Update on Salvadoran Unionists: Monge and Ayala freed but charges have not been dropped!

Freedom of Expression in Danger!

Posted June 7, 2004
This alert has been written with information provided by CISPES.

Salvadoran health care workers union leaders Ricardo Monge and Javier Ayala have been released from jail after a hunger strike to protest their illegal detention. However, all the charges have not been dropped and the ruling ARENA Party is trying to pass a law that would make it illegal to protest in the streets. Write Attorney General Belisario Artiga telling him to affirm respect for free speech by dropping all charges against Monge and Ayala. [See sample letter below.]

Background

On the morning of April 28, about 20 members of the STISSS health care workers union, lead by Secretary General Ricardo Monge, entered El Salvador's National Cathedral in a peaceful occupation. They were protesting the Salvadoran Institute of Social Security's (ISSS) continuous repression of workers as well as the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which was signed by the United States and five Central American countries on May 28 in Washington, DC. Salvadoran Attorney General Belisario Artiga charged Monge and Javier Ayala, another prominent member of the union, with "acts of terrorism" and accused Monge of being the "intellectual author" of violence. When a judge exonerated Monge, Ayala and 35 others of all but a minor charge on May 5, Artiga appealed the case and the government refused to release the leaders.

In response to this decision, Ayala and three other union members launched a hunger strike to protest the government's illegal detainment of the union leaders. After 25 days in custody, the leaders were released and the hunger strike finally ceased, but not all the charges have been dropped. Furthermore, the ruling ARENA party is trying to pass a law that would make it illegal to protest in the streets and much easier to prosecute those who have been arrested during anti-government protests. This is an alarming attempt to undermine the Salvadoran people's freedom of expression. Freedom of speech is by no means an act of terrorism, as the government is trying to make it seem, but rather an undeniable right in all democratic societies.

We urge you to contact, via fax or email, Attorney General Belisario Artiga, Mauricio Ramos Falla, Director of the Social Security Institute (ISSS), and Salvadoran President Francisco Flores, so as to express your concern regarding the STISSS health care workers' union and your outrage against the law that would impede Salvadorans to express themselves freely.

Sample letter

Below is a sample letter to Artiga. Please use the information in this letter to compose your own.

Attorney General Belisario Artiga
Fax: 011-503-249-8605
belisario_artiga@hotmail.com

cc. Mauricio Ramos Falla
Director of the Social Security Institute (ISSS)
comunicacionesisss@elsalvador.com

cc. President Francisco Flores
casapres@casapres.gob.sv

Dear Attorney General Artiga:

I write with concern regarding the current situation of the STISSS healthcare workers' union. There appears to be a pattern of illegal firings, police repression and judicial harassment directed against STISSS due to their opposition to government polices.

Credible reports indicate that over 150 healthcare workers have been illegally fired since September of 2002, most of them STISSS activists, and that none of them have been given due process. On April 28, during a protest at the San Salvador Cathedral denouncing these illegal firings, Ricardo Monge, the Secretary General of the STISSS union, and Javier Ayala, Secretary of Organization, were violently arrested. Riot police went on to attack the remaining participants with rubber bullets and tear gas, eventually injuring 23 people and arresting 34 more.

The repressive police action against peaceful protests and apparent judicial harassment of union leaders for expressing opposition to government policies concern me greatly. It is also my understanding that the Salvadoran government is considering legislation that would make it easier to prosecute people for actions during street protests.

While I am respectful of your jurisdiction and prerogatives as elected officials of the Salvadoran Government, I feel compelled to speak in defense of the human rights of STISSS leaders and membership. The right to organize for collective representation and the right to free speech are recognized in international law and universally accepted by democratic governments. They certainly apply to Salvadoran workers and political organizers.

I feel that violent repression against peaceful protests and judicial persecutions of those who exercise their free speech rights have no place in a democratic society. The police and the courts are not instruments to produce political consensus.

I urge you to affirm respect for free speech by dropping all charges against Monge and Ayala. I also urge Lic. Ramos Falla to affirm respect for the right to organize without fear of retaliation by stopping the illegal firings of union workers and rehiring all fired workers.

I will continue to monitor closely the situation of health care workers in El Salvador and whether the rights to organize and to speak freely will be respected. I sincerely hope for a timely remedy of this situation.

Sincerely,
[Your name]