First Lady protests withdrawal of forensics staff from women’s centers

Photo: Verdad Digital

by CISPES

First Lady Vanda Pignato, who also holds the government position of Secretary of Social Inclusion, has denounced a decision by the director of El Salvador’s Forensics Institute (Medicina Legal) to remove representatives of the institution from the country’s network of women’s services centers.  Forensics Institute staff, who conducted medical investigations in cases of sexual assault and domestic abuse, were withdrawn from two of El Salvador’s five Women’s City (Ciudad Mujer) centers, which provide free legal, medical and employment services to the nation’s women.  According to Pignato, the staff that was pulled from Ciudad Mujer informed her that Forensics Institute Director Miguel Fortín ordered their removal and declared that until the right-wing ARENA party returns to power there will be no Forensics Institute representatives in the Women’s Cities.

First Lady calls on undecided voters to support FMLN

by CISPES

Photo: FMLN.org.sv

Yesterday, at the massive street rally marking the close of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party’s electoral campaign, First Lady Vanda Pignato called on undecided voters to cast their ballot for FMLN presidential candidate Salvador Sánchez Cerén. “It’s the most sensible choice,” she told the crowd of 350,000.  Pignato, who is not an FMLN militant, took leave of her cabinet position as Secretary of Social Inclusion on January 19 when she endorsed the FMLN ticket and announced plans to join their campaign.