Central America Report Summer 2009

Reading revolution sweeps Nicaragua

Also in this issue:

El Salvador’s
first leftist
president,
economic crisis
hits women,
and opening up
Guatemala’s
police archives
Editorial

Fighting the worst effects of Contents

Managua’s barrios in literacy drive 3
the economic crisis Susana Morales coordinates a campaign
that’s firmly rooted in the Nicaraguan
capital’s neighbourhoods.
OREIGN CORPORATIONS slashing jobs in garment factories and
F a decline in money sent home by relatives working abroad are just
two examples of the consequences of the global economic crisis on the
Economic crisis squeezes
Central America
Marilyn Thomson reports on how
4–5

declining garment exports and

poorest Central Americans. Governments rely on international trade remittances are hitting women hard.
and remittances for a good chunk of their national income, and so
Regional update 6–7
falling exports are likely to squeeze social spending – a double hit for
FMLN wins Salvadoran
those who are already most marginalised. presidential election 8–9
At the same time, as we report in our focus on the Central America What are the challenges facing
El Salvador’s first leftist government?
Free Trade Agreement with the US (page 7), the pact’s minimal
protection for employment rights has had little effect. This means Boost for women’s rights 10
The UN’s torture committee calls for
unscrupulous employers continue to abuse workers, stifle union changes to Nicaragua’s abortion ban,
activities and avoid redundancy payments. Women, many of whom and a regional human rights court
hears its first femicide case.
work in insecure, low-paid jobs, are particularly at risk as they struggle
Sandinista Revolution 30 years on 11
to support their families amid persistently high food prices. On a
Nicaraguans reflect on the legacy of
more positive note, activists in Nicaragua have managed to secure a the Revolution and priorities for today’s
FSLN government.
minimum wage for factory workers in free trade zones, and are pushing
the government to stop foreign companies abandoning their employees. Reading between the lines
of impunity in Guatemala 12
At April’s Latin American edition of the World Economic Forum The publication of police archives raises
(WEF) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva new hopes for justice. Plus a corruption
scandal sparks mass protests.
said that while developing countries aren’t responsible for the global
economic crisis, they should be part of the solution. He urged the region Book review 13
America’s Backyard: The United States
to propose a new “democratic” financial system establishing controls and Latin America from the Monroe
for all countries. The WEF director for Latin America, Emilio Lozoya, Doctrine to the War on Terror

said the focus should be on increasing domestic demand, and many Take action 14 – 16
A Hampshire school celebrates
leaders have talked about the need to boost trade within the region. Nicaragua week, and Honduran
The rise in Latin America’s political and economic power is reflected activists visit the UK to highlight
violence against women.
in the integration initiative, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
(ALBA). Based on solidarity, respect for national sovereignty and
economic sustainability, ALBA was set up in 2006 by Cuba and
Published by Central America Report,
Venezuela. It now includes Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras and the 129 Seven Sisters Road, London N7 7QG
Dominican Republic. This wide-ranging social and economic partnership Email: info@central-america-report.org.uk

includes everything from health care and literacy programmes (page 3)
to a proposed regional bank, the TV station Telsur and oil at
preferential prices. The hope is that ALBA will help shield its member
countries from the worst effects of the financial crisis caused by the
world’s violent and unjust economic system.
Editorial committee: Patrick Daniels, Abbie
Kempson, Megan Rowling and Helen Yuill
Cover photos: A volunteer facilitator assists a
student in a literacy class for municipal tree
nursery staff (Main). Young people attend
training to be literacy facilitators (Top left).
A literacy class at literacy point 43, district 6,
Managua (Top right). Photos: Jenny Matthews

Central America Report is online at: www.central-america-report.org.uk Design: Jane Warring

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to produce this issue of CAR. The articles in
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been written in a personal capacity, unless
otherwise stated. Any views stated in the
articles should not be taken to represent the
policy of any of the organisations that support
the production of Central America Report.

Central America Report: Summer 2009 2


Managua develops a
passion for reading
HE GOVERNMENT plans to
T declare Nicaragua free of
illiteracy as part of July’s
celebrations of the 30th anniversary of
the Sandinista Revolution. In July 2007,
the government launched a national
literacy campaign entitled “From Martí
to Fidel”, involving 130,000 people
from the country’s 153 municipalities.
Inspired by a Cuban methodology
called “Yo Sí Puedo” (Yes I Can), the
programme aims to reduce illiteracy
from 25 percent of the adult population
to less than 5 percent, which would be
the lowest in Nicaragua’s history.
The international definition of
“illiteracy-free” is an illiteracy rate
of less than 5 percent. The United
Nations Education, Science and
Culture Organization (UNESCO) will
survey 22 municipalities to certify the
campaign’s success. Teams will visit
20 homes in each of 188 sample areas,
interviewing 12,000 to 15,000 people,
and the results will be verified by
university professors. Susana
Morales, coordinator of the campaign
in Managua, visited the UK in April
to highlight its achievements. She
spoke with CAR about her work.
Q: How far has the Managua
campaign reduced illiteracy?
A: When we began (four years ago),
the rate was more than 8 percent. Last
year, we closed with 1.7 percent. So I
think this is a very successful project
3 Central America Report: Summer 2009
Nicaragua
Photo: Jenny Matthews
because we represent almost 32
percent of the population.
Q: What method do you use?
Elderly woman in a literacy class
Q: Have there been any difficulties?
A: This project works in the A: Sometimes there are people who
neighbourhoods – not like the national don’t want to go to the literacy point.
literacy campaign in the 1980s when We have found this attitude in some
people from urban areas went to the old men, because they are machista.
rural areas. In each neighbourhood, we The facilitators have to go to their
identify how many people are illiterate house and convince them to continue.
and if they want to learn. We talk We say that, to work in this project,
to local leaders and they promote you have to be in love with what
the campaign and help us identify you’re doing, and enthusiastic
youngsters to work as facilitators and enough to convince other people.
adults as supervisors. Then we train
everyone in the methods. Q: Have you had enough funding?
We work across the whole city, so we A: So far yes, because we are the
can free a lot of neighbourhoods from capital city but that’s not the situation
illiteracy in each eight-to-ten-week cycle for the rest of the 153 municipalities.
of instruction. Our people are in Now we have a new challenge – those
constant contact with the leaders, people who have become literate need
facilitators and supervisors. to continue studying. We are doing an
adult education pilot project so they
Q: What has been the reaction can go through primary school in an
among communities? accelerated way. But our Ministry of
A: People are very enthusiastic...we Education doesn’t have the budget.
tell them we are just an engine because
they are the ones doing the job. The Q: What kind of experiences have
young facilitators are also convinced you had in the UK?
of the importance of their work. We A: People told me they feel inspired by
tell them they are the heroes of the what we are doing. We feel rewarded
community because they are helping when we see people learning, but in
their neighbours to be better and to general they don’t express this kind of
improve the conditions in which people evaluation, so it’s been great to see how
live. They don’t get paid. Instead, they people here are interested in helping us.
have the satisfaction of promoting I went to several places with
solidarity between people. literacy programmes in the UK. They
are doing a great job, especially with
Photo: Jenny Matthews
immigrants. I was impressed by a
class in Edinburgh, where there were
people from all over the world – I was
astonished. The big difference is that
you have resources and specialists to
do the job, and we don’t. Here people
work to earn a living, but our people
just work for the sake of helping
others. We have different realities.
Workers from the Interview by Megan Rowling
Managua municipal tree
nursery in a literacy class
Central America
Women hit hard by global
economic crisis
Marilyn Thomson reports on the impact of
declining garment exports and remittances.
s the global economic crisis
unfolds, it is becoming clear
that women are already
bearing the brunt of the recession
in Central America in terms of their
employment, livelihoods and security.
Their situation is being made even
more difficult as the crisis limits
their access to resources, goods and
services. For example, lack of credit is
making it harder for small businesses
to keep going, factories are closing
down and migrant workers are
returning home to add to the
unemployed, while others seek
new opportunities to migrate.
Central America’s economies have
seen a rapid fall in demand for their
exports, with the garment industry
one of the main sectors affected.
In Honduras, clothing constitutes
65 percent of exports; in El Salvador
50 percent; and in Guatemala and
Nicaragua just below 40 percent.
The majority of workers in the textile
sector are women, and as they are
concentrated in insecure jobs with low
wages and few labour rights, they are
usually the first to be fired. In 2008, the
region’s garment industries lost nearly
52,000 jobs from a total of 411,500, or
13 percent, putting some 33,500 women
out of work. Unemployment continues
to rise, and in the first three months of
this year, 5,455 women in Nicaragua
lost their jobs in the textile factories,
according to the ”Maria Elena Cuadra“
Working and Unemployed Women’s
Movement (MEC).
When multinational companies
operating in Central America’s export
processing zones (maquilas) close
down, they often leave without giving
notice or paying their workers back
wages and severance pay. “About
1,700 people used to work here and all
are unemployed now,” says Ana Ruth
Central America Report: Summer 2009
Cerna from El
Salvador, quoted
in a recent Oxfam
discussion paper
(see below).
“Many women were
pregnant; many are
ill and are left with Women working in a garment factory in Nicaragua
nothing. It’s been
three months since the factory closed
and we haven’t been paid anything.”
In addition to declines in economic amounts being transferred, as
growth, export income and
international aid, Central American
countries are also experiencing
pressure on public spending.
Nicaragua has cut its budget for
health, education and other social
safety nets following the withdrawal
of an estimated $150 million in
development aid in the run-up to
municipal elections in November,
according to Foreign Policy magazine.
Women – who are primarily
responsible for ensuring the survival
of the family – are already feeling the
effects of this spending squeeze and
falling incomes.
“In today’s economic crisis,
migrants are returning to their
villages in developing countries,
having lost their jobs in the cities
or abroad. This re-migration
means more mouths to feed with
less food and less money.”
Kanayo F. Nwanze,
president of the International Fund for
Agricultural Development
Many poor families in Central
America rely on funds sent home by
relatives working abroad, the majority country must pay our share.”
in the United States. In Honduras,
for example, remittances amount to
around a quarter of gross domestic
Photo: Courtesy of CAWN
product. The global recession has
already led to a decline in the
unemployment rises worldwide.
Forecasts from organisations
including the World Bank are for the
downward trend in remittances to
continue this year. The International
Monetary Fund expects the global
financial crisis to have a major impact
on low-income countries in the short
term, with Nicaragua and Honduras
seen as particularly vulnerable.
In Central America, women’s
organisations are mobilising to protest
over job losses and infringements of
their rights. In Nicaragua, the annual
MEC conference in March brought
together over 1,200 workers to discuss
the impact of the economic crisis
on women’s lives, including the
consequences for the textile industry,
growing insecurity in the labour
market and increasing family violence.
“We women do not endorse the social
and economic inequalities that are
happening here,” MEC director
Sandra Ramos told the conference.
“Factory owners say they want to
freeze salaries to reduce costs – this
is really bad news and so we need to
work together (men and women) to
make sure this doesn’t happen. If there
is a price to pay then everyone in the
Workers at the conference also
came up with solutions for fighting
the crisis. MEC is now developing a
4
 Central America
Photo: Courtesy of CAWN

Duncan Green, Latin America and the

MEC demonstration on International Labour Day, May 1, Nicaragua
proposal to reform the labour force
and reduce precarious employment
for women. In March, the government
and maquila employers signed an
emergency economic agreement
setting a minimum wage for the
zones’ tens of thousands of workers.
Wages are due to increase 8 percent
this year and 12 percent in 2010 and
2011, although these rates could be
revised according to the economic
situation. “We think this is the way to
solve and move forward during this
great economic and financial crisis
in which we are living," said Alvaro
Baltodano, executive secretary of the
National Free Trade Zones Corporation.
International solidarity and
advocacy will be critical in lobbying
Global Economic Crisis, Oxfam, March
2009: www.oxfam.org
Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC),
Addressing the Crisis. The Central
American Isthmus and the Dominican
Republic: Economic Evolution in 2008
for the creation of sustainable job
and Perspectives for 2009, April 2009:
opportunities and stimulus for local
www.cepal.org.mx
industries and markets that support
women entrepreneurs. It is essential
to continue monitoring the gender
impact of the crisis, and to ensure that Crisis in numbers
governments in the region protect
• In El Salvador, some 36,000 jobs
women’s rights and respond to their
were lost between August 2008 and
needs in the labour market and
April 2009. In Nicaragua’s export
beyond. Clear mechanisms should be
processing zones, 22,000 jobs were cut
set up to allow women’s organisations
in 2008 and a further 6,000 in the first
to participate in government
three months of 2009, from a total of
consultations, and they must be
90,000. As many as 120,000 jobs could
recognised as equal partners in
go this year in Central America.
developing responses to the crisis.
• Exports from Central American
Further reading countries are down around a quarter
Bethan Emmett, Paying the Price for the to a fifth compared with a year ago.
Economic Crisis, Oxfam, March 2009 Trade with the United States is
particularly hard-hit.

• The decrease in remittances ranges

How is the credit crunch affecting Central America? from 10 – 30 percent across Latin
America, including 11 percent in
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), a regional
Honduras, 12 percent in Guatemala
UN body, said in April that falling international demand has led to a swift deceleration in
and 15 percent in El Salvador.
exports, hurting economic activity and employment in Central America. Other negative
effects of the global crisis are reduced remittances, foreign direct investment and • Falling remittances imply a
tourism, and restricted access to finance. ECLAC said economic and social conditions decrease in income for smallholder
are likely to be difficult in 2009, with average GDP growth in the region slightly above rural households in Latin America of
1 percent at best. Employment is predicted to drop between 0.3 and 0.8 percent, 12 – 25 percent, including 12.5 percent
in El Salvador and Honduras, 15 per
affecting more women than men, and contributing to a reversal in the modest social
cent in Guatemala and 20 percent
progress achieved in the past five years. The commission has urged governments to
in Nicaragua.
prepare for a negative scenario and seek additional financing for measures to cushion
the economic and social impact. Regional integration can play a role in minimising the • In El Salvador, remittances
effects of the crisis, it said, with domestic markets taking on more importance. represented 17 percent of GDP in
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) warned in April that rural 2008, and official figures indicate that
households, and among them indigenous people, are more vulnerable to being pushed 381,700 families – nearly 27 percent
of the population – receive transfers
into poverty. As overseas demand for Latin American products falls, agriculture needs
from abroad.
to take on the role of a socio-economic safety net, it said. “Agriculture should be the
backbone of economic development of any country,” commented IFAD president • In rural areas of Latin America,
Kanayo F. Nwanze, as it is “the key to food security and a fundamental engine of poverty levels are high, with poor
economic growth and wealth generation”. IFAD noted that some countries have people accounting for 52 percent of
developed agricultural policies to deal with the crisis, but these have been limited to the population, and extremely poor
creating temporary jobs or partially subsidising production costs. It said countries also people 28 percent.

need to take longer-term action, including improving protection mechanisms for rural Sources: IFAD, ECLAC, Inter Press
households and establishing broader strategies to diversify rural incomes. Service, Envio magazine

5 Central America Report: Summer 2009

Central America
Regional update
Summit of the Americas
After April’s Summit of the
Americas in Trinidad and
Tobago, the presidents of
Central American countries,
plus Panama and the
Dominican Republic, held a
meeting with US President
Barack Obama. Central
American leaders called for
reform of US immigration laws
to protect the 5.5 million Central
Americans living in the United
States, as well as support for
US companies investing in the
region to avoid factory closures
in export processing zones.
Nicaraguan President Daniel
Ortega, representing Central
America at the summit, said
G20 leaders had stated that the
financial crisis requires a global
solution but failed to take into
account the needs of developing
countries. He also read parts of
a declaration by countries in the
Bolivarian Alternative for the
Americas (ALBA), saying they
would not sign the summit
declaration because it offered no
answers to the economic crisis
and excluded Cuba without
mentioning the regional
consensus to end Cuba’s
“criminal” isolation. This
prevented the summit from
issuing a joint communiqué.
In reaction to Ortega’s speech,
Obama commented: “I think
it is important to remind the
leaders here that the US is not
the only one that has to change.
We all have the responsibility
to look to the future.”
Migrant flow to US slows
The number of non-Mexican
migrants stopped by the US
Border Patrol has dropped
almost 60 percent from 2005,
despite increased detention
efforts. About 68,000 non-
Central America Report: Summer 2009
Mexican migrants – mostly
Central Americans – were
detained last year, compared
with 165,000 in 2005. Non-
Mexicans make up about 10
percent of all migrants caught
by Border Patrol officers.
Central Americans travelling
without documents now face
increased security in Mexico,
including checks on trains for
stowaways. Hurricane damage
to train tracks is also making it
harder for them to head north.
GUATEMALA
US priest killed in robbery
A US priest who put an
international spotlight on
human rights abuses in Brazil in
the 1970s was killed in May by
robbers in northern Guatemala.
The Rev. Lawrence Rosebaugh
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was
shot several times by masked
gunmen who stopped a car
carrying him and four other
missionaries to a meeting in
Playa Grande. Rosebaugh,
74, had spent 10 years as a
missionary in Guatemala, where
he ministered to HIV patients.
Files show US knew of
war abuses
The US government was aware
that top Guatemalan officials it
supported with arms and cash
were behind the disappearance
of thousands of people during
the Central American nation’s
36-year civil war, declassified
documents obtained by a US
research institute show (see
page 13). The National Security
Archive, a Washington D.C.-
based institute that requests
and publishes declassified
government documents,
procured diplomatic and
Photo: Courtesy of Honduran Red Cross
This image from the Honduran Red Cross shows a volunteer
assessing damage on an earthquake-hit road in Puerto
Cortes. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the north of the
country on May 28, killing at least six people, including four
children, and injuring more than 50. The tremor destroyed
some 60 houses and damaged scores of other buildings.
Water and electricity supplies, roads and bridges were also
affected. As the epicentre was offshore near the island of
Roatan, the quake briefly triggered a tsunami alert for
Central America’s Caribbean coast. The quake was also
felt in Belize, El Salvador and Guatemala, where it caused
minor damage. The Red Cross plans to provide food aid and
other basic items for three months to 200 families living in
temporary shelters in the worst-affected areas of Honduras.
For more information: www.reliefweb.int (English)
www.redhum.org (Spanish)
intelligence reports from the breast cancer. In Nicaragua,
US State Department under the 466 people have died of cancer
Freedom of Information Act caused by the pesticide.
and posted them on its website: As a result of the mobilisation
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv of an association of victims, in
2001 the Nicaraguan National
Assembly passed Law 364,
NICARAGUA laying the groundwork
for workers to sue the
US court rules against corporations responsible. But
banana workers Dole Foods and two other
Nemagon is a pesticide companies found liable under
that was used on banana this law in a Nicaraguan court
plantations in Central America, refused to compensate the
the Caribbean and the victims and called for a retrial
Philippines long after it was in the US. This April, the Los
banned in the US in 1979. An Angeles Superior Court ruled
estimated 22,000 Nicaraguans in favour of Dole, finding that
have been affected by the two lawyers acting for the
Nemagon-related diseases and workers had presented false
disability. Male victims suffer testimonies. The ruling is a
from damaged sperm counts, bitter blow to the victims and
with around two-thirds of their families. In 2007, banana
Nicaraguan banana workers workers set up a camp
left permanently sterile. opposite the National
Female victims are plagued Assembly in Managua, and
with menstrual disruptions, leader Guillermo Vivas said
skin discolouration, repeated the group would continue
miscarriages, uterine and the struggle for justice.
6

EL SALVADOR
Municipal and Legislative
Assembly elections
El Salvador held its Legislative
Assembly elections in January.
The FMLN obtained 42.5
percent of the vote, taking 35
seats (a gain of three), while the
right-wing ARENA party took
38.4 percent or 32 seats (a loss of
two). The FMLN remains short
of a 43-seat majority, making
the PCN (ARENA’s traditional
ally) the swing-voting block
in the legislature. This leaves
the balance of power in the
Legislative Assembly
unchanged. Voter turnout
was 2.2 million, or 54 percent.
The municipal elections saw
the defeat of San Salvador’s
incumbent FMLN mayor,
Violeta Menjivar, by ARENA’s
Norman Quijano. Overall,
ARENA took the greatest
number of municipalities,
holding 120 to the FMLN’s 95.
NGOs call for
electoral reform
The Social Initiative for
Democracy (ISD) and the
Foundation for the Study of the
Application of Law (FESPAD),
two Salvadoran NGOs, have
presented a constitutional
reform proposal to the
Legislative Assembly to make
the electoral process more fair
and transparent, including
changes to the Supreme
Electoral Tribunal (TSE).
The TSE has been criticised
repeatedly for not fulfilling its
role of neutral arbitration of the
electoral process by consistently
settling electoral administration
conflicts in favour of ARENA.
Spanish court brings
charges for Jesuit massacre
The Spanish National Court has
formally charged 14 former
army officers, including former
defence minister General Rafael
Humberto Larios, with crimes
Central America
against humanity and state
terrorism for their alleged role in
the massacre of six Jesuit priests,
their housekeeper and her
daughter on November 16, 1989.
The judge reserved the right to
indict former Salvadoran
President and Commander of
the Armed Forces Alfredo
Cristiani – recently appointed
leader of the ARENA party –
for covering up the crime.
Two army officers were tried
and convicted for the murders
in El Salvador in 1991, but
were released in 1993 after the
introduction of a law granting
amnesty for crimes committed
during the civil war.

SPOTLIGHT: Central America Free Trade Agreement

Study reveals lack of progress
on labour rights
A three-year study on the impact
of the Dominican Republic-Central
America Free Trade Agreement
(DR-CAFTA) on labour rights by the
Washington Office on Latin America
(WOLA) finds conditions in member
countries have not improved nor
have violations diminished despite
promises to strengthen rights and
millions of dollars invested by the
US to meet this objective. WOLA also
warns the labour situation in Central
America will deteriorate further due
to the global economic crisis.
The report says money channeled
into labour projects is insufficient to
resolve historical problems and the
impunity with which many employers
act. Governments have also been
slow to approve promised legislation.
Labour abuses continue unabated,
including obstruction of the right
to form unions, illegal dismissals,
forced overtime, blacklisting, gender
discrimination and the illegal closure
of factories. Union leaders continue
to be assassinated, with six killed
in Guatemala since January 2007.
The study says governments
should promote respect for labour
rights by strengthening enforcement
mechanisms and imposing fines on
errant employers. It calls on the US
government to provide direct support
to unions and NGOs that promote
labour rights. ”The US should
support efforts to strengthen rights
and combat impunity in the DR-
CAFTA countries by renegotiating the
agreement, and increasing the weight
and penalties for labour violations
so they are equivalent to commercial
violations,” said report author
Vicki Gass. WOLA also urges the
Obama administration to apply
lessons from DR-CAFTA in pending
free trade agreements with
Colombia and Panama.
You can download the study,
DR-CAFTA and Workers’ Rights:
Moving from Paper to Practice, from
WOLA’s website: www.wola.org
US pork imports hurt pig farmers
One effect of DR-CAFTA is that
Nicaraguan pig farmers are being
pushed into bankruptcy by cheap
US imports. According to the trade
minister, nine importers have licenses
to import pork under quotas
established by DR-CAFTA, which
will grow each year until 2020.
US agricultural subsidies allow
agribusiness corporations to dump
products in Mexico and Central
America at low prices, undercutting
local farmers. Milton Arcia of the
National Association of Hog Farmers
urged the government to suspend
pork imports until falling
consumption caused by swine
flu recovers.
Mining company to sue El Salvador
Canadian mining company Pacific
Rim, acting through a US-based
subsidiary, has announced plans to
sue the Salvadoran government over
its refusal to issue mining permits for
the El Dorado silver and gold mine
in the department of Cabañas.
An international arbitration court
established by DR-CAFTA in 2006
will hear the case. CAFTA rules allow
companies to sue governments not
just for lost investments but also the
loss of potential revenues. This has
led to concerns Pacific Rim could
seek hundreds of millions of dollars
from the Salvadoran government.
Many civil society groups have
opposed the mine amid fears it could
result in cyanide contamination of
drinking water.

7 Central America Report: Summer 2009

El Salvador

Historic poll victory for FMLN

N MARCH 15, the Farabundo

O Martí National Liberation

Front (FMLN) won El
Salvador’s presidential elections,
ending two decades of conservative
rule by the ARENA party. Mauricio
Funes of the FMLN gained 51.3
percent of the vote against 48.7
percent for Rodrigo Ávila of ARENA.
The FMLN was formed in 1980 as
an alliance of armed groups fighting
against brutal state repression. The
party’s success marks a historic
power shift in El Salvador, creating
the country’s first leftist government.

Photo: Cynthia Orchard, CIS

In his victory speech, Funes called
for a renewal of the spirit of
reconciliation that formed the basis for
the 1992 peace accords, which ended El
Salvador’s brutal 12-year civil war. He
also said his actions would be guided
by “a preferential option for the poor”,
in homage to murdered Archbishop
Monsignor Oscar Romero’s historic
speech calling for peace during the war.
Around 40 percent of El Salvador’s
population live in poverty. Funes also
promised profound changes in public
management, with greater participation
and social and economic justice.
Policy challenges
Funes launched his election campaign
on November 14 by declaring: “Twenty
years of poverty and exclusion will be
defeated next year.” His manifesto
focused on proposals to boost social
investment and job creation;
improving the lives of women by
closing the gender pay gap and
expanding access to healthcare,
education and credit; promoting
women’s participation through the
establishment of a Women’s Secretariat;
giving workers and social activists a
voice in policy making; and reforming
the electoral system, including allowing
non-resident Salvadorans to vote.
As Funes takes office in June, his
government will face major challenges
in realising his election promises. A
deep political rift continues to divide
FMLN victory poster: “Hope overcame fear – Thank you El Salvador”
the country, and ARENA and its right-
wing allies still dominate in the
Legislative Assembly, where the
FMLN remains short of a majority.
Building consensus and support for
innovative policies will be difficult,
as will reaching agreement over key
appointments – already clear from the
controversy surrounding the vacant
post of Attorney General.
A further challenge lies in the state
of the economy and lack of funds to
implement the widespread social and
economic reforms underpinning
the FMLN’s election campaign. El
Salvador’s economy has been hit hard
by the global economic crisis, with
a sharp decline in exports and tax
revenues. Gross domestic product is
falling and thousands of jobs have
been lost in the past year. An electric
power subsidy, designed to help
families and smaller businesses at
a cost of $15.7 million per month to
the government, is a recent casualty
of the worsening situation.
The FMLN will not be able to
achieve the transformation demanded
by the Salvadoran people without
making profound changes to the
economic system that privileges the
elite. Funes says he plans to fight tax
evasion by the wealthy and overhaul
the way public institutions are
operated. Yet he has also consistently
declared he will be a pro-business
moderate, espousing a pragmatic and
diplomatic approach to relations with
the US. It will be a tough task to
reconcile the conflicting agendas of
civil society and business, while
working with the US on free-trade
initiatives such as the controversial
Central America Free Trade Agreement
(DR-CAFTA).
The US and El Salvador
The United States has exerted a strong
influence over El Salvador’s domestic
and international policy during
ARENA’s time in power. The United
States is El Salvador’s biggest trade
partner, and the money sent home
by Salvadorans living in the US is
the largest single source of national
income. ARENA worked closely with

Central America Report: Summer 2009 8


Washington, supporting US policy by
sending troops to Iraq and becoming
the first DR-CAFTA signatory.
The strong current of anti-FMLN
sentiment in the US Congress has had
some effect on El Salvador’s elections
over the years. In 2004, State
Department officials denounced
the FMLN, and legislation was
put forward threatening to cut
off remittances from Salvadorans
should the party win.
This year’s elections were also
subject to a degree of US influence.
In a speech to the House of
Representatives, Republican
Observing the elections
Cynthia Orchard, Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad
(Centre for Exchange and Solidarity – CIS)
J UST BEFORE the March 2009
presidential elections, the political
atmosphere in El Salvador was very
tense. I have been volunteering with
the CIS Election Observation Mission
since October 2008. In March, I led a
team of 15 international observers in
the department of Santa Ana. FMLN
supporters were very concerned about
potential fraud on the part of ARENA,
and ARENA supporters were worried
about potential violence and what
would happen in the event of an
FMLN victory – ranging from the
country becoming a communist
dictatorship allocating citizens just one
bar of soap a month to having their
coffee farms confiscated. Most fears
turned out to unfounded, and the run-
up to the election and the day itself
were largely calm.
There were some irregularities. Two
days before the elections, we met with
FMLN leaders who told us of concerns
about illegal border crossings from
Guatemala – allegedly Guatemalans
were being paid to come and vote for
ARENA. We also met members of the
electoral boards in Santa Ana who were
worried about people seen paying for
multiple identity cards. The day before
the vote, we heard that roofing
materials were being distributed in
a nearby town. We verified that this
was happening, although the school
9 Central America Report: Summer 2009
Dana Rohrabacher labeled the FMLN
a pro-terrorist political party with
links to Iran, al-Qaeda, the FARC,
Cuba and Hugo Chavez. He called for
remittances and temporary protective
status for Salvadorans in the US to be
suspended in the event of an FMLN
victory. Rohrabacher and the group
of Republicans who joined him in
speaking out against the FMLN made
headline news in El Salvador, helping
bolster ARENA’s fear campaign.
Despite this, President Barack
Obama’s election and the new US
administration have created an
opportunity for a new relationship.
director – and ARENA member – who
was giving them out claimed it was a
personal, not a political project. Some
of the beneficiaries supported him, but
one man said he had been refused
because he was an FMLN member.
Problems on election day included
people trying to vote with illegible,
partially destroyed or even
photocopied identity cards; voters’
hands not being checked for indelible
ink; and voters taking photos of their
ballots (presumably to show to
whoever was paying them to vote
for a particular party).
The most serious problems were
expected to happen around the
announcement of the results.
Fortunately, this was also mainly
peaceful. Both Funes’ and Ávila's
speeches were very cooperative, with
Ávila calling for his supporters to work
with the new leadership for the benefit
of all Salvadorans. What perhaps
surprised me most was the way things
returned almost to ‘normal’ in the days
and weeks after the elections. That they
passed so calmly is for me a testament
to the fact that most Salvadorans want
peace and tranquility. Many, of course,
also want a much-needed improvement
in their living conditions. Let’s hope
they get it.
www.cis-elsalvador.org
El Salvador
The State Department issued a formal
declaration of neutrality and
expressed its willingness to work with
whoever won the election within 48
hours of the Republicans’ statements.
Obama has removed all US
ambassadors politically appointed by
the Bush administration, including
the ambassador to El Salvador,
Charles Glazer. At the Summit of the
Americas in April, where Obama and
Funes met for the first time, Obama
declared his intention to break with
Bush’s policies and forge relationships
based on respect and cooperation.
Abbie Kempson
Reaction from El Salvador
Gloria Nuñez, community of
Nueva Esperanza
AM DELIGHTED to write to you in these
I moments of joy and emotion, after the
election victory of the people. During the
electoral contest, we had to put up with a
vicious campaign from the right-wing party
ARENA, and we had to work hard to
overcome people’s fear. We have been
hoping for change for many, many years –
all the time recognising the long political
struggle needed to achieve this victory.
This has been made possible through the
sacrifice of our brothers and sisters who died
in battle and the 80,000 or more people –
women, children and old men – who were
murdered, massacred, tortured and
disappeared by the National Guard, police
and death squads in the 70s and 80s. On
March 15, we were in no doubt that all the
martyrs who were part of our struggle were
with us celebrating our victory!
We come to power in difficult times, amid
a global and national economic crisis, but
with a government that will use its resources
fairly, taking into account the poorest and the
most marginalised. We will need the full
participation of all sectors of society to deal
with the crisis and move forward our “project
of the people”. On March 21, we celebrated
the 18th anniversary of our community of
Nueva Esperanza with greater joy than ever!
I believe we are now entering the second
stage of the peace accords. We have to
work hard to make our dreams reality, and
bring about the change that will benefit those
who most need it.
Women’s rights
UN pressures Nicaragua
to modify abortion ban
HE UN COMMITTEE against
T Torture called in May for
Nicaragua to review its ban on
all forms of abortion, urging the
government to introduce exceptions.
The committee said the total ban
exposes women and girls to serious
violations of their rights, particularly
if they are rape victims or forced to
continue with a pregnancy that poses
a threat to their life. According to
Widney Brown, senior director of
international law and policy at
Amnesty International, which advised
the committee, the UN recommendation
means Nicaragua will be in breach of
its international legal obligations to
protect human rights as long as the
complete ban remains in place.
“Such inaction would show a cruel
indifference to the physical pain,
psychological anguish and lack
of human dignity this law causes
women and girls in Nicaragua to
suffer by denying and thwarting their
access to essential medical treatment
N LATE APRIL, the Mexican
I government was taken before the
Inter-American Court on Human
Rights in Chile for its failure to
resolve the 2001 murders of three
women in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua,
in the court’s first case to focus on
gender violence. Its resolutions are
legally binding. More than 400
women have been killed in Chihuahua
since 1993, but despite national and
international efforts, impunity
prevails in over half of the cases,
according to the Washington Office
on Latin America (WOLA).
The case involves the deaths of
Esmeralda Herrera Monrreal, Claudia
Ivette González Banda and Laura
Berenice Ramos whose bodies, along
with those of five other women,
were found in November 2001 in a lot
known as the “Cotton Field”. WOLA
says the murder investigations have
Central America Report: Summer 2009
during pregnancy,” he said. Vivian
Stromberg, executive director of
international women’s human rights
organisation MADRE, commended
the committee’s stand against the ban:
“Nicaraguan women’s human rights
have been held hostage to this law,
and the government must prioritise
women's lives over ideology.”
Nicaragua’s criminal law imposes
prison terms for doctors, women
and girls for carrying out or seeking
an abortion, regardless of the
circumstances. “As noted by the
committee, at the moment when
doctors need to make vital decisions
they are forced to violate their
professional ethics,” said Amnesty’s
Brown. He added that rape victims
who become pregnant face “an
unconscionable choice” of continuing
with the pregnancy or seeking an
unsafe backstreet abortion risking their
life, health and possibly imprisonment.
“In a country where there are high
rates of sexual abuse and at least 50
Inter-American court
hears first femicide case
been beset with irregularities, beginning
with the authorities’ refusal to look
into the women’s whereabouts until
72 hours after their disappearances
were reported. In 2007, the Inter-
American Commission on Human
Rights petitioned the court to
assume the case against Mexico for
several reasons, including “the lack of
prevention of gender crimes, despite
full knowledge of the existence of a
pattern of violence that had left
hundreds of women and girls
murdered by the time of the facts”.
According to Frontera NorteSur
(FNS), an online news service
covering events in the US-Mexico
percent of rape victims are girls aged
18 or under, this is a particularly
appalling situation,” he said.
The UN Committee against Torture
is the fourth UN treaty body to demand
that the Nicaraguan government repeal
the complete ban on abortion – in
addition to the UN Human Rights
Committee, the UN Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
and the UN Committee on the
Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women. The
legislation came into force in November
2006 under former President Enrique
Bolaños, with the support of current
President Daniel Ortega. During the
1980s, the FSLN leader defended
Nicaragua's limited abortion rights,
but after reconciling with the Catholic
Church, he became a strident opponent
of abortion. Women’s groups have
campaigned fiercely against the law,
which has been blamed for at least 80
deaths in 2007 alone.
To read Amnesty’s submission
to the committee:
www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AM
R43/005/2009/en
MADRE’s website: www.madre.org
border region, the Ciudad Juarez
Citizens’ Network for Non-Violence
and Human Dignity has described the
case as a “historic opportunity” for
femicide victims across the rest of
Mexico and the Americas. Following
the oral testimony, during which the
victims’ mothers retold their stories to
the judges, the court will review legal
documents and deliberate the case,
with a decision expected later this
year or early next.
For more information, visit the FNS
website: www.nmsu.edu/~frontera
Articles compiled by Megan Rowling
10
 Nicaragua

30th anniversary of the Domingo Pérez,

UNE general secretary
Sandinista Revolution NSC: What has been the most
enduring transformation of the
On July 19, tens of thousands will gather in Managua to celebrate the Revolution?
30th anniversary of the overthrow of the 43-year military dictatorship
DP: The establishment of a constitution
of the Somoza family and the coming to power of the Sandinista that recognises social rights at a level
government. Here Fátima Ismael Espinoza (photo below), general higher than national laws – for
manager of the coffee producers’ Union of Agricultural Cooperatives example, recognition of the rights of
the family and the constitutional rights
(UCA) Soppexcca in Jinotega, and Domingo Pérez, general secretary
of workers and children. These were
of the UNE public sector union, discuss the legacy of the Revolution, maintained even when the FSLN was
the role of international solidarity and challenges for the future. out of power.

NSC: For the FSLN, what are the

Fátima Ismael Espinoza
“The popular insurrection that ended
the military dictatorship brought such
happiness. We lived the great dream
of a liberated country with social
justice, equality, liberty and rights for
all – a dream that was impossible to
realise because of the re-arming of the
National Guard (the contra). That was
given life by the recruitment of
campesinos through ideological
campaigns, as well as the negative
actions of FSLN members without
convictions and respect for people
who act or think differently.
After the war and so much pain,
along came “neoliberalism” disguised
as democracy, another attempt to
return to the capitalist economic
model. However, we still have a great
inheritance: land, fewer illiterate and
more trained people, greater dignity
and a higher level of organisation.
The struggle for land and for the right
to organise are achievements of the
Sandinista government – pillars that
maintain unity around common
interests and collective needs.
It was only the honest and open
hand of solidarity that sustained us
– those people who helped us by
protesting against the war and the
blockade. Today, they’re helping
through projects of life and hope for
the poorest, supporting us with
education and training, and through
buying Fairtrade coffee.
Errors come and go in political life.
For the FSLN, perhaps the main ones
have been not managing to maintain
Photo: Soppexcca
unity among members, and a lack
of humility. A more open and
communicative structure would reduce
doubts about personal enrichment and
lifestyle changes inconsistent with
revolutionary principles. The challenges
are to maintain a leadership that is
positive, inclusive and transparent
and generates action for economic,
environmental and social development,
as well as to govern with respect for the
laws and culture of the people who put
governments in power and remove them.
The work of solidarity in this new era
is to maintain a direct link with popular
organisations struggling to improve
living conditions. They are the ones who
transform the base and look after people’s
welfare regardless of who’s in power.”
www.soppexcca.org/en/
The Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign will
celebrate the anniversary after its AGM
on July 25 at a public event with a film
launch and speakers (central London
venue to be confirmed). For details:
www.nicaraguasc.org.uk / 020 7561 4836
successes and challenges since
winning the 2007 election?
DP: The most important success has
been the development of organisations
at all levels – for children, young
people, women, trade unions,
agricultural cooperatives. These have
given people the ability to fight for and
claim their rights.
Today we have a revolutionary
government, but its hands are tied
because the neoliberal system is still
in place and will have to be changed
to enable the reforms this country
needs to lift people out of poverty
and offer full employment.
NSC: What role has solidarity played
during the last 30 years?
DP: I believe international solidarity has
played a significant role during the 10
years of the Revolution and 16 years
of neoliberal policies. This was seen
in the reaction to Hurricane Mitch,
and it continues at the level of the
poor and trade unions.
The country has been impoverished
by world powers – by Spain when it
was a colony, and by the US in recent
years. Nations that have enjoyed an
excellent standard of living at the
expense of others now have a social
responsibility to develop solidarity with
our people. An association (trade)
agreement is now being negotiated
with the EU, and compensation is
being sought to reduce the inequalities.
So we ask that friendly groups and
governments support our position.
Translation: Deborah Cobbett
and Graham Dane

11 Central America Report: Summer 2009

Guatemala
Reading between
the lines of impunity
The publication of police archives is providing vital clues
for unravelling disappearances, writes Gillian Horne.
N MARCH THIS YEAR, the first of
I 80 million documents found in 2005
were made public. These old police
archives contain evidence of tens of
thousands of kidnappings, forced
disappearances and extra-judicial
killings. This has enabled a
breakthrough in the case of the
disappearance of Edgar Fernando
Garcia, a student and trade union
activist who “disappeared” in 1984.
A senior police officer and an ex-officer
have been arrested, and warrants issued
for the arrest of two former officers
of the Special Operations Brigade.
Lawyer’s killing sparks mass protests
ASSIVE DEMONSTRATIONS
M took place in Guatemala in
May, organised, promoted and
documented by the social media
networks Ustream, Twitter and
Facebook. Protestors were calling
for Guatemalan president Álvaro
Colom to step down temporarily so
that a judicial inquiry into his alleged
involvement in the assassination of
attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg could
proceed without interference.
The Guatemalan bank Banrural
is at the centre of the political crisis.
Rosenberg had refused a request
from the president to serve on the
board of the bank, widely known as
a money-laundering hub and haven
for narco-trafficking spoils. He also
represented a finance expert, Khalil
Musa, who is said to have declined
to participate in corrupt transactions
involving the bank. Musa was
assassinated in March.
Central America Report: Summer 2009
knew a great deal about the
kidnappings occurring at the time,
including who was carrying them
out and the fact that those picked
up were tortured at best, murdered
at worst. Edgar Fernando Garcia’s
name appears in several of
these documents.
The case is a direct result of the 2005
discovery of National Police records
going back to the late 19th century.
The records are slowly and
carefully being preserved and
analysed, and it was always hoped
that somewhere in the huge piles
of fusty paper might be some clues
as to what happened to those who
“disappeared”. The analysis of the
documents has been aided by the
US National Security Archive,
which has recently published some
declassified US Embassy documents
showing that the US authorities
Photo: Robert Guerra
Guatemalan police archives
After reportedly refusing to
participate in the corruption and the
cover-up, Rosenberg was also
As is common in the rare cases
in which the perpetrators of human
murdered on May 10. Days earlier,
rights violations during the civil war
he had recorded a video saying
are brought to justice, it is the foot
he believed he would soon be
soldiers who are arrested and tried.
assassinated by forces acting on
This happened with the Rio Negro
the orders of the president. After his
cases in 2008 and also in 1999, when
death, the video spread virally on
civil patrollers were convicted.
YouTube, sparking widespread
However, it is obvious that such
protests both on and offline.
large-scale violations could not have
Several days later the police
taken place in a vacuum – someone
detained Jean Ramses Anleu
had to sit down and decide how the
Fernández, an IT worker, for inciting
massacres would be carried out and
financial panic on Twitter. His arrest
which targets to pick up on the
came after he wrote a comment on
streets. That is why the genocide
the messaging platform calling for
case being brought by the
united action to withdraw funds
Association for Justice and
from Banrural as a result of the
Reconciliation (AJR) is so vitally
information in Rosenberg’s video.
important. It is an effort to go after
For more information in Spanish: the top brass; the intellectual
www.albedrio.org authors of the crimes – those who
drew up the plans but sent others
Patrick Daniels
to carry them out.
12

Nathalie Mercier of the Guatemala Solidarity Network reports on the fight
for the release of key military archives.
NE NEWS STORY I’ve been
O following for a while here relates
to the release of four military archives –
Plan Campaña Victoria 82, Plan
Operativo Sofía 82, Asuntos Civiles
Operación Ixil and Plan Firmeza 83 –
detailing counterinsurgency strategies,
including massacres that took place in
1982 and 1983. They could serve as
vital evidence in the cases for genocide
brought by the Association for Justice
and Reconciliation (AJR).
The opening of the archives was first
ordered in early 2007. An appeal was
subsequently lodged, in which it was
claimed the archives were state
secrets, and their release would have
implications for national security. This
appeal was overturned and last year,
on February 25, Guatemalan President
Álvaro Colom promised they would be
declassified. Exactly a year later – the
Day of Dignity of Victims of the Armed
Conflict – the deadline for the release
came and went.
The defence minister presented the
judge on the case with two of the archives
– Victoria and Firmeza – claiming not
to know the whereabouts of the others.
The judge at first refused to accept the
“incomplete delivery” of the archives,
arguing also that there was a lack of
secure storage space for the documents.
Days later, it was reported that the minister
and his family had received death threats.
In mid-March, a supposed copy of one of
Central America
the missing archives, Sofía 82,
mysteriously arrived at the presidential
house. It is still in the process of being
authenticated by the military, and Victoria
and Firmeza have now been accepted.
Guatemalans I’ve spoken to about
this fit largely into two groups. The first is
made up of highly enthusiastic people,
expressing their hope that this could be
the beginning of the end of impunity in
Guatemala. The second is very cynical,
containing people who have seen similar
hopes raised before and then shattered.
But they still continue to seek justice.
Understandably, they have become more
tired and cynical, but most importantly,
with each blow, they are more determined
to see their struggle through.

Book review of Latin America as a world

America’s Backyard:
The United States
and Latin America
from the Monroe
Doctrine to the War
on Terror
By Grace Livingstone
Published by Zed Books
in association with the Latin
America Bureau, 2009, £19.99
“The whole hemisphere will be ours,
in fact by the superiority of our
race, it already is ours morally.”
US President
William Howard Taft (1909 – 13)
“When we look around the world
we see a number of countries and
leaders – Chávez is one of them –
who, over the last eight years have
become more and more negative
and oppositional to the US...
The prior administration tried
to isolate them...to turn them
into pariahs. It didn't work.”
Hillary Clinton,
US Secretary of State, May 2009
The huge, open question today
is to what extent the Obama
administration signals a
rupture with the past imperial
arrogance epitomised by the
term “America’s backyard”?
Are the days of Roosevelt’s
“talk softly but carry a big stick”
approach to Latin America
really over?
This excellent, well-
researched book comes at a
very opportune time, with the
waning of US global power
and the increasing significance
player. The cover blurb
pinpoints the key issue
succinctly, asking: “Today
Latin Americans are demanding
respect and an end to the
Washington Consensus. Will
the White House listen?”
The declassified documents
cited in the book speak for
themselves, providing a sense
of the relentless, brutal and
ruthless direct and indirect
intervention in Latin America
by the US in its various attempts
to shape its “backyard” for its
own ends. The consequences
of the policy of “democracy
if possible, dictatorship if
necessary” are graphically
illustrated by the array of
criminals supported by the
US: William Walker and the
Somozas in Nicaragua,
Pinochet in Chile and Galtieri
in Argentina to name but a few.
The section on Central
America in the 1980s is
illustrative of the sheer range of
destabilisation tactics employed
by the US with catastrophic
consequences. They include
the economic blockade of
Nicaragua to “make the
economy scream”, the political
support and financing of the
contras, the propaganda war
(you remember that Soviet
submarine base in landlocked
Estelí in northern Nicaragua!)
and support for death squads in
El Salvador. The legacy of the
300,000 deaths and immense
pain and suffering inflicted
on the region persists today.
America’s Backyard lays bare
the belligerent siege mentality
of the Bush administration in
its bumbling attempts to turn
back a “pink tide” sweeping
north to destroy the US way
of life and civilisation as we
know it. The last chapter of the
book returns to the question
of the opportunity the Obama
administration has to shape
a new respectful relationship
with Latin America. How
optimistic should we be that
there will no longer be a need
to publish books entitled
America's Backyard and Under
the Eagle (a 1980s publication
on US policy in Latin America)
in 20 years’ time?
Helen Yuill

13 Central America Report: Summer 2009

 Take action
Solidarity and campaign news
NICARAGUA
■ Leicester Masaya Link
Group (LMLG)
The LMLG Food for Thought project
(featured in the winter 2008 issue of
CAR) draws on the experiences of
communities in Masaya to inform
the global citizenship curriculum
of primary schools in Leicester. The
group has compiled a case study
documenting the evolution of the
project, which was developed with the
University of Leicester Botanic Garden
and funding from the UK government.
The case study was commissioned
by the East Midlands Network for
Global Perspectives in Schools:
www.emngps.org.uk/pages/
progress.htm
LMLG is now working on a resource
pack that will also be available online.
■ The NEST Trust
NEST Trust coordinator Maggie Jo
St John reports that the trust‘s
Book 2 English materials, including
recordings and a teachers’ manual, will
be downloadable along with Book 1
from June at www.thenesttrust.org.uk
(click ‘teaching materials’ and follow
the instructions). While NEST is no
longer placing volunteers, it will
design and run a 10-month English
course for staff at CESESMA, a
children’s rights organisation in
Photo: NEST
Award ceremony for six young people who
completed a basic one-year computer
course at one of the solar-powered computer
centres at the Union of Cooperatives
(UCA) Miraflor. Over 50 students are now
enrolled on further courses.
Central America Report: Summer 2009
School celebrates Nicaragua week
Photo: Louise Banks
Dunhurst school in Hampshire has
a commitment to promoting
partnerships with other communities,
developing international awareness
and raising children’s understanding
of the needs of others. In February,
the school held a Nicaragua week
inspired by its link with the Union
of Cooperatives (UCA) Miraflor.
A range of activities provided
opportunities for the children to
explore Nicaragua’s historical and
cultural heritage and the similarities
and differences between their own
lives and those of children in the
San Ramon (www.cesesma.org). A
long-term volunteer will also continue
classes for the ecotourism project at
the Union of Cooperatives (UCA) San
Ramon, where four people now have
sufficient English to act as guides.
Nicaragua Solidarity
Campaign (NSC)
■ Literacy speaker tour
Literacy campaign coordinator Susana
Morales visited the UK in April to
raise awareness about the inspiring
work being carried out in the poorest
barrios of Managua as part of a
government drive to reduce illiteracy
in Nicaragua to less than 5 percent
(see page 3). Her busy schedule
included speaking at celebrations
Masks of Daniel
Ortega, William
Walker, Christopher
Colombus and one
of the Somozas,
used by the cast
of a play depicting
a short history
of Nicaragua
coffee cooperatives of northern
Nicaragua. Activities included
a presentation of a Nicaraguan
gigantona parade, music and dance
inspired by Nicaraguan festivals, an
IT project on the coffee industry, a
play on the history of Nicaragua and a
video about Miraflor. The Nicaraguan
community has used some of the £900
raised by Dunhurst to buy school
desks and chairs. Miraflor teacher
Marlon Villareyna said: “You have
no idea how happy it makes me that
a few people can make such a
difference to a community.”
of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban
revolution in London and Brighton,
a Bristol Latin America Forum, and
public meetings in Edinburgh and
North Wales. Susana also met with
community groups and people working
on literacy in the places she visited to
exchange ideas and information.
Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign
Action Group
■ Young trade unionist speaker tour
Karina Gómez works as a trade union
organiser in the Federation of Self
Employed Workers (CTCP), the informal
sector workers’ union, and visits the UK
from June 6 – 19. Having worked in a
street café as a child, she helped set up
the July 19 union of young workers and
14

was elected to the CTCP youth
committee in December. She is a
member of Sandinista Youth and has
been very active in health promotion
and the national literacy campaign.
www.nicaraguasc.org.uk/nscag
■ EU-Central America Association
Agreement
Since 2007, the European Commission
has been negotiating an agreement
with Central America (Costa Rica,
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
and Nicaragua, with Panama as an
observer), a region where 40 percent
of people live on less than $2 a day.
The EC is desperate to complete this
deal and is piling pressure on Central
American countries to finalise it by
July. Trade justice campaigners are
concerned the agreement will mean
job losses, reduced tax income and less
access to cheap medicine and credit.
To find out how to take action, visit:
www.wdm.org.uk
15
Take action
Tom Wilmot runs the London Marathon for NSC
Tom (photo, centre) says: “Being begin to subside and reality come
well over 6 foot has its advantages. flooding back. Looking back, I’m so
I was able to see the thousands of glad I did it and for such a worthy,
people massed behind and in front grassroots organisation. I would
of me as we were herded slowly honestly recommend it to anyone.
towards the start line. The Left, right, left, right – simple!”
atmosphere was really buzzing and
every pub and street corner was
alive with music and cheers. Once
I reached the last six miles, it
suddenly seemed a long way. It’s
difficult to describe the exhaustion.
Only in the last mile did the agony
turn to joy as I weaved past the
collapsed runners to the final
section, where I managed to make
out my family and friends shouting.
The elation that I was actually going
to finish, mingled with the pain and
exhaustion, was all too much. Only
some time later did the delirium
Central America Report: Summer 2009
Take action

Central America Women’s Network (CAWN)

March speaker tour: Challenging violence against women in Honduras
Since 2004, CAWN and CEM-H
(Centro de Estudios de la Mujer –
Honduras, Centre for Women’s Studies
– Honduras) have worked on an
innovative project to tackle violence
against women. The project supports
women in poor and marginalised
communities, including indigenous
Lenca and black Garifuna. CEM-H

Photo: Courtesy of CAWN

has pioneered self-help groups for
women to access services, including
emotional and legal support. The
initiative also provides training in
reproductive rights, HIV/AIDS, self-
esteem and income generation skills.
The project has trained community
leaders, including Maria Amalia
Reyes who is standing for office in
November’s local elections. Maria
survived many years of domestic
violence before she managed to
escape. She now shares her
experiences with other women
through self-help groups,
empowering them to take leading
roles in changing social behaviour
in their communities.
In March CAWN hosted a speaker
tour by CEM-H representatives
Maira Amalia and Sara Tome.
They participated in meetings with
CAWN supporters, NGOs and other
women’s organisations in Oxford,
Manchester, Birmingham and
London to raise awareness and
discuss women’s rights in Honduras
Activists from CAWN and CEM-H take part in an International Women’s Day event
in central London.
and Central America. They shared
some of the successes and challenges
of their work and talked about
advocacy efforts to achieve more
sustainable services, policies and
institutions for women. Sara also
provided information on legal cases
dealing with severe torture and
abuse of women’s human rights.
She has been working with other
women’s networks to create a
Commission on Femicides to lobby
the government to develop a law
on murders that deliberately target
women, following the examples
of Mexico and Guatemala.
CAWN is organising an
international seminar in November,
focusing on femicide in Meso-
America. Women activists from
Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras
will speak in London and Brussels to
present the findings of their research
and raise awareness of these issues
with policy and decision-makers at
an international level. Please check
the CAWN website later in the year
for further details.
Katherine Ronderos
Women’s Rights Programme Officer,
CAWN
You can download CAWN’s Spring
2009 newsletter, which focuses
on femicide, from the website:
www.cawn.org

■ Guatemala Solidarity Network (GSN)

• We have been reviewing the 2008
“Beyond Violence” speaker tour which
highlighted the links between gangs
and gender violence.
• We are working with various
international committees that support
ACOGUATE, the international
accompaniment project in Guatemala,
to redevelop the way volunteers
accompany human rights defenders.
• We would like to thank the
Reading Quaker Meeting for their
generous donation to GSN.
GET IN TOUCH
Wales NSC: Betws, Fford Haern
Bach, Pen Y Groes LL54 6NY
Tel: 01286 882359
Email: benica@gn.apc.org
www.walesnsc.wordpress.com
NSC and local links:
86 Durham Rd, London N7 7DT
Tel: 020 7561 4836
www.nicaraguasc.org.uk
GSN: 6 Marylands, Haywards
Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3JZ
Tel: 01444 443401
Email: gsn_mail@yahoo.com
www.guatemalasolidarity.org.uk
CAWN: c/o One World Action,
Bradley Close, White Lion Street,
London N1 9PF
Tel: 020 7833 4174
Email: info@cawn.org
www.cawn.org

Central America Report: Summer 2009 16