[PEN-L:1783] urgent action (fwd)

[D Shniad <shniad@xxxxxx>]

> 				December 7, 1995
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --URGENT ACTION-   EL SALVADOR   -URGENT ACTION--
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 		   POLICE TRY TO SEIZE RADIO STATION
> Dear Friends,
>
> We have received news from the Committee in Solidarity with the People
> of El Salvador that on December 4th,  25 National Civilian Police (PNC)
> tried to seize the community radio station, Radio Sumpul, in Guarjila,
> Chalatenango.
>
> The police, including the Sub-Commissioner and Sub-Inspector based in
> Chalatenango, drove four vehicles onto the station's grounds and tried
> seizing its equipment.  According to the Coordinator of the Rural
> Communities of Chalatenango (CCR), the police "used methods of the
> disappeared National Guard and Treasury Police, beating women and
> threatening town residents and international observers who were present
> at the entrance to the installations of Radio Sumpul."  When asked to
> show the judicial order for the incursion, police said they were only
> following orders from their superiors.
>
> Local residents spontaneously defended the station by building stone
> barricades and formed human chains to peacefully confront the PNC who
> were armed with rifles. Eventually the equipment was recovered but
> police were not permitted to leave by the residents until after the
> equipment had been checked for damage and the PNC leaders there signed
> an agreement in front of a UN witness to pay for damage incurred. CCR
> said that attempts to seize TV and radio equipment had been made at
> community radio stations throughout the country.
>
> BACKGROUND INFORMATION
> Since 1992 Radio Sumpul has served as the main communication instrument
> by and for the people of Chalatenango.  It has sustained itself with
> the support of the communities and international solidarity.
>
> Other recent human rights violations include the following:
> * November 3- failed attempt on the life of FMLN legislator, Humberto
> Centeno.
>
> * November 10- the bodyguard of opposition legislator, Ana Guadalupe
> Martinez, was injured in an armed attack on the congresswoman's
> vehicle.
> * November 13- a memo, circulated to all PNC captains, putting them on
> alert and referring to labour and other protests, stated:"all these
> activities have the objective of paralyzing the country, creating
> instability and ungovernability..."  Opposition leaders warned that
> this letter was meant to prepare for a wave of police repression and
> re-militarization.
>
> * November 19- Santos Rodriguez Castro, leader of workers at the
> Ministry of Public Works, was shot dead at his home by two armed men
> who had asked for him to confirm his identity before shooting him.
>
> * November 24- police in full riot gear fired tear gas and plastic
> bullets at 200 war veterans and victims demanding benefits promised
> under the Peace accords.  Rene Antonio Pineda was shot in the heart and
> died;  13 others were wounded, including Francisco Gonzalez Loza, 54,
> shot 64 times with plastic bullets.
>
> * November 27- Gonzalo Anotolio Navarro, leader of the electrical
> workers union, was shot in the throat by two unidentified men as he was
> repairing his car
>
> Protests are planned in the U.S. at Salvadoran consulates.
>
> RECOMMENDED ACTION:
> Please send messages to the Government of El Salvador, asking for an
> investigation into the attack on Radio Sumpul and the other violations
> (refer to at least some of them) so that those responsible are brought
> to justice
>
> Please also contact the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs,
> requesting he contact the Salvadoran government with the same message.
>
> Please send copies of this message to the Foreign Affairs critics for
> the NDP and the Reform Party.  (Eastern Canada covers the Bloc
> Qubecois.)
>
> ADDRESSES
> Lic. Armando Caldern Sol                                FAX:011 503 2
> 214 532
> Presidente de la Republica,                                     011 503
> 2 710 950
> Casa Presidencial,
> San Salvador, EL SALVADOR
>
> Hon. Andr Ouellet,                              FAX:  1 613 996 3443
> Minister of Foreign Affairs,                    Phone:1  613 995 8872
> House of Commons, Ottawa, Ont.  K1A 0A6
>
> Svend Robinson, M.P. (NDP)                      FAX:1 613 992 5501
> Bob Mills, M.P. (Reform Party)          FAX:1 613 995 6831
>
>
>
>