Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) is urging people to take action regarding the detention of at least 60 people, 13 of them election observers, at customs in El Salvador by immigration officials. Since September of last year, immigration officials have used intimidation tactics and illegal raids on the Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS), in order to discourage solidarity workers from organizing around the controversial elections of this month. For the past 15 years, ARENA has been the ruling party in El Salvador, employing a dirty campaign to ensure that the popular left-wing party, the FMLN, stands much less of a chance of unseating them. Six months after ARENA started its campaign of intimidation, the immigration police have informed observers that the Ministry of Governance has issued a general directive to deny entry to all international election observers. At least one local bay area observer was detained. The United States government has been complicit in the illegal detentions, issuing vague threats should the FMLN win the election and expressing their support for ARENA. Read more On Detentions