spanish and to “dar casaca” means to lie or to be a liar.

Receive our fraternal and cordial greeting from the Association of Rural Communities for the Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES). May you have good success in your daily work.

The reason for this letter is to greet you and inform you regarding the present conditions in El Salvador. As CRIPDES, we feel it necessary to inform you that we are facing a crisis situation at the regional level. This is a result of the policies implemented by the ARENA government here in El Salvador. One of their policies, is the development of the financial bank backing those wanting Free Trade Agreement. This affects everything we at CRIPDES are working to do for the people. This policy affects the economics of the rural population of El Salvador. The result will be increased hunger, lower nutritional levels, less employed, and no favorable conditions for the agricultural community. The rural community entered into a process of analysis before the Free Trade Agreement in order to show how this policy would affect the most poor while favoring the international banks. We feel it necessary to tell you of the afore mentioned things because in the communities of Miranar and Guajoyo they have thought much about this crisis economic situation in which they as the poor, suffer the consequences of the nio-libral policies of the ARENA and United States governments. The only answer they have given these people is to again start the fight against these politics. The efforts of these two communities have enabled many to participate, men, women and youth in a protest by signing a petition that with these policies they will not be able to produce or sell their products. Today, from the 1st to the 5th of December, 2003, both youth and adults are excited to march from San Nicolas to El Salvador, some 84 kilometers. The march will end December 5, in San Salvador protesting that two conditions promised have not been met. One, the housing and sewers promised for Lower Lempa since Hurricane Mitch and two, that the singing of the treaties for the emergence of dignified rural conditions resulting from a 2% increase that would go to the people before it would benefit the local officials. I must say that the afore mentioned activity was organized by the San Vicente CRIPDES, with the support of other regional CRIPDES offices.

Before the present political situation crossing the country, I must tell you that for the first time there were four candidates in the election process. In other years there were 11 parties presenting candidates. Now there is only ARENA, FMLN, PCN, and CDU together with PDC. This indicates that the election process is different from other years. But you know that the strongest parties are ARENA and FMLN and they have the greatest impact on the policies. As you know that for the Frente to have power it needs much transparency in the election process. Things which up to now we didn’t know about and which ARENA used to discredit the FMLN. They do this because they fear the party will come to power. But this is the price that CRIPDES must pay in its fight for social change. For ARENA it is strategic that FMLN not see it as their right that they can demand that promises be meet. In things like social justice, whichever party is in power must be made to meet the demands of the people, even if it is the Frente. We always must demand this. We must protest them, because we have given them our vote.
Any consideration to change this capitalist system requires many economic resources. ARENA the present party in power relies on the banks, but the FMLN party is made up of poor people and we don’t have these kind of resources. At election times bills occur when we are trying to be present to the people where we are working to gain their vote against ARENA.

All of this that we are trying to tell you is so that you know the present situation, and so that we can count on your moral support, prayers and economic help. So that we can go together fighting these neo-liberal systems of the United States government which cause much suffering in our country, El Salvador. For your part, there is much you can do through your committees in your country, as we can in our country, so that one Day we will have a more dignified life and more justice everywhere.
We must continue communicating in this manner to inform one another of the situation in our committees and our country. With nothing more to say I await your response. I leave you with our e-mail address: cripdes@hotmail.com our general delivery office address and marinacripdes@yahoo.com Sister parish promoter.

Receive warm greetings from our community; we hope that you all are well.
We want you to know of our great worry about the Free Trade Agreement that is being negotiated now.

We feel it is a huge blow to the poor people, which make up the majority in El Salvador. And especially for the farmers, because our country does not produce seeds, they must be bought at high prices. Each year the cost to buy goes up. For example, this year the initial installment cost is 15% HIGHER THAN LAST YEAR.

But to sell our corn, the price is lower than last year. This year for the first time they want to pay us only $1 a half bag, 22 pounds. The price has never been that low. This year beans were at $3 per half bag. In comparison, 14 years ago the price we were paid was more than $10 per half bag. This is how bad it is and with the Free Trade Agreement it will be worse. Sadly, the government of El Salvador has no plan to help the small farmer, with something like a subsidy. For this reason our country can not compete with the United States and the subsidies given farmers. This past month we heard in Chalatenango that there are other beans, at lower prices than ours are, which come from outside the country. This is to say that our suffering has already started. Evan though the Agreements have not yet been signed.

Year after year more of our people look for solutions to the farm problem. Today we hear that with the signed Agreement beef, cattle, and cheese will be imported. We can give hundreds of examples more. But it is enough with what we have already said. One more thing, we feel it is of great importance that the people in the communities unite and fight against the Free Trade Agreement.

We are proud that our brothers and sisters are in solidarity with us in this fight.

Greetings brothers and friends of the Solidarity Committees of the different communities organized by SHARE here in El Salvador.

I hope this finds you in good health and active in the struggle. For our part we wish to show you that we are working to our fullest capacity to demand from the Government better living conditions for the poor of our country. We have done this by participating in various protests to pressure the Government to listen to our concerns. We have marched against the Neo-liberal Model. We seek to avoid the privatization of public services, which are for all. It is not right that a few powerful people control all that belongs to the population at large.

Also, we are very concerned about the negative effects the Free Trade Agreement, the Panama Plan and the ALCA will bring. We are aware that we have a government that has little will to defend our national sovereignty and the nutritional well being of the population in general. We believe that the Free Trade Agreement with the United States is nothing more than a golden parachute for the present party in power, ARENA. They have abused us for the past 14 years with their exclusive politics. They are the ones interested in signing the Agreement, and have mounted an enormous campaign to convince the public that this will bring us advancement and opportunity. We know that this certainly is not the case and that we are up against the greatest economy in the world. How can a Salvadoran farmer be an exporter when we do not have similar conditions? We don’t have technical assistance, credit, equipment; our National Market has no protection, rising productions costs that are higher than the selling price. Nevertheless, United States producers are assured a profit, they have subsidies; the latest available technology, proper equipment and they also have market protection and strict sanitary standards, etc.

Our work is about facing these realities and so we are opposed and work to mobilize the population so that we can fight together. On the other hand the government is losing credence, the people no longer believe in the promises they make. Because of this, they have started their political campaign earlier then what is established in the constitution. They are intent on intimidating the public that their freedom is in danger, that democracy will be lost if the party for the poor, the FLMN, comes to power. They are afraid because their vested interests will surely be lost.

As a Salvadoran social movement, we are ignoring their dirty campaign and are clarifying for the people what the true risks are if ARENA continues in power because they have practically privatized everything. Only health, water and some education are not yet privatized. We have great hope that this time we will gain in the ballot box executive power from the corrupt rightist party.

We are also inviting you to accompany us during the 2004 Elections, in order to verify that the election process is transparent and free of fraud on the part of the ARENA party. We hope that you will accompany us in this event so vital to the future of this beautiful country.
We also want to express to you our concerns and our hopes that all will support us in denouncing and bringing diplomatic pressure to bear against this government which is denying foreigners entrance into the country. This action violates the law of free passage (travel) that permits entrance into the country of persons who come to contribute and help in the advance of democracy here. There have been three such cases of people unable to return or enter the country. A Canadian, a Chicagoan, and a man from Switzerland who has been with us for 20 years motivating and reminding us of our history, of the massacres of farmers during the last civil war by the Salvadoran Army, who were supported and trained by the United States government, now they cannot enter the country.

We hope that you keep up communication with us on what’s happening in the U.S. through your letters.

The Progrreso Directiva
Miriam Esperanza Olmedo, President; Jose aRudesindo Abarca, Tresuere; German Gonzalez Alas, Secretary; Noberto Antonio Reyes, Trustree

Date: January 20, 2004

Declaration distributed as part fo the 25th anniversary commemoration of the martyrdom of the joint parish priest-- Fr. Octavio Ortiz – who, in 1979, was assassinated by the death squads during a spiritual retreat in the retreat center "El Despertar" in San Salvador along with four young men.

• Angel Morales Gomez
• David Alberto Caballero Cornejo
• Jorge Alberto Gomez
• Fr. Octavio Ortiz Luna; these men are known as "the Not to be Forgotten". The parishes of San Antonio Abad and San Francisco de Asisi de Mejicanos, united by the Martyrdom of Spirituality and moved by their word, declare our total disagreement with and repudiation of the neo-liberal politics that we feel subjected to.

On one occasion, Monsignor Romero denied the government’s version of the horrible assassinations that occurred at the Retreat House, and said with indignation, “Enough of this suffering and pain resulting from this violence and blood bath that is entering the home of every Salvadorian family!”

Together with Monsignor Romero and the martyrs of The Not to be Forgotten, we say:

• Enough already, of using the pretext of the Free Trade Agreement to privatize, among other things, health, education, water, farming and all the services that pertains to us!

• Enough already, of the many lies of the supposed benefits the TLC provides, when we know perfectly well that they only generate more poverty, since the place of our economy is miserable compared to the level of competition provided by the strong micro-economy of North America!

• Enough already, saying our country can be modernized by privatizing Antel, the Bank, the IRA, and the Pensions!

• Enough already, of the many lies communicated in the media to infect the public’s thinking, publishing false propaganda and trying to discredit those who don’t think like them!

• Enough already, of talk of modernizing the infrastructures, like streets, buildings, businesses, while people are living in slums, without any protection!

• Enough already, of so much corruption! We have been told it is the plan of the Government to combat corruption, but the very Government itself is corrupt. We can mention some specific instances: Dr. Majano Araujo, the Director of ISSS, stole more than 100 million colones; Roberto Mathies Hill, swindled all of his clients by means of Finsepro-Insepro, more than 100 million colones; Ing. Carlos Perla, stole more than 50 million dollars from ANDA. All of these are free to enjoy the money they stole, others are let go for lack of proof or have reached agreements with the government. Such was the case with the 11 truckloads of fertilizer donated by the Japanese to the farmers of this country, which went to the warehouses of UNIFERSA, whose owners were friendly to the Government!

• Enough already, of absurd laws like the "Anti-gang", which pretends to persecute and jail youth who are involved in ganges while delinquents with white skin enjoy their money and laugh at their misdeeds, and are protected by the justice system of the country!

• Enough already, of so much repression, sending the military to terrorize the people who take to the streets protesting the politics that the Government itself invents!

• Enough already, of promising heaven and earth, when we are witnesses that those who rise to power forget what was promised!

• Enough already, of using the communication media to run dirty campaigns discrediting and condemning other contestants in the political realm. Denying in this way the principle of tolerance in a country claiming to be democratic!

• Enough already, of a Church sleeping, worried about prayers, novena processions and rituals. But refuses to see the reality in which the people live!

• Enough already, of so much silence. The time has come to raise our voices and reclaim justice. Justice for the victims, who today call to heaven for mercy, and for all living at this time!

• Enough already, of the forgotten conscience, of the violent methods used and the slow death of the men and women of our rural areas!

Letter from the Technical Vocational Center Team in San Francisco de Asís Parish

We have received the news about “SHARE’s Regional Meeting and the Meeting of the People in Solidarity with El Salvador.” It is very important for us to know that there are people out in the world who are concerned for the neediest and most especially for the people of this small but suffering country.

It is very interesting to see that one of the main topics, if not the main one, is the Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). It is of utmost importance for us that the truth regarding this agreement comes out to light since we are about to sign a Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

Many organizations of power in the country, entrepreneurial associations, government agencies and most of the political and economic structural institutions have complained about the opposition to this CAFTA stating that “the opposition pretends to destabilize the power, attempting against democracy only for political and electoral gains.” This has been purely an absurd argument to lessen the people’s claims and protests against the CAFTA.

The nucleus of the party in power has been sweet talking the population with false promises. They take advantage of massive advertising to obtain their purposes and obtain approval of CAFTA by the population. In some cases, they are successful mainly due to people’s ignorance, their illiteracy and the majority’s lack of access to more information and details about CAFTA. This lack of access to details about CAFTA prevents the population to make a more educated decision and prevents a better understanding of their future reality.

There has been word in our country that the FTA will bring more jobs to the people and that it will guarantee competition between Salvadoran and US products on the same level. They, however, do not talk about the quality of these jobs, salaries or to the conditions that the laborers will endure. They do not talk about the difficulties the small business owner will have competing against multinational companies. They do not want to tell us about the damages this treaty will bring to our agricultural production and its workforce. Nobody wants to talk about what has happened in México now that the FTA with them has been in place, along with Canada where many small businesses have gone bankrupt due to the market takeover by major multinational companies. These facts plus corruption by the current government have caused economic chaos in México from which they have not recovered.

They want to make our country a big pool of cheap labor, incapable of thinking on their own or one that may not be capable to demand their rights as laborers. It is not only about CAFTA with the US but also about many other countries such as Taiwan, Spain among others that are seeing a gold mine in El Salvador, because our government does not demand/provide guarantees for its laborers; The Ministry of Labor, who is supposed to represent the workers and guarantee fair conditions has done nothing but the opposite.

The struggle is enormous and we may feel alone on this road, but efforts such as yours give us the determination and strength to go on and continue fighting for justice. It is not about opposing CAFTA capriciously. We want commerce between countries but commerce with just/fair conditions, conditions that will not affect the poor so negatively. We want an economically stronger country, with better life and labor conditions and congruent to Christian principles. We believe CAFTA will not facilitate such conditions.

While some countries are able to feel the pain of others not so fortunate; while some may be able to fight for the rights of the less fortunate, then we will be able to say that the Kingdom of God is near, because then there will be a union between us as brothers and sisters in Christ.

May Jesus Christ, who died for us to give us a better world and the kingdom to come, be with you all. May he guide your path during the great work you are pursuing in helping your brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) is currently being
negotiated between the governments of the United States and Central
America, the same governments which have brought us the condemning external debt
and the politics of unjust global trade. Free Trade does not represent a
solution to the reality of impoverishment and disenfranchisement that
millions living in this region of Central America experience. Free Trade
is an exclusive economic model that does not recognize the rights of workers
and, in fact, generates repressive policies against them. Free Trade
revolves around profit as it increases the concentration of wealth into a
few hands while accentuating social and economic polarization to a much
greater extent. This treaty is undemocratic because it does not recognize
the active participation of diverse social sectors.

The destruction of agriculture and the expropriation of the land as a
result of globalization
Privatization of social services: health, education, potable water, etc.
Exploitation of strategic natural resources (water, forests, oil…) and the
resulting destruction of the environment
Loss of national identity due to the influence of socioeconomic and
cultural interests in the North
The subordination of national sovereignty to multi-national economic
interests, which leaves our country without the right to participate in
decision-making
An increase in internal and international human migration
An increase in foreign products, especially of food, which decreases the
consumption of our own national products.

What to do about these initiatives of death?
We have to keep ourselves well-informed and not let ourselves be fooled.
We need to reflect as groups and as communities to develop collective actions
to define our strategies of denouncing and resistance. As Christians we
affirm that the life and dignity of a person is more important than any
economic system. The Gospel rejects the idolatry of money and demands
that we make economics subservient to the human being and not humans
subservient to the economy.

Dear Brothers and Sisters of San Francisco. Receive a warm and loving greeting from the Directiva of the Asuchio Community.

Our community is happy to write to our brothers and sisters of San Francisco. We wish to thank you for the visit by Guillermo and Enriqueta to our community, that the SHARE coordinator arranged. We also would like to designate one or two people responsible for the Sister Parishes who would accompany the delegation on November 15 and give their testimonies in front of the monument to the Disappeared and Assassinated of El Salvador. They later could accompany other community members and participate in the vigil in memory of the Jesuit priests assassinated during the conflicts of the war in El Salvador.

We wish to speak now of the activities we are involved with in our country and in our community. We have been participating in various meetings and street marches protesting the Free Trade Agreements (CAFTA). We will continue these actions in December with a march from the port in La Libertad to the Civic Plaza in San Salvador. Other departments and organizations that we have organized with will join us in this march.

We have also begun organizing a march to guarantee that all people may vote in the presidential elections on March 21, 2004. Each family, each person, and the youth in the different communities must do this work conscientiously, in order to assure each person the opportunity to vote. There is so much to be done on Election Day that we ask for your help along with that of SHARE. We ask for delegates to come and be observers at the polls in March, we will then feel more confident in the election results. We trust in God that the election results will be good. With the grace of God we are in good health and filled with the Spirit to move forward.

May God bless you and accompany you in all that you do.
Until later, greetings to everybody.