Salvadoran Unionist Reports on Attacks on Labor, Social Movements

"The reality is the right to organize does not exist" in El Salvador, Salvadoran labor leader Ricardo Calderon told a captivated crowd Friday night at St. Stephens Church in Columbia Heights. Calderon was in DC as part a speaking tour organized by the Committee in International with the People of El Salvador. Maryland State Delegate Ana Sol Gutierrez opened the event with an account of her recent trip to El Salvador and her participation in a march to demand access to water for all Salvadorans. Calderon followed Gutierrez and reported on the current issues facing the Salvadoran labor and social justice movements. These include a recent Supreme Court decision making the right to organize unconstitutional, the social effects of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and the growing resistance to privatization of health care and water. "CAFTA was passed without the consultation of the people, as called for in the constitution," said Calderon, adding that the agreement has hurt the country's agricultural sector with the influx of cheap imports, increased the cost-of living through privatization, and has not created the tens of thousands of new jobs promised prior to its passage. Calderon also discussed the increasing government repression as a result of the recently passed "anti-terrorism" law. The government is "using the anti-terrorism law against the social and union movements to criminalize their activities," including non-violent protest, Calderon said. Ending with a vision of hope, Calderon told the crowd that resistance is building and a push is being made to defeat the current government in the 2009 elections. We are also “working to create a workers' platform to make politicians take into account workers' issues" and are "denouncing violations of workers' rights on an international level." -Report/photo by Andy Richards