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	<title>sicsal-usa.org &#187; Meso America</title>
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		<title>Remembering Oscar Romero in a Time of War</title>
		<link>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2011/03/remembering-oscar-romero-in-a-time-of-war/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2011/03/remembering-oscar-romero-in-a-time-of-war/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:17:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>swright</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[El Salvador]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Liberation Theology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Romero, Oscar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sicsal-usa.org/?p=2299</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Scott Wright On March 24, we commemorate the anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero. One day before, President Barack Obama will visit Romero’s tomb in the cathedral of San Salvador, to conclude his first visit to Latin America and El Salvador. It is an occasion that lends itself to reflection – and action – as Christians, human rights organizations, and people committed to peace and justice – and to remember the legacy of the prophet-martyr of Latin America, Archbishop Oscar Romero. It is, as well, a moment to imagine what Archbishop Romero might say to President Obama on this occasion. We recall Romero’s words to President Carter, in 1980, pleading with him not to send U.S. military and economic support to the Salvadoran government: “Instead of favoring greater justice and peace, your government’s contribution will undoubtedly sharpen the injustice and the repression inflicted on the organized people, whose struggle has often been for respect of their most basic human rights.” If Romero were alive today, we are confident he would express the same concern to end U.S. military and economic support to governments that violate human rights and enable transnational corporations throughout the continent of Latin America [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Bishop Samuel Ruiz García, Defender of Mexico’s Mayans, Dies</title>
		<link>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2011/01/bishop-samuel-ruiz-garcia-defender-of-mexico%e2%80%99s-mayans-dies-at-86/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2011/01/bishop-samuel-ruiz-garcia-defender-of-mexico%e2%80%99s-mayans-dies-at-86/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:35:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>swright</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Liberation Theology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mexico]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sicsal-usa.org/?p=2212</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By JULIA PRESTON New York Times, January 26, 2011 Bishop Samuel Ruiz García, an impassioned defender of the Mayans in southern Mexico and a mediator in peace talks between Indian rebels and the government, died on Monday in Mexico City. He was 86. Pascual Gorriz/Associated Press Bishop Samuel Ruiz García on his way to Mass in late 1997. The cause was respiratory failure and complications of high blood pressure and diabetes, said Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, Bishop Ruiz’s successor. During his 40 years of presiding over a Roman Catholic diocese in Chiapas State, Bishop Ruiz cast light on abuses suffered by the Indians and sought to bring them into the church as equals with other Mexicans, challenging the rigidly stratified social order. His advocacy and egalitarian views, which were tinged with socialism, brought him into conflict with the Mexican government, which accused him of fomenting a violent uprising in Chiapas in 1994. He also rankled the Vatican, which said he had strayed from ecclesiastical principles to create a politicized ethnic church, and in 1993 publicly invited him to step down. Mexican clerics rallied to his defense, however, and he remained as bishop until he retired in 2000. Bishop Ruiz attracted [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Forgotten Promises in Guatemala Leave Indigenous Peoples Poorer and Hungrier</title>
		<link>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2010/12/forgotten-promises-in-guatemala-leave-indigenous-peoples-poorer-and-hungrier/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2010/12/forgotten-promises-in-guatemala-leave-indigenous-peoples-poorer-and-hungrier/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:29:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>swright</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Global Poverty & the Poor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guatemala]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sicsal-usa.org/?p=2071</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[GUATEMALA By Danilo Valladares GUATEMALA CITY, Dec 12, 2010 (IPS) &#8211; Nearly three years into President Álvaro Colom&#8217;s four-year term, Guatemala&#8217;s indigenous people have seen little improvement in their lives &#8212; and they represent approximately half the country&#8217;s population. &#8220;The situation of the native peoples may be even worse than before. Poverty has increased, the quality of education is very poor, and there is no intercultural perspective in health services,&#8221; Eduardo Sacayón, director of the Interethnic Studies Institute at Guatemala&#8217;s University of San Carlos, told IPS. The social-democratic President Colom promised when he was sworn in, Jan. 14, 2008, that he would govern &#8220;with a Maya face,&#8221; in favour of the poor and excluded. &#8220;Today is the beginning of privileges for the poor, today is the beginning of privileges for those without opportunities,&#8221; he said at the time. But Sacayón says the reality is quite different: &#8220;It is a structural and historic issue of always seeing what is indigenous as something that is not worth the effort, that has no value, or is a burden to the country.&#8221; According to official statistics, 40 percent of the Guatemalan population is indigenous, and include Maya, Garífuna and Xinca peoples. Though they themselves [...]]]></description>
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		<title>El Salvador: Petition Breaks 18 Years of Silence on Human Rights Agenda</title>
		<link>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2010/01/el-salvador-petition-breaks-18-years-of-silence-on-human-rights-agenda/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2010/01/el-salvador-petition-breaks-18-years-of-silence-on-human-rights-agenda/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:05:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>swright</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[El Salvador]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meso America]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sicsal-usa.org/?p=1999</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[BOGOTA, January 20, 2010 &#8212; El Salvador&#8217;s Petition of Forgiveness breaks 18 years of total impunity for serious human rights abuses committed during the country’s civil war, the International Center for Transitional Justice said yesterday. &#8220;With this act, El Salvador takes a first step to overcome the state of neglect and denial that had characterized the state policy thus far, and, in this way, to move toward a more meaningful agenda on human rights issues,&#8221; said ICTJ Americas Director Javier Ciurlizza. As a next step, El Salvador should fulfill the recommendations of the 1993 truth commission, in particular those related to criminal prosecutions for perpetrators of the most serious human rights violations, as well as those related to the need to exclude perpetrators from employment in public administration. President Mauricio Funes released the petition on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement that ended the 12-year armed conflict (1980-1992). Approximately 80,000 people died in the fighting between the government and armed groups. Since the end of the conflict, El Salvador has continuously applied impunity mechanisms &#8212; like pardons and amnesty laws &#8212; to prevent accountability for perpetrators. In his speech marking the petition’s release, [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Justice for the Assassinations in Cabanas, El Salvador: Letter to Pacific Rim Mining Company</title>
		<link>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2010/01/justice-for-the-assassinations-in-cabanas-el-salvador-letter-to-pacific-rim-mining-company/</link>
		<comments>http://www.sicsal-usa.org/2010/01/justice-for-the-assassinations-in-cabanas-el-salvador-letter-to-pacific-rim-mining-company/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:21:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>swright</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[El Salvador]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mining & Extraction]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.sicsal-usa.org/?p=2147</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[SIGN-ON LETTER:  Justice for the assassinations in Cabañas, El Salvador, where the Pacific Rim mining company holds gold mining exploration concessions FROM:  CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador), www.cispes.org SEND SIGN-ONS TO:  Meredith DeFrancesco: firmarcarta@yahoo.com Dear friends, We are sure that many of you heard about and were very concerned and outraged by the murders of Salvadoran anti-mining activists Ramiro Rivera and Felicita Echeverria (December 20, 2009) and Dora Alicia Sorto Rodriguez (December 26, 2009) and the continued threats against community journalists and activists in Cabañas, El Salvador, the region where Pacific Rim mining company holds gold mining exploration concessions. Pacific Rim is a Canadian company that is currently suing the government of El Salvador at the arbitration “court” of the World Bank for not granting them gold mining permits.  Community members and local organizations report that the presence of the company in the area has created an environment of violence and intimidation, and company &#8220;educators&#8221;, or promoters, have been linked to creating social tensions in the local communities. International Salvadoran organizations and international solidarity organizations are requesting organizations to sign on to the letter (below) condemning both the murders and shortfalls in the investigation, and [...]]]></description>
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