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El Salvador rights groups fear repression after raids on seven offices
November 24, 2021

News Source: the Guardian

Rights activists in El Salvador said they will not be pressured into silence after prosecutors raided the offices of seven charities and groups in the Central American country.

“They’re trying to criminalise social movements,” said Morena Herrera, a prominent women’s rights activist. “They can’t accept that they are in support of a better El Salvador.”

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Content Page
TAKE ACTION: Drop Charges for Water Protectors at Line 3
November 24, 2021

As many of you know, IRTF has been involved in the resistance at Line 3 and took a delegation to Minnesota this summer to show our support for the movement. In our continued solidarity, we ask that our community reads through and engages with this call to action from a water protector that has been on the ground protesting for a year:

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News Article
Honduras: The challenge of ending twelve years of neoliberalism
November 23, 2021
On November 28, more than 5 million Hondurans will be asked to elect the President of the Republic, 128 deputies to the National Congress, 20 to the Central American Parliament, 298 mayors and more than 2 thousand municipal councillors. As the election date approaches, the political atmosphere has become polarized, conflict has intensified and social tension grown.
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News Article
El Salvador: Police raid offices of human rights and feminist NGOs as Bukele ramps up persecution against popular opposition
November 23, 2021
Early in the morning of November 22, representatives of the Attorney General of El Salvador, accompanied by police, raided seven human rights organizations, ostensibly on the grounds of investigating “corruption.” The Salvadoran popular movement describes the raids as the latest in an escalating campaign of political persecution by President Bukele against voices critical of the regime. Among the organizations targeted were Las Mélidas, a historic feminist organization that works to defend women’s rights, and PRO-VIDA, a humanitarian association that works in areas of healthcare, climate change, and strengthening of democratic institutions. Also targeted were PROCOMES, FUNDASPAD, Fundación Una Mano Amiga, Asociación de Mujeres Tecleñas, Fundación Ambientalista de Santa Ana (FUNDASAN). In a statement following the raid, a representative of Las Mélidas condemned the attacks as “unjustified” and meant to “criminalize their initiatives” which include literacy, violence prevention, and sexual health campaigns.
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RRN Letter
Honduras, 11/23/2021
November 23, 2021
Two campesino leaders, Celenia Bonilla and her husband Nelson García, were assassinated on November 21. They were attacked while gardening on the patio of their home in the Cañada de Flores sector of Guaimaca municipality, Francisco Morazán Department. Their three children (the youngest one-year-old) are now left orphaned. Nelson García was president of the campesino association Hombres y Mujeres de Fé (Men and Women of Faith). Together with another campesino association, 44 families have been farming the land in Cañada de Flores for ten years against a backdrop of persecution. Although the municipality of Guaimaca has the land registered as an ejido (common land), an individual has been claiming private ownership. The CNTC (National Center of Rural Workers) has previously denounced threats and harassment of members of these two campesino associations. We demand that the government investigate these killings and bring the perpetrators to justice. We also urge the government to develop public policies on access to and tenure of land in order to address the structural issues of land conflicts.
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News Article
Honduras: A Plea for Democracy
November 23, 2021
Our country has been in crisis ever since the 2009 coup, which overthrew the democratically-elected government of Manuel Zelaya Rosales. The co-mingling of oligarchs and drug traffickers with state actors has deepened. Human security has deteriorated, and critical problems like drought, gang violence and extreme poverty have gone unaddressed. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has reported that journalists face targeted killings, arbitrary detentions, the destruction of equipment and other obstacles that have impeded their ability to operate independently....Despite the difficult situation in Honduras, I am optimistic. For the first time there is broad opposition to the current regime. We even have the support of some in the private sector who are fed up and want to create more opportunities for economic growth. This unprecedented level of organizing and unity in Honduras echoes the momentum that eventually led to the downfall of the brutal Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. - Gustavo Irías, CESPAD, Honduras.
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News Article
Honduras: Once undocumented, now he's running for mayor and hoping to help fix Honduras
November 22, 2021
Freddy Murio leans against the doorframe to his home, his 10-gallon hat and oversized belt buckle making him look like a Honduran version of the Marlboro man. After 12 years as an undocumented construction worker in New York, Murio is now back in his rural hometown and running for mayor in Honduras' upcoming elections.
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News Article
El Salvador: Top US Diplomat Leaves the Country
November 22, 2021
The U.S. Chargé d'Affaires in El Salvador, Jean Manes, announced her departure from the Central American country without the appointment of a new ambassador in a diplomatic legation, which has been without this position for almost a year and in a context of tensions in bilateral relations. In the last few months, the relationship between the Governments of El Salvador and the United States has been far from improving, according to statements of the Chargé d'Affaires, who denounced that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is not giving any sign of interest in the bilateral relationship. In particular, she mentioned the cooperation with Washington and assured that the White House sent her to the country as a bridge to clarify the situation. Still, the Bukele administration decided not to take it, so new ways are being sought to maintain cooperation with El Salvador.
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News Article
El Salvador: Search warrant to search the premises of 7 Salvadoran NGOs
November 22, 2021
U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Jean Manes said today on local television that she will be returning to the U.S. and that relations between El Salvador and the United States are temporarily on hold “due to the Salvadoran government’s apparent lack of interest in dialogue” after several meetings where they wanted to verify whether the Salvadoran government wanted to continue on an “anti-democratic path“. A few hours later, the District Attorney’s Office and national police raided seven NGOs with a search warrant signed by Haydee Flores, one of the newly-appointed judges and former wife of appointed General Attorney.
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RRN Letter
Guatemala, 11/22/2021
November 22, 2021
We wrote to the attorney general of Guatemala for the second day in a row about more state violence in El Estor. On November 16 the Guatemalan National Police (PNC) forcibly evicted 96 Maya Q’eqchi’ families from Chinebal, in the southern region of El Estor municipality, Izabal Department, which has been under a government-declared state of siege since October 23. The Maya Q’eqchi’ families of Chinebal have resided and farmed on this land at the foot of the Sierra de las Minas mountain range since the 1940s. The eviction (police bulldozing homes, burning families’ personal belongings) stemmed from a longstanding land dispute over rightful ownership of the Palestina Chinebal farm. Businessman Juan Maegeli leases portions of the land to the NaturAceites company to grow African palm trees for palm oil production. Palm plantations are now covering 9% of arable land in Izabal.
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