CISCES Update

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CISPES Release on the Suit against Ex-president Cristiani; SOA vigil this weekend; LASC Foreign Policy talking points… and more!


1. Press Release
: Spanish Human Rights Organization Files Suit Against Salvadoran ex-president Cristiani and 14 others for involvement in Jesuit massacre of 1989
Case comes as tens of thousands prepare to protest the military school in Georgia where perpetrators of crime were trained by US officials

Check out the CISPES press release here and help distribute it.

CISPES will be present for the vigil in Georgia this weekend, tabling and participating in workshops. Be sure to check out this workshop if you’re going to be there:

“Respect Democracy: How Your Tax Dollars Buy Latin American Elections” – Friday, November 21 from 5-7 PM, CC201.

More information is here: http://soaw.org/article.php?id=1705

Also, there will be a video showing of the film “Companero: Don White in His Own Words”, which is about our beloved comrade who passed away earlier this year. Check it out on Friday from 6:30-8:30 PM in CC208.


2. LASC: Toward a New U.S.-Latin America Foreign Policy
CISPES is a member of the LASC coordinating committee and was part of developing these talking points to push the Obama Administration towards a new foreign policy. See below and go here for the extended LASC talking points.
The Latin America Solidarity Coalition Coordinating Committee has adopted the following talking points for use by local activists to educate their communities and influence opinion makers and elected officials. With a new administration installed in Washington, DC it is time for progressive activists to demand a new foreign policy toward Latin American and the Caribbean.
The Latin America Solidarity Coalition (LASC) is an association of national and local US-based grassroots Latin America and Caribbean solidarity groups, many of which have long histories of working with grassroots organizations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. LASC’s mission is to define common goals and shared strategies for these groups. LASC’s work circles around several hemisphere-wide issues as well as country-specific topics.

We operate and structure our work from a solidarity model: we operate on the principle of self-determination; it is not up to us to determine what our partners in the Global South should or should not do. Nor is it up to us to determine the strategies and methodologies they use. We determine our strategies based on the needs of our partners in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Visit our web page at http://www.lasolidarity.org/ to learn more.
1. Close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation also known as the School of the Americas2. Close the International Law Enforcement Academy in San Salvador3. Stop funding Plan Colombia and cut off all military aid to that country4. Stop funding the Merida Initiative and the militarization of the US/Mexico border5. Close the National Endowment for Democracy and return USAID to its original foreign aid mission6. Return President Aristide to Haiti, advocate freedom for all political prisoners and support the end of the UN occupation7. End belligerence toward Venezuela and other Latin American countries whose citizens have elected left leaning governments over the past decade8. End the embargo against Cuba and normalize relations with our island neighbor9. Stop initiating “Free Trade” agreements that benefit only corporations while destroying local agriculture and forcing Latin Americans to leave their homeland to work in the US10. Publicly state support for the legitimate elected government of Bolivia, condemn the separatist violence and take no actions to further inflame the crisis there
11. Extradite the terrorist Luis Posada Carrilles to Venezuela, as required by extradition treaty, to stand trial for the fatal bombing of a Cubana Airlines flight that killed 73 people. Free the five Cuban anti-terrorist agents falsely convicted of espionage for infiltrating Cuban exile terrorist groups in Miami whose repeated attacks have killed over 3,000 Cubans and foreigners in Cuba.
Read the detailed talking points here: http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=469&Itemid=29

3. Finally, you can check out the latest CISPES El Salvador Watch newsletter!

Download the 2008 Fall El Salvador Watch newsletter here
and here en español
Or click below for the articles included in the November 2008 edition of El Salvador Watch
Contents:
Salvadoran Foreign Minister Calls For More U.S. Intervention in 2009 Elections
Leadership Development CISPES-style: Summer Camp 2008
Unidos para 2009: The Struggle for Democracy in El Salvador - CISPES fall tours

Stop U.S. intervention in El Salvador! Sign the People's Pledge
Toward a New U.S.-Latin America Foreign Policy
New York CISPES Committee Update