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February
El Salvador’s President takes military into Legislative Assembly
February 11, 2020 Claudia Lucero Action Alerts, Central America

Last year, Guatemala experienced a constitutional crisis when former President Jimmy Morales ignored orders from the highest court in the land, ended the mandate of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (who had accused him of corruption), and surrounded their offices with tanks to force commissioners to leave the country. Now a constitutional crisis has erupted in El Salvador. Here’s what happened.

 

President Nayib Bukele called for an extraordinary session of the Legislative Assembly on Sunday, February 9, at 3:00 p.m. in order to get approval for a $109 million international loan he wanted for modernizing military and police forces. He insinuated on social media to his followers that if deputies did not show up, they would be violating constitutional order and that the people had the right of insurrection in this case, although the Legislative Assembly is an independent branch of government that is authorized to make decisions about its own affairs. Not wanting to be dictated to, deputies scheduled a regular session for Monday, February 10, to take up the matter.

 

The president then called for his supporters to gather at the Legislative Assembly and deployed military and police forces throughout the city. A small number of deputies showed up for the extraordinary session, and then the President brought armed soldiers into the legislative chamber to surround the room, railing against the deputies who had not shown up and against all of them for not yet passing his request to approve the loan. Finally, he prayed silently, left the chamber, and spoke to his followers outside that God had told him to be patient. In a real violation of Constitutional order, he commanded the deputies to pass his request within the week, or he would call out his supporters again, with the implied threat that they would remove the deputies from offfice by force.

 

The militarization of El Salvador’s political spaces had been, until now, a thing of the past, since before Peace Accords were signed in 1992 ending the civil war. Now, political leaders on the left and the right are concerned that President Bukele is about to perform a self-coup, using the armed forces and his supporters to take control of the Legislature. CRLN urges its members to read the joint statement, sent to us by U.S .- El Salvador Sister Cities, signed by some of El Salvador’s social movements and to learn more from the articles below. Then, please take action, following the Action Alert from our friends at CISPES (copied below the articles).

 

 

Joint statement by groups in Salvadoran popular movements:  https://www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org/pronunciamiento-bukele-militars

 

 

Article in “El Salvador Perspectives”: www.elsalvadorperspectives.com/2020/02/bukele-sends-armed-troops-before-him.html?utm_source=MailChimp+Bulletin&utm_campaign=857ddc5cf9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_10_10_52&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d6d7f903dd-857ddc5cf9-420957

 

 

Press release by U.S. Solidarity groups: https://www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org/press-release-regarding-feb-2020/?utm_source=MailChimp+Bulletin&utm_campaign=857ddc5cf9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_10_10_52&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d6d7f903dd-857ddc5cf9-420957

 

TAKE ACTION!

  1. Use this link to send an email to your Representative in Congress, asking them to speak out against Bukele’s power grab in El Salvador.
  2. Call your Representative and/or Senator and ask them to speak out. Call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to be connected to their office. Ask to speak with the person in charge of foreign affairs.Sample script: My name is ______ and I am a resident of _________. I am calling because I am extremely concerned about threats to democracy in El Salvador. Have you been following the crisis there over the weekend? The president commanded the legislature to hold an extraordinary session in order to approve a loan he wanted for security funding, which he does not have the authority to do, in this case, and threatened consequences if they didn’t show up. Then he deployed the Armed Forces to occupy the legislature in a clear violation of the Peace Accords. It is urgent that Members of Congress speak out against this rollback of democracy in El Salvador. Will you make a statement calling on the President Bukele to respect the autonomy of the elected legislature? Will you call on the U.S. Embassy to do the same?

[They will probably want more details. If so, ask for their email address and offer to connect them with Alexis Stoumbelis, Executive Director of CISPES, who is coordinating the national effort and can provide additional information: alexis@cispes.org. Please let Sharon Hunter-Smith in the CRLN office know if you reach your Illinois Representative. She will work with you to get Illinois Representatives to speak out and will stay in contact with Alexis.]]

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6

February
Human Rights Watch Reports on Deported Salvadorans
February 6, 2020 Claudia Lucero Central America

In “Deported to Danger: United States Deportation Policies Expose Salvadorans to Death and Abuse,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) shares the results of its investigation into what happens to Salvadorans seeking asylum who are nevertheless deported back to El Salvador. Here’s a quick summary of what they found:

  • Between 2014-2018, the U.S. recognized only 18.2% of Salvadorans as qualifying for asylum.
  • In the same period, the U.S. and Mexico deported 213,000 Salvadorans.
  • While no official tally exists, HRW was able to document 138 people who were killed after being deported, many for the same reasons they had fled from El Salvador in the first place. The number killed is likely higher, since not every death makes it into public records.
  • HRW was also able to identify over 70 people deported who were subjected to sexual violence, torture, other harm, or who went missing, also at the hands of the same people whose violence they had fled. The number is almost certainly higher, since these instances are almost never reported.

Here is the link to the full report: https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/02/05/deported-danger/united-states-deportation-policies-expose-salvadorans-death-and

The U.S. now has a cap on the number of  refugees allowed into the country, and much lower percentages of them are actually receiving asylum in response to their petitions.

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6

February
Your calls are working!
February 6, 2020 Claudia Lucero Action Alerts, Central America, Immigration

We had a very short timeframe–2 days–to get U.S. Representatives from Illinois to sign a letter asking the Department of Homeland Security to end the mis-named Migrant Protection Protocols, which forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexican border cities indefinitely until their court cases come up. Now the deadline to sign has been extended until tomorrow, February 7!

Thanks to your calls, 9 Representatives from Illinois have signed on so far: Rush, Kelly, Garcia, Quigley, Danny Davis, Krishnamoorthi, Schakowsky, Foster, and Bustos. Please call and thank them if they are your Representative. Rep. Schneider’s staffer has contacted CRLN to say that they will have an opportunity tonight to put the letter before him, and they expect he will sign. We will keep you posted on his action. If your Representatives are Lipinski, Casten, or Underwood, or any of the Republican Representatives, please call again and emphasize that it is horrific that our country is forcing people who fled danger once to wait in areas without sanitary facilities, access to food and water or proper shelter, and where they are subjected to violence, extortion and kidnapping by organized crime.

When CRLN made calls from our office, many Congressional staff people thanked us for flagging the letter in what was a very busy week full of other nationally televised events: the Iowa Caucuses, the State of the Union Address, and the final day of the Senate impeachment trial.

Now we need to make an effort to get these same Representatives and more to sign onto H.R. 2662, the Asylum Seeker Protection Act, which would defund this cruel “Remain in Mexico” policy. So far, only Garcia, Schakowsky and Schneider have signed. If you are represented by one of these 3, please call and thank them. If not, please call your member of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 2662.

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5

February
Call your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2662, the Asylum Seeker Protection Act!
February 5, 2020 Claudia Lucero Action Alerts, Central America

The so-called Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) implemented by the Trump administration since January 29, 2019 have been in place for a year, and we have seen the disastrous results. We are alarmed that 60,000 people,having fled life-threatening situations in their home countries and having experienced trauma on their way north, have attempted to seek asylum in the U.S., only to be told that they must fend for themselves in Mexican border cities until their court case comes up, usually 6-8 months later. Organized crime, which has preyed upon migrants for years, poses a grave danger for these asylum seekers. In addition, they live in precarious conditions, with little access to food, water or shelter; no sanitation services; very few doctors available on site to provide medical care; and no access to U.S. lawyers who could represent them in their asylum cases.

A Congressional delegation went to the Texas-Mexican border to provide oversight of the MPP. Click here to read what they found.

We must act to end this inhumane and dangerous policy! Please call the U.S. House Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, ask to be connected to your Representative’s office (If you don’t know the name of your Representative, click here), and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 2662, the Asylum Seeker Protection Act, which would defund the MPP. Leave your phone number or email address and ask the office to let you know whether the Representative has signed or not. Let them know you are tired of hearing politicians portray all migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers as murderous criminals, and that you see them as community members, neighbors and friends.

If you receive a response from your Representative’s office, please call the CRLN office (773-293-2964) or email shunter-smith@crln.org to let us know. We will be following the progress of this House Resolution.

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The Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN).

  • Tel: +773-293-2964
  • Fax: +773-293-3677
  • Email: crln@crln.org