Social Organizations Denounce Police and Military Abuses against PROCOMES

Members of the Communal Center of El Salvador (CODESA) condemn the abuse of authority by the PNC

Margarita Posada of the Citizen Alliance Against the Privatization of Health and the National Health Forum denounced the raid and unjustified arrest of 35 people in the local office of PROCOMES last Saturday July 2 in Nejapa, San Salvador.

The Center for Training for Local Development and Solidarity Economies (PROCOMES), with 24 years of experience in 9 departments around the nation, works with the vulnerable population and at-risk youth.

Posada reported that on Saturday July 2nd, a combined force of 270 National Salvadoran Police (PCN) and Army troops raided the local PROCOMES office and arrested 35 people working there.

 “They entered the office without a search warrant after having cut the PROCOMES office fence and arrested the guard, whom they first told they were pursuing a criminal;  later, they stated that they were looking for weapons in the office and proceeded to arrest these individuals, this is an abuse that takes us back to the 70s,” she expressed.

According to information received by the social organizations, PROCOMES was working with at-risk youth in Nejapa, along the lines of the National Youth Policy proposed by the government.

 “19 years after the Peace Accords, this type of brutal police and military actions becomes a worry for social organizatioons working  with at-risk youth . . . we greatly worry that they say that the meeting of the people there was to extort, rob and other [crimianal activities],” she said.

 “We call for the end of this type of repressive actions, that do not support for the climate of peace that the government promised,” she added.

 “We hope that this was an isolated case,” added Margarita Posada, who invited the civilian population to follow the events and prevent a wave of repression.

Mario Chavez of the Communal Center of El Salvador (CODESAL) stated that they are not against operations by the authorities, “but rather the violent form in which they entered, given that the damaged materials, and furthermore did not have a judicial order to enter.”

CODESAL representative Eduardo Salazar said that this PNC action is similar to that of the repressive forces of the past.  [IE—National Guard, National Police, and Treasury Police]

 “We demand that the Director of the PNC and the Minister of Defense act professional within the framework of the law and respect for human rights, given that the events that happened against PROCOMES do not continue to happen, given that these groups work for the development of the nation,” maintained Salazar.

The PNC arrested during the operation several people related to one of the guards, which is presumed to be the motive for violently entering the installations.

            From Diario CoLatino, July 6, 2011

            Translation by Larry Ladutke