U.S./El Salvador Report 6/20/09

Producer/Host: Kathleen March

Transcript: This is Kathleen March from the University of Maine and the report for WERU today is in collaboration with Radio Sumpul in El Salvador and US– El Salvador Sister Cities. This report is on the 1989 assassination of religious leaders in El Salvador from the perspective of Spain, since persons of Spanish nationality were among those killed.
En enero de este año la Audiencia Nacional española declaró que iba a investigar a 14 militares salvadoreños por el asesinato en El Salvador de seis jesuitas de la Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) y dos mujeres. El asesinato ocurrió en 1989.

El juez de la Audiencia Nacional, Fernando Andreu, admitió la querella presentada el 13 de noviembre de 2007 por dos organizaciones de derechos humanos, la Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España y el Centro de Justicia y Responsabilidad, con sede en San Francisco (EEUU).

El ex presidente salvadoreño Alfredo Cristiani, también denunciado por estas asociaciones, no será investigado.

Las asociaciones de derechos humanos acusan a los demandados de “crímenes contra la humanidad” y de “terrorismo de Estado”. Se basan en el principio de justicia universal, que permite a los tribunales españoles perseguir crímenes de lesa humanidad en todo el mundo. Los querellantes también acusaban a Cristiani de “encubrir” el crimen perpetrado por el Ejército salvadoreño.

El 16 de noviembre de 1989, miembros del batallón Atlacatl del ejército salvadoreño asesinaron en San Salvador a los sacerdotes hispano-salvadoreños Ignacio Ellacuría, rector de la Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), y al vicerrector, Ignacio Martín Baró, a otros tres religiosos españoles y uno salvadoreño, y a una criada y su hija.

Los acusados son cuatro generales, además de tres coroneles, tres tenientes, dos sargentos, un cabo y dos soldados.

Por el crimen, fueron juzgados nueve militares, entre ellos el director de la Escuela Militar de San Salvador, el coronel Guillermo Alfredo Benavides, culpado de todos los crímenes y condenado a 30 años de cárcel.

Benavides fue liberado el 1 de abril de 1993 bajo la ley de amnistía que perdonó todas las atrocidades cometidas durante la guerra civil en El Salvador (1980-1992).

Tras la presentación de la querella en Madrid, el entonces presidente salvadoreño, Elías Antonio Saca, declaró que Cristiani no tenía nada que ver con el crimen y garantizó al ex presidente el completo apoyo de su gobierno. Afirmó hoy que la apertura en España de este juicio no contribuía al “desarrollo democrático” de su país. Declaró: ” … el caso de los jesuitas es un caso que se juzgó, y se condenó a un grupo de militares que posteriormente fueron amnistiados porque hubo una Ley de Amnistía que era necesaria a la par de los Acuerdos de Paz”. Añadió que “Nosotros condenamos las muertes, las lamentamos, pero la verdad es que los países se administran para adelante, se administran viendo el futuro…”.

El arzobispo de San Salvador, Fernando Sáenz, manifestó su temor de que la apertura en España de una investigación de Cristiani no ayude “en el proceso de reconciliación interno”, aunque esta querella se basa en el principio de Justicia Universal, la misma que permitió en 1998 el arresto del chileno Augusto Pinochet por el juez Baltasar Garzón. En este mes se ha informado que el nuevo presidente, Mauricio Funes, en una de sus primeras declaraciones ofreció eliminar la impunidad y someter a los tribunales a los autores de numerosos crímenes cometidos por el brazo armado del partido Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA), fundado por Roberto D´Aubuisson.
This has been Kathleen March from the University of Maine. Today we discussed the case of the assassination of religious leaders in El Salvador in 1989 from the perspective of Spain. This report for WERU was in collaboration with Radio Sumpul in El Salvador and US– El Salvador Sister Cities.
This is Kathleen March from the University of Maine and the report for WERU today is in collaboration with Radio Sumpul in El Salvador and US– El Salvador Sister Cities. This report is on the 1989 assassination of religious leaders in El Salvador from the perspective of Spain, since persons of Spanish nationality were among those killed.
En enero de este año la Audiencia Nacional española declaró que iba a investigar a 14 militares salvadoreños por el asesinato en El Salvador de seis jesuitas de la Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) y dos mujeres. El asesinato ocurrió en 1989.

El juez de la Audiencia Nacional, Fernando Andreu, admitió la querella presentada el 13 de noviembre de 2007 por dos organizaciones de derechos humanos, la Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España y el Centro de Justicia y Responsabilidad, con sede en San Francisco (EEUU).

El ex presidente salvadoreño Alfredo Cristiani, también denunciado por estas asociaciones, no será investigado.

Las asociaciones de derechos humanos acusan a los demandados de “crímenes contra la humanidad” y de “terrorismo de Estado”. Se basan en el principio de justicia universal, que permite a los tribunales españoles perseguir crímenes de lesa humanidad en todo el mundo. Los querellantes también acusaban a Cristiani de “encubrir” el crimen perpetrado por el Ejército salvadoreño.

El 16 de noviembre de 1989, miembros del batallón Atlacatl del ejército salvadoreño asesinaron en San Salvador a los sacerdotes hispano-salvadoreños Ignacio Ellacuría, rector de la Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), y al vicerrector, Ignacio Martín Baró, a otros tres religiosos españoles y uno salvadoreño, y a una criada y su hija.

Los acusados son cuatro generales, además de tres coroneles, tres tenientes, dos sargentos, un cabo y dos soldados.

Por el crimen, fueron juzgados nueve militares, entre ellos el director de la Escuela Militar de San Salvador, el coronel Guillermo Alfredo Benavides, culpado de todos los crímenes y condenado a 30 años de cárcel.

Benavides fue liberado el 1 de abril de 1993 bajo la ley de amnistía que perdonó todas las atrocidades cometidas durante la guerra civil en El Salvador (1980-1992).

Tras la presentación de la querella en Madrid, el entonces presidente salvadoreño, Elías Antonio Saca, declaró que Cristiani no tenía nada que ver con el crimen y garantizó al ex presidente el completo apoyo de su gobierno. Afirmó hoy que la apertura en España de este juicio no contribuía al “desarrollo democrático” de su país. Declaró: ” … el caso de los jesuitas es un caso que se juzgó, y se condenó a un grupo de militares que posteriormente fueron amnistiados porque hubo una Ley de Amnistía que era necesaria a la par de los Acuerdos de Paz”. Añadió que “Nosotros condenamos las muertes, las lamentamos, pero la verdad es que los países se administran para adelante, se administran viendo el futuro…”.

El arzobispo de San Salvador, Fernando Sáenz, manifestó su temor de que la apertura en España de una investigación de Cristiani no ayude “en el proceso de reconciliación interno”, aunque esta querella se basa en el principio de Justicia Universal, la misma que permitió en 1998 el arresto del chileno Augusto Pinochet por el juez Baltasar Garzón. En este mes se ha informado que el nuevo presidente, Mauricio Funes, en una de sus primeras declaraciones ofreció eliminar la impunidad y someter a los tribunales a los autores de numerosos crímenes cometidos por el brazo armado del partido Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA), fundado por Roberto D´Aubuisson.
This has been Kathleen March from the University of Maine. Today we discussed the case of the assassination of religious leaders in El Salvador in 1989 from the perspective of Spain. This report for WERU was in collaboration with Radio Sumpul in El Salvador and US– El Salvador Sister Cities.

Weekend Voices 6/20/09

Executive Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Contributing Producer: Carolyn Coe
Topic: Carolyn Coe reports back from her recent trip to Gaza with CodePink
Segment 1: Conversation with Um Khaled. Her son Ahmed interprets. She describes her experience living with the Israeli blockade, her hopes for her sons, and the contrast between life in Gaza and other places where she has lived.
Segment 2: A woman’s story of living through the Israeli attacks during the “last war” and a call for the borders to open, with Nisreen Hisham AlBorno, Director of the National Center for Community Rehabilitation and John Ging, Director of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza.

RadioActive 6/18/09

Producers/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco and Amy Browne

(NOTE: This is a “fixed” version of the program, with the technical glitches edited out, and the complete first interview included)

Segment 1: We talk with a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point about their council’s recent vote to terminate their relationship with the company who has been trying to build a Liquefied Natural Gas terminal there. It has been close to five years since plans for a proposed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal were first visited upon the Passamquoddy Tribe at Sipayik, also known as Pleasant Point. It immediately sparked a controversy in which many tribal members felt Passamaquoddy history culture, environment and safety were being ignored by tribal, state and federal officials. The company Quoddy Bay , LLC, later named Quoddy Bay LNG, created by a large Oklahoma based company CEO, Donald Smith, who spear headed the LNG terminal plans with his son Brian Smith as project manager.
We covered this proposed project and the resistance against it over the years, from the beginning of the project, through public hearings, demonstrations, council votes, a lawsuit against the Bureau of Indian Affairs and many discussions on the significance such a project would have on the small piece of residential land where the Passamaquoddy tribe has lived on the Maine coast from time immemorial.
Though the last tribal governor and tribal council supported the Quoddy Bay LNG proposal and their payments, and though the company lobbied Pleasant Point and neighboring towns very hard, in October, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) dismissed Quoddy Bay LNG application to contruct an LNG terminal on grounds that incomplete information had been provided on their proposed operation and technology. Earlier this year, the company Quoddy Bay LNG had hired to perform engineering work on its pipeline sued the company for failure to pay. Last July the company stopped its quarterly payments to the tribe.
On June 9th, the Sipayik tribal council voted to end the project with Quoddy Bay LNG. This included vocal proponents of the project , including former tribal representative Fred Moore who helped to bring the project to the tribe originally.
We spoke with Madonna Soctomah. She is a Passamaquoddy tribal member at Sipayik, a former tribal representative to the Maine legislature, and a member of the Passamaquoddy organization Nulankeyutomonen Nkihtahkomikumon (“We Take Care of Our Land”), as well as the 3 Nation Alliance www.savepassamaquoddybay.org

Segment 2: On October 2007, a Peruvian Indigenous federation, representing 350,000 people in the Amazon region wrote a letter to the United States Congress urging them not to pass the US Peru Free Trade Agreement. In part, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon wrote : “We are convinced that the Free Trade Agreement would give incentives for further irreversible destruction of virgin rainforest, which will in turn increase global warming and displace our communities from their home territories” . The letter also underlined the increased power the Free Trade Agreement would give to oil, gas and mining companies, including so called “investor rights”, which allow foreign companies to sue the Peruvian government if they perceive the governments laws hinder company business and future profits. This could include policies pertaining to sustainable development, which indigenous groups have been working on for years. Following the negotiation for the FTA, Peru opened massive tracts of land in the Amazon for oil, gas and mining exploration, including previously “protected areas” belonging to indigenous peoples. Over the past decades indigenous communities have suffered from massive pollution and health problems as a result of oil operations, most recently emphasized in a lawsuit against Los Angeles based Occidental Petroleum. Now 70% of Peru’s Amazon is zoned for oil, gas and mining.
Regardless of massive campaigning and demonstration, the Free Trade Agreement was passed by Peru and by the United States Congress. Peruvian President Alan Garcia in turn passed a number of governmental decrees specifically aimed at adhering to the Free Trade Agreement ‘s stipulations and opening up the country to foreign investment.
This is the backdrop and instigation for the past more then 2 months of peaceful protests by over 30,000 indigenous people on the roads and waterways in the Amazon; And now, two weeks ago, the government’s attack, killing at least 60, and by some reports 250 demonstrators. Indigenous protestors have been demanding the repeal of president Garcia’s decrees, which also according to national and international organizations violates the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the ILO Convention.
We have with us today by phone Andrew Miller, the environmental and human rights coordinator for Amazon Watch. Thank you for coming on the program.

Baby Talk 6/18/09

Producer/Host: Cathy Jacobs
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne
Topic: Discipline with Young Children
Why are time-outs and other punishments ineffective in producing lasting behavior changes? Praise sounds like a good thing. How can it backfire? What are “time-ins”?
Guest: Bonnie Harris, author of “Confident Parents, Remarkable Kids”
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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/18/09

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
The TopCoder Open is a big deal international computing competition. It was won this year by an 18 year old Chinese lad. Out fo 4200 entrants, there were 70 finalists: 20 were from China, 10 from Russia, 2 from the U.S. About the same time, the Carnegie Corporation of New York issued report entitled “The Opportunity Equation: Transforming Mathematics and Science Education for Citizenship and the Global Economy.” These two events might serve to give pause to those who may think the United States will automatically be the leader in technology in the future.