Students take over University in San Salvador

Police Surrounding Students, Threatening Arrests
10,000 Participated in National Day of Action Against Privatization
Protestors being warned that they could be arrested and charged with "High Terrorism"

Thursday, October 31, 2002

Yesterday afternoon, students from the University of El Salvador held a rally on campus protesting against the privatization of health care, and against the imminent occupation of the university campus by the Salvadoran Armed Forces during the upcoming Central American and Caribbean Games. Two hours into the rally, students were surrounded by military personnel who forcefully evicted them, claiming that they had received a bomb threat. The use of military personnel in civil-disturbance policing is expressly prohibited in the 1992 Peace Accords. In protest, late last night the students occupied a number of university buildings that will be used to house athletes during the Games, declared the campus to be a "liberated zone," and plan to maintain the occupation through the weekend unless Flores signs the legislative decree outlawing the privatization of health care. At 6:00am, riot police armed with automatic weapons as well as teargas and rubber bullets descended on the scene; reinforcements from the STISSS, the SETUES union of university staff, and other organizations have also arrived to support the students. Human rights monitors from the Prosecutor's Office for the Defense of Human Rights are present. A march of ISSS patients has just stepped off towards the Legislative Assembly, and from there will head to the university.

Also yesterday, organizations from across the Salvadoran social movement blocked highways, bridges and border crossings for a second time this month in protest against the privatization of health care. Some 10,000 protesters participated in 14 blockades that snarled vehicle traffic across the country. Protesters carried torches to show that the flame of popular resistance has been ignited. In San Salvador, doctors from the SIMETRISSS union sat down across five major boulevards; healthcare workers from the STISSS union blocked four of the major entrances into the city. Doctors also marched in San Miguel, where minor scuffles with police were reported after a bus nearly struck one protester. The Pan-American Highway was blocked at four different points, as were the Puente de Oro and Quebrada Seca bridges that connect eastern and western El Salvador. The Las Chinamas and Candelaria border crossings to Guatemala were blocked, as was the El Poy crossing to Honduras. By coincidence, Salvadoran President Francisco Flores and Honduran President Ricardo Maduro were at El Poy at the time, signing a border-demarcation agreement; Flores's motorcade was trapped for an hour, and the president himself had to be evacuated by helicopter. National Civilian Police chief Mauricio Sandoval had taken out full-page advertisements in all of the daily newspapers to warn protesters that they could be arrested and charged with "high terrorism" for "obstructing the public right of way"; despite the intimidation, hundreds of passers-by spontaneously joined in the protests to demand that Flores sign the legislative decree outlawing the privatization of health care.

Today, the ARENA-controlled directorate of the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly will finally send Flores the legislative decree outlawing the privatization of public services. ARENA directorates have used procedural tricks to hold back the FMLN-sponsored decree, which passed the legislature some three weeks ago, but today must send the decree or face legal sanction. Flores had earlier threatened to veto the decree, but has been hammered by mass protests and plummeting popularity ratings: in a press conference yesterday, he announced that he would "study the decree very carefully" before making any decision. The STISSS and SIMETRISSS unions have insisted that only after Flores signs the decree can there be the possibility of real dialogue. Flores now has ten working days to sign or veto the decree. A number of marches and rallies are planned for today and tomorrow at different ISSS centers as the unions escalate their protest activities. The STISSS asks everyone to continue responding to our latest Action Alert and pressure Flores to sign the Bill against privatization. We will keep you posted on all the latest happenings.

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CISPES - Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
130 W. 29th Street, 9th floor
New York, NY 10001
212-465-8115 phone
212-465-8998 fax
cispes [at] cispes.org
http://www.cispes.org