San Salvador, El Salvador – Los Cinco Héroes cubanos pasaron más de una década en las cárceles de los Estados Unidos, arrestados por el gobierno estadounidense a finales de los años 1990 por haber monitoreado grupos anticomunistas cubanos basados en Miami, Florida quienes han planificado actividades terroristas en contra de Cuba socialista. Los cinco recientemente ganaron su libertad de las cárceles de los Estados Unidos debido a una campaña mundial exigiendo su libertad. Regresaron a Cuba como héroes, todavía firmes en su dedicación a la revolución cubana. La decision del gobierno estadounidense para liberarlos fue uno de los primeros pasos en la restauración de las relaciones diplomáticas entre Cuba y los Estados Unidos.

Los cinco – René González, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández y Fernando González – están visitando varios países para dar las gracias a los pueblos que les apoyaron y que apoyan a Cuba. Como parte de eso, realizaron una visita histórica a El Salvador el pasado 21 de julio. Con una apretada agenda realizaron varios actos de homenaje al arzobispo salvadoreño Óscar Arnulfo Romero, asesinado por los escuadrones de la muerte de la derecha durante la guerra civil; y al patriota cubano José Martí; sostuvieron también una entrevista privada con el Presidente de la República Salvador Sánchez Cerén, un líder histórico del Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), y concluyeron su visita en un acto popular celebrado en la Universidad de El Salvador (UES), primera y única casa de estudios pública en ese país, institución académica con una larga historia de lucha y pensamiento crítico.

Los 5 héroes fueron recibidos calurosamente en la UES, con el clásico grito universitario ¡Esta es la U! Mientras los cubanos dirigieron un emotivo discurso a la multitud que desbordó el Cine-Teatro.

Cerraron su participación con una condecoración por parte de la Comisión Política del FMLN, el liderazgo del partido de izquierda que actualmente gobierna el país, quien les consignó una medalla al mérito; así también la Comunidad Salvadoreña Palestina les obsequiaron unas hermosas Kufiyas blancas y negras los cuales los cinco orgullosamente mostraron en la tarima.

Antes de visitar El Salvador los Cinco Héroes cubanos visitaron Nicaragua en el aniversario de la revolución sandinista de 1979, y también pasaron por Sudáfrica. Los movimientos revolucionarios en esto tres países tienen vínculos profundos históricamente con la revolución cubana.

#SanSalvadorElSalvador #SanSalvador #Cuba #ElSalvador #FMLN #SalvadorSanchezCeren #Cuban5 #UniversityOfElSalvador #Americas

San Salvador, El Salvador – The Cuban 5 spent well over a decade in U.S. prisons, arrested by the U.S. government in the late 1990s for monitoring anti-communist Cuban groups based in Miami, Florida that have planned terror activities against socialist Cuba. The five were recently released from U.S. prisons in the face of a worldwide movement demanding their freedom. They returned to a heroes welcome in Cuba, unbroken and firm in their dedication to the Cuban revolution. Their release by the U.S. government was an early move in the renewing of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S.

The five – René González, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández y Fernando González – are now visiting several countries to give thanks to the people that supported them and support Cuba. As part of that, they made a historic visit to El Salvador on July 21. They had a packed agenda, including paying homage to slain Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero who was assassinated by a right wing death squad during the Salvadoran Civil War, and Cuban patriot Jose Martí. They met with Salvadoran President Salvador Sánchez Ceren, who is a historic leader of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). They closed their visit with a packed mass meeting at the amphitheatre of the University of El Salvador (UES), the only public university in El Salvador. UES is an institution with a long and historic tradition of revolutionary thinking and struggle.

The 5 Cuban heroes were warmly welcomed at the UES with the traditional chant of the universitary students, “esta es la U!” (“This is the U!”). They gave a very emotional speech to the crowd that packed the facility.

They were also given a recognition by the FMLN Political Commission, the leadership of the leftist party that governs El Salvador, and by the Salvadoran Palestinian community who gifted them with beautiful black and white keffiyehs, which they proudly put on while on stage.

Before visiting El Salvador, the Cuban 5 also visited Nicaragua on the anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution there, and visited South Africa. The revolutionary movements in all three countries have deep historic ties to the Cuban revolution.

#SanSalvadorElSalvador #SanSalvador #Cuba #ElSalvador #FMLN #SalvadorSanchezCeren #Cuban5 #UniversityOfElSalvador #Americas

San Salvador, El Salvador – In an historic day here, June 1, Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sanchez Ceren were sworn in as the new president and vice-president of El Salvador. Funes and Sanchez Ceren are members of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), a leftist political party which was formerly a guerrilla movement that fought against the U.S.-backed right wing dictatorship in El Salvador in the 1980s. Funes and Sanchez Ceren won election on March 15, marking the first time there will be a leftist government in El Salvador’s history.

Long ruled by brutal U.S.-backed right-wing military dictatorships and ultra-right-wing political parties, Salvadorans overcame a blistering fear campaign by the right and voted in record numbers for the FMLN. The FMLN’s election removes the ARENA party from power, which had been the Bush administration’s strongest ally in the region.

President Funes was a long-time television journalist in El Salvador. He was one of the few Salvadoran TV reporters who challenged right-wing government officials, which made him very popular and respected. Sanchez Ceren was one of the FMLN’s top political and military commanders during the civil war period.

In his inauguration speech, Funes quoted from assassinated progressive Archbishop Monsignor Arnulfo Romero, saying that the FMLN would govern with a “preferential option for the poor.” One of his first policy announcements was that El Salvador’s new government will open relations with socialist Cuba. Other programs were announced to immediately begin to address the effects of the worldwide capitalist economic crisis on El Salvador’s workers and peasants and to attack the corruption that characterized the right-wing ARENA government.

In addition to the official inauguration ceremony on June 1, the FMLN also organized a massive rally in the country’s largest stadium, Estadio Cuzcatlan. As many as 70,000 people began filling the stadium early Monday morning, coming in from around the country to be part of this historic moment. Almost everyone in the stadium was wearing red (the FMLN’s color) and waving red flags. There were musical performances from longtime pro-revolutionary groups such as Los Guaraguao, Cutumay Camones, Lloviznando Cantos and Los Torogozes de Morazan. Speakers at the rally included the new president Mauricio Funes, FMLN coordinator Medardo Gonzales (Milton), as well as other progressive figures from Latin America such as a representative of Hugo Chavez from the Venezuelan government, President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador and others.

The weight of history was heavy in the air at the stadium, as those in attendance remembered the tens of thousands of people who gave their lives fighting for change in El Salvador.

#News #ElSalvador #FMLN #MauricioFunes #SalvadorSanchezCeren #Americas

The FMLN election victory ends decades of military dictatorship and 20 years of rule by the extreme right-wing ARENA party that was founded by Roberto D'Aubuisson, the mastermind of the right wing death squads during El Salvador's civil war. The FMLN victory brought an unprecedented wave of elation and celebration into the streets of El Salvador and to Salvadoran communities in the U.S. and around the world.

In Minnesota, more than 150 people gathered at First Lutheran Church in Saint Paul at a celebration sponsored by the FMLN Committee of Minnesota. The gathering was mostly Salvadorans but also included activists who have worked in solidarity with the FMLN and the revolutionary movement in El Salvador since the 1980s.

At the event there were live television and internet broadcasts from El Salvador to hear election results as they came in, then there was music by Juanito Figueroa, Revolucion Guanaka and DJ Mastervision.

The Minnesota FMLN Committee organized for the past two years to support the FMLN campaign in El Salvador, including educational events, parties and many fundraisers. The election night celebration brought out a large number of Salvadorans to share this historic victory.

The Salvadoran right wing tried to win the election with crude anti-communist propaganda, outright threats – backed up by menacing statements against the FMLN from Republican congress people in the U.S. – and by trying to tarnish the image of Mauricio Funes. But Funes is a well-known, respected journalist in El Salvador. Despite a blistering non-stop propaganda campaign against Funes and the FMLN, the right wing was not able to win with these scare tactics this time around, as they have been able to in past elections.

Cherrene Horazuk, former national director of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) who has been involved in solidarity work with the FMLN since the 1980s, spoke at the Minnesota FMLN event about the importance of international solidarity in counteracting the right wing fear campaign. Horazuk emphasized that CISPES has always fought against U.S. intervention in El Salvador so that the Salvadoran people can decide their own fate without fear of U.S. war or manipulation. She said, “We had a significant victory the week before the election when CISPES helped force the U.S. State Department to officially declare their neutrality in the election, to counteract threats made by Republican congressmen who were trying to scare Salvadorans into voting for the right-wing ARENA party again. Defeating this fear campaign was a real contribution to Salvadoran self-determination. When the Salvadoran people were allowed to choose with less fear of U.S. intervention, they chose the FMLN.”

The election of the FMLN in El Salvador continues a shift to the left throughout Latin America and removes the far right wing ARENA party, one of the former Bush administration’s closest allies in the region, from power.

#MN #News #ElSalvador #FMLN #MauricioFunes #SalvadorSanchezCeren #Americas