Resisting the New Conquistadors

According to Jesse Dyer-Stewart, a U.S. solidarity activist living in the Department of Chalatenango in El Salvador:

On the day before the Anniversary of the Assassination of Monseñor Romero,
26 people representing 100 communities occupied Cathedral in Chalatenango
City in coordination with planned activities in San Salvador that kick off a
6 day hunger fast in protest of years of impunity by the Salvadoran State.  
The Association of Communities for the Development of Chalatenango (CCR) and
the non-governmental association of parents of the disappeared Pro-Busqueda
organized the event in Chalatenango as a response to the Salvadoran
Government's incompletion of a March first 2005 sentence by the
Inter-American Human Rights Court (IHRC), its failure to respect local
government and citizen concerns in the granting of mining licenses to the Au
Martinique Silver company, the planned construction of the hydroelectric dam
El Cimarrón, and the proposed diversion of the Sumpul River.

The IHRC sentence was issued in November of 2004 in relation to the case of
the Serrano Cruz sisters Erlinda and Ernestina of Chalatenango, who were
disappeared by soldiers of the Atlacatl Battalion during "Operation
Cleansing," also known as the "May Flight," in Chalatenango on the second of
June 1982.  The sentence orders the Salvadoran Government to create a
national search commission for the disappeared, charged with discovering the
whole truth related to the case, to raise awareness about the truth of
hundreds of disappeared children, and to provide medical and psychological
care as well as compensation to the Serrano family.  To this date the
sisters have not been found, nor has it been determined if they are alive or
dead.

The hunger fast begins a day after Salvadoran President Tony Saca sent
administration representatives to Chalatenango, as stipulated by the IHRC,
to publicly acknowledge responsibility for their disappearance and to
publicly ask forgiveness, as demanded by Pro-Búsqueda and backed by the
IHRC.  However, in Chalatenango on Wednesday the Salvadoran Chancellor
Francisco Lainez stopped short of taking responsibility or asking
forgiveness, saying "we deeply lament all that occurred during the armed
conflict that took hold of our country for more than 12 years...we
especially lament what happened in relation with Erlinda and Ernestina
Serrano Cruz."

The statement of the fasters follows, first in Spanish and then in English.....

MANIFIESTO DE LOS AYUNANTES DE LA ASOCIACIÓN DE COMUNIDADES PARA EL DESARROLLO DE CHALATENANGO, CCR

Se informe al pueblo salvadoreño y a la comunidad internacional, que el día 23 de marzo, víspera del 26 aniversario del Martirio de Monseñor Romero, se inicia un ayuno con 26 personas en la Catedral de Chalatenango, cabecera departamental contra la impunidad del Gobierno Salvadoreño.  En memoria de nuestros mártires Monseñor Romero, Padre Rutilio Grande y Padre Jon Cortina manifestamos lo siguiente:

1.      Manifestamos nuestra inconformidad y protesta contra el incumplimiento y la falta de respeto por parte del Gobierno por la sentencia de la Corte Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos con respeto al caso de las hermanas Serrano Cruz.  Demandamos que el estado pida perdón públicamente por la desaparición de las hermanas, y cumpla con la sentencia en su totalidad.
2.      Manifestamos ante el Gobierno y Ministerio de la Economía y Medio Ambiente nuestro rechazo total y enérgico a la introducción de los proyectos mineros en el nordeste de Chalatenango, declarando que estas tierras son fruto que nos ha quedado después de doce años de guerra sufrida en El Salvador.  
3.      Nuestro rechazo completo a la represa hidroeléctrica el Cimarrón que se quiere construir sin consultar con las comunidades afectados.  

Manifestamos nuestras demandas en el mismo lugar donde el miércoles se hizo presente el Canciller de la Republica Lic. Francisco Laínez, acompañado del Presidente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia, Agustín García Calderón, para dar cumplimiento a la sentencia de la Corte Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos, en el caso de las hermanitas Serrano Cruz.  En ningún momento el pronunciamiento de los representantes del gobierno se enfocó en la familia Serrano, ni hubo ningún compromiso en buscar a las niñas, es mas, a la situación se le cambió de enfoque, al llenar el caso de otra familia, cuando la Corte dice claramente que éste tendría que estar dedicado a las hermanitas Serrano.

Toda la sentencia no ha sido cumplida a su totalidad, y el gobierno una vez más minimiza el cumplimiento de la sentencia de la Corte Interamericana.  Tristemente, éste acto en lugar de aliviar el dolor de muchos padres y madres que perdieron sus hijos durante la guerra, se convirtió en una burla y desesperanza para todas aquellas familias que aun no han encontrado a sus hijos.  

manifiesto en ingles...

STATEMENT BY THE FASTING MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHALATENANGO, CCR  

We inform the Salvadoran people and the international community, that the 23rd day of March, one day before the 26 anniversary of the Assassination of Archbishop Romero, we began a hunger fast with 26 people in the Cathedral of Chalatenango, provincial capital, against the impunity of the Salvadoran Government.  En memory of our martyrs Archbishop Romero, Father Rutilio Grande, and Father Jon Cortina we manifest the following:

1.      We declare our inconformity and protest for the non-compliance and lack of respect by the Government for the Inter-American Human Rights Court’s sentence in respects to the case of the Serrano Cruz sisters.  We demand that the state publicly apologize for the disappearance of the sisters, and that it complete the sentence in its totality.  
2.      We declare before the Government and the Ministry of the Economy and Environment our total and energetic rejection of the introduction of mining projects into the northeast of Chalatenango, declaring these lands are fruits left to us after twelve years of war suffered in El Salvador.  
3.      We manifest our complete rejection of the hydroelectric dam El Cimarrón that is being built without consulting the affected communities.  

We manifest our demands in the same place where the Chancellor of the Republic Francisco Laínez appeared Wednesday, accompanied by the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Agustín García Calderón, to complete the sentence of the Inter-American Human Rights Court, in the case of the Serrano Cruz sisters.  At no time was the pronouncement of the representatives of the Government focused toward the Serrano Family, nor was there any commitment to look for the children.  What is more, they changed the focus of the situation, to highlight the case of another family, when the Court clearly states that this event was to be dedicated to the Serrano sisters.  

The sentence has not been completed in its entirety, and the Government has once again minimized the completion of the sentence of the Inter-American Human Rights Court.  Sadly, rather than ease the pain of many fathers and mothers that lost their children during the war, this act was converted into a cruel joke for all the families that still have not found their children.