CISPES Accused of Being Foreign “Agent” of Leftist Political Party
CISPES Accused of Being Foreign “Agent” of Leftist Political Party
Contact: Burke Stansbury, CISPES – 202 521 2510 ext. 205; burke at 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
Washington DC: The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El
Salvador (CISPES), illegally targeted in the 1980's by the largest FBI
Internal Security investigation of the Reagan era, has in recent
months again received threatening communications from the U.S.
Department of Justice. Citing the Foreign Agents Registration Act of
1938, a letter sent to CISPES in January questions the organization's
relationship with the leftist Salvadoran political party known as the
Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation, or FMLN. CISPES
received similar inquiries in the 1980s which eventually led to an
illegal FBI investigation into its activities.
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 U.S.
Rather, we have a solidarity relationship based on shared political
values that goes back to the struggle for democracy and economic
justice that the people of El Salvador fought against a brutal
U.S.-backed military regime in the 1980s." CISPES was founded in 1980
at the height of the civil war between the US-backed Salvadoran
government and the FMLN, at that time an internationally recognized
guerrilla force.
"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 Latin America . It is an effort to intimidate and stifle
solidarity groups in the U.S. who oppose the Government's efforts to
install puppet regimes against the will of the people of Latin
America," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a lawyer from the Partnership
for Civil Justice who is part of the team of attorneys assisting
CISPES in this matter.
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, U.S. government officials issued statements
showing clear support for the right-wing ARENA party and threatening
to cut off money sent from Salvadorans in the U.S. to their families
should the FMLN win.
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 Central America solidarity movement," said Angela
Sanbrano, CISPES Executive Director during the FBI investigation of
the1980s. "That infamous witch hunt was a complete failure, and yet
the Bush Administration has the nerve to return to the original
tactics of using an ambiguous law – FARA – to threaten CISPES again."
CISPES has continued its work of supporting real democracy and human
rights in El Salvador by taking delegations of elections observers to
El Salvador; touring prominent Salvadoran labor leaders and human
rights advocates in the U.S.; and working to prevent a repeat of past
U.S. political intervention. CISPES has opposed the opening of the
U.S.-sponsored International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), claiming
that it has served to export repressive U.S. policing tactics –
including harassment of political activists from opposition groups –
to Latin America.
"It's no coincidence that the Bush Administration is targeting CISPES
now for our solidarity with movements in El Salvador," said Sha
Grogan-Brown, CISPES's Development Director. "As more and more
progressive forces take power in Latin America, the State Department
is looking for ways to bolster its few remaining allies and to thwart
the rise of parties like the FMLN. But their dirty tactics of
harassment and intimidation will not stop our solidarity work, as we
refuse to submit to their pressure."