Rep. McGovern becomes 2nd congressperson to support the Electoral Tribunal

By CISPES

Joining Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) is now the 2nd U.S. congressperson to publish a statement commending El Salvador’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) for its “professionalism” and calling El Salvador’s elections “orderly, peaceful, free and fair.” McGovern also called on all political parties exercise “patience, calm and professionalism.” Rep. McGovern’s statements come as a result of a grassroots campaign to bolster international support for the TSE as it faces a right-wing assault from the losing ARENA party. Call your representative to ask that s/he join Reps. McGovern and Moran in making a public declaration in support of democracy in El Salvador.

Read the full text below.

U.S. Congressman applauds the Electoral Tribunal for final vote count

By CISPES

Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) issued this bilingual statement  congratulating the Salvadoran people on their democratic election, applauding the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for its impartial and transparent management of the elections – especially the final vote count – and expressing his enthusiasm to continue good relations with El Salvador’s next president.

Read his full statement below:

El Salvador Back on US Right’s Agenda as Runoff Vote Nears

Jim DeMint of the Heritage Foundation recently slandered the FMLN in the Miami Herald. (Photo: The Foundry)

by CISPES

Following the FMLN’s unprecedented 10-point victory over the ARENA party in El Salvador’s first round of Presidential elections on February 2^nd, right wing forces have reignited their campaign in the United States of fear and misinformation against the FMLN. The renewed effort comes as El Salvador approaches a March 9^th runoff election, with the leftist FMLN party poised to easily defeat the right-wing ARENA party, historically backed by the US government.

Op-Ed: El Salvador vote should be decided by the people, not the U.S.

by CISPES

On Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle published an op-ed by Hector Perla, Jr. entitled, “El Salvador vote should be decided by the people, not the U.S.” a response to various right-wing hit pieces that have been published in US news outlets like the Washington Post.

Professor Perla’s provides a thought-provoking response to the following question: Why do Salvadoran politics evoke such passionate responses from the U.S. conservative establishment?

Statements of U.S. neutrality in the papers and on the radio

On Wednesday, January 29th, U.S. solidarity organizations published paid ads in El Salvador’s two widest circulating newspapers, La Prensa Gráfica and El Diario de Hoy, with statements from U.S. officials in the State Department, Senate, and House of Representatives affirming the U.S. government’s neutral position in El Salvador’s electoral process. Radio PSAs are also airing on community and commercial radio stations to make sure as many Salvadorans as possible know that they can vote for whoever they choose without fear of political retaliation from the U.S. government. (Listen to the radio PSA and download copies of the paid ad after the jump.)

Former U.S. Ambassador says U.S. shouldn’t be scared of an FMLN victory on Sunday

posted by CISPES

“We should welcome the F.M.L.N.’s statements of good faith and cooperate with it.” – William Walker, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador from 1988-1992, in a New York Times opinion piece

Read Walker’s full article after the jump.

U.S. Rep. Engel releases statement about elections

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) Photo: wikimedia.org

posted by CISPES

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Engel Statement on Upcoming Salvadoran Presidential Elections

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Eliot L. Engel, the senior Democratic member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement as the people of El Salvador head to the polls to choose a new president this Sunday.

Senators call on John Kerry to declare US neutrality in El Salvador’s elections

Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (Photo: The Roanoke Times)

by CISPES

Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Marc Warner sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday, January 24, asking him to, “[make] clear that the U.S. government will work closely with any candidate who wins fair elections.”  Their letter  affirmed that doing this would be a step towards supporting a “free, fair and transparent vote.”

Virginia is home to 123,800 Salvadorans.  The 2014 presidential election will be the first election in El Salvador in which Salvadorans living abroad can participate through absentee voting.

US government pledges neutrality in Salvadoran Elections

posted by CISPES

According to an article in La Opinión, on Monday, January 13, Roberta Jacobson, Subsecretary of Western Hemispheric Affairs for the U.S. State Department, told journalists, “We want to encourage Salvadorans to vote according to their conscious, to trust that they can vote in a free and fair election, and that we will look to involve ourselves with the next president, whoever it is, to try to advance the agenda for prosperity.”