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<TITLE>Fri 2/27: Delegation Kickoff Party! Local live music, food & drinks!</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Verdana"><H2>Electoral Observer Delegation Kickoff Party<BR>
Friday, February 27 @ 8:00pm.<BR>
Encuentro 5 <BR>
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</FONT>33 Harrison Ave, floor 5, Chinatown<BR>
(near Chinatown & Downtown Crossing T stops)<BR>
www.encuentro5.org<BR>
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Suggested Donation: $10
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<FONT FACE="Verdana"><FONT SIZE="5">Delicious Salvadoran food, refreshing beverages, plus the fabulous live sounds of: <BR>
</FONT><H2>Fluttr Effect<BR>
The Grass Gypsys <BR>
Gary Backstrom <BR>
Dean Stevens <BR>
Chris Eastburn and members of the Family Folk Choral <BR>
Joseph Ziemba<BR>
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</H5><B>More to be announced…
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</H5>This is a benefit for a CISPES delegation to El Salvador in March to monitor the presidential elections. (Tel. 617.576.1709 / Email. Boscispes@speakeasy.net / http://www.cispes.org/)<BR>
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</FONT> There is a need to raise money for travel costs. This is a vital time to pay attention to El Salvador and to support the grassroots people’s struggle. For the first time in history the grassroots opposition party in the form of the FMLN is poised to win the presidency. This would be an unprecedented victory for the people of El Salvador (and in Central America) who have lived through extreme suffering at the hands of our own government simply for demanding their human rights. An FMLN presidential win would diminish the control of Washington in Central America, provide a beacon of inspiration to the oppressed people in the region, and bring the tide of the Latin American Democracy movement further north. <BR>
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</FONT>There is an important need for international election observers as the electoral tampering and corruption is rampant. <BR>
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</FONT>We need to raise awareness and MONEY for the delegation. There was a huge movement of solidarity with the people of El Salvador in the US during the 80’s. It’s time to put our attention back on El Salvador. <BR>
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</FONT>CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO ON THE 2009 SALVADORAN ELECTIONS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CqRotR3qg&eurl=http://www.cispes.org/<FONT SIZE="2"> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CqRotR3qg&eurl=http://www.cispes.org/> <BR>
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Here’s a little background: <BR>
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</FONT><B>El Salvador is Spanish for Vietnam<BR>
</B><FONT SIZE="2">El Salvador first made international headlines with the March 24, 1980 assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who had spoken out publically on the alarming human rights violations taking place through state repression of social-justice movements. With growing impunity, the U.S.-backed government resorted to massacres and death squad attacks aimed at a surging popular movement attached to a small, but growing, nucleus of armed revolutionary forces. <BR>
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In 1981, Ronald Reagan rode into office determined to "draw a line in the sand" against the tide of socialist revolution in Central America. These grassroots movements where challenging the status quo that had always acted in the interests of US Corporations rather than in the interests of their own people. El Salvador became the site of the largest U.S.-backed counterinsurgency war since Vietnam. During the 12-year civil war, the U.S. government spent over $6 Billion on direct military assistance and training for the Salvadoran armed forces and police, many of these US backed forces where trained in terrorism techniques at the infamous School of Americas at Ft. Benning, GA (www.soawatch.org <http://www.soawatch.org/> ). The result was that 75,000 Salvadorans were killed, untold numbers were tortured and terrorized, and over 1.5 million were displaced (many to the US<BR>
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For more info check out: <BR>
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<B>Wikipedia Page on El Salvador</B>: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_El_<BR>
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<B>"El Salvador is Spanish for Vietnam": The Legacy of the Vietnam Peace Movement</B> http://vi.uh.edu/pages/buzzmat/ltv.htm<BR>
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