Government targets CISPES again, suggests FARA violation
*********
For immediate release
March 11, 2008
Contact: Burke Stansbury, CISPES – 202 521 2510 ext. 205; burke@cispes.org
Central American Solidarity Activists Dispute Department of Justice Order, Denounce Possible Repeat of Illegal Harassment
Grassroots Group Accused of Being Foreign “Agent” of Leftist Political Party in Lead-up to Contentious Salvadoran Presidential Elections
The letter cites the organization’s website and an article published in the Washington Post – which does not mention CISPES – following the December 2007 visit of the FMLN’s presidential candidate Mauricio Funes. It states that, “it has come to our attention… that the FMLN, and/or possibly its candidate for El Salvador’s 2009 presidential election, Mauricio Funes, hired your organization for the purposes of conducting a public relations media campaign to include political fundraising…” The Department of Justice gave no other evidence to back up the claim.
According to CISPES Executive Director Burke Stansbury, “CISPES has never had a contractual agreement with the FMLN or Mr. Funes, nor have we taken orders from the party to do publicity work in the
“That the Department of Justice would wrongly evoke the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) to target this organization at this particular moment demonstrates the Administration's fear of progressive change sweeping
The Salvadoran FMLN and its candidate Funes have gained broad support 12 months ahead of the 2009 election, in large part due to the failure of U.S.-supported neoliberal policies like the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
“This shows that the Bush Administration is terrified of another Latin American country electing a Left party,” said Stansbury. “People in the region want fair and transparent elections, free of outside intervention, and such actions by the Bush Administration show a dangerous tendency towards once again disrupting the electoral process of a sovereign country.” In 2004, the last time the FMLN had a chance to win the presidency,
In 1981 FBI investigated CISPES for allegedly acting as a foreign agent of the FMLN. When that claim proved baseless, the Department of Justice launched a full-scale investigation based on the claim that CISPES was a front for the “terrorist” FMLN. The FBI campaign of surveillance, harassment, and intimidation of CISPES lasted until 1987 and ultimately became a major embarrassment for the Bureau when CISPES and the Center for Constitutional Rights forced the release of FBI files under the Freedom of Information Act. Subsequent Congressional hearings showed the FBI to have conducted numerous illegal operations, led to an internal inquiry by the Bureau, and curtailed the scope of domestic surveillance activities which were later expanded again under the USA Patriot Act.
“In the 1980s the Department of Justice set out to intimidate and repress the powerful
CISPES has continued its work of supporting real democracy and human rights in
“It’s no coincidence that the Bush Administration is targeting CISPES now for our solidarity with movements in
- Go here to view the Department of Justice letter to CISPES
- Go here to view the CISPES response
- Go here for an article on the history of FBI harassment targeting CISPES in the 1980s
No comments:
Post a Comment