Join a National Day of Action!
On March 24, 1980, El Salvador’s archbishop, Óscar Arnulfo Romero, was assassinated by U.S.-backed death squads in the middle of giving a homily in San Salvador.
Just months before he was murdered, Romero wrote a letter to President Carter, calling on him to “forbid that military aid be given to the Salvadoran Government ... and to guarantee that your Government will not intervene directly or indirectly, with military, economic, diplomatic or other pressure, in determining the destiny of the Salvadoran people.”
Join CISPES for an upcoming National Day of Action (exact date TBD) to honor his legacy and echo his to end U.S. military aid and training. International solidarity is URGENT as thousands of human rights violations at the hands of police and military have been documented in El Salvador since the Bukele government suspended constitutional rights in March 2021. Over 65,000 people have been arrested without warrants, while over 100 people have been killed while in custody. Meanwhile, the government has ratcheted up unjust arrests of environmental defenders and union leaders.
Get ready to call, email and/or Tweet your U.S. Congressional Representative and Senators to demand that they halt military and security aid to El Salvador and throughout Central America.
Sign up below to receive an email reminder on the Day of Action with a link to our action page, where you will find:
- Pre-written emails to your Members of Congress (feel free to personalize as you like!)
- A phone call option that can automatically connect you to your specific representative’s office & a call script
- Sample tweets
– Background –
Despite the risks, the Salvadoran social movement has continued to mobilize in the streets to denounce the government’s attacks on the 1992 Peace Accords, human rights, and democracy itself.
Salvadoran youth, feminists, and workers are sending a clear message against militarization. Meanwhile, Bukele continues on in his plan to more than double the size of the Armed Forces.
In 1980, Archbishop Romero wrote a powerful public letter to then-U.S. president Jimmy Carter to say, “if you truly want to defend human rights ... forbid that military aid be given to the Salvadoran Government.”
Instead of heeding Archbishop Romero’s warning, the U.S. went on to fund a devastating and inexcusable war on the Salvadoran people. Since then, through policy frameworks such as the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), the Alliance for Prosperity, and now the White House Plan for Addressing the Root Causes of Migration, the U.S. government has continued to arm and train Salvadoran military and police in order to impose its “solutions” to the poverty, violence, and insecurity in the country.
Though it is clear that Bukele is using the military, along with police, prosecutors and judges, to consolidate his grip on power and repress the opposition in the leadup to the 2024 elections, where he is running again in violation of the constitution, the U.S. shows no sign of ending its “cooperation” with the Armed Forces.
It’s up to us to call on Congress to finally heed Archbishop Romero’s call to Carter: "to guarantee that your Government will not intervene directly or indirectly, with military, economic, diplomatic or other pressure, in determining the destiny of the Salvadoran people."
Biden is just released his budget for next year, and if we want Congress to push back on U.S.-backed militarization in Central America, they need to hear from us today!
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