January

The year started off with a trip to the World Social Forum, an annual gathering of social movements from all over the world, in Venezuela. Voices’ Executive Director Tanya Snyder was invited to participate as an all-expenses-paid member of a 100-person delegation of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, and ended up serving as both translator and delegation staff.

Voices’ El Salvador Director advised a hydroponics project in collaboration with REDES and CRS. The project included communities and organizations on the other side of the Lempa River.

IN THE NEWS: Schafik Hándal, historic leader of the FMLN, died at age 75. Schafik was a lifelong proponent of socialism and class struggle – preferably through elections and negotiations, but by arms if necessary. His passing brought on a national outpouring of support for the FMLN.
 

February

Members of the Erie, PA partner community traveled to El Salvador to train community members, students, and health professionals in physical therapy techniques. Similar massage and relaxation techniques training sessions in July 2004 helped war-wounded community members sleep soundly for the first time since the war.

While most of the water from Hurricane Stan (October 4, 2005) had dried up, the road ahead for the completion of the levee system in the Lower Lempa was still uncertain. The government reportedly had $3 million, still unused, slated to fund levee repair throughout El Salvador before the next rainy season. Meanwhile, Voices was a crucial partner during the reconstruction of disaster-damaged homes as well as the legalization of land titles needed to build new homes for needy families.

Thanks to the money raised from the sale of a benefit CD by 18-year-old Marc Bastos of Charlotte, NC and coordination with Voices, the music school in Comunidad Segundo Montes (CSM) was able to repair its roof and paint a beautiful mural.

A new community directive board in Ciudad Romero began to take a leaderships role in the community with plans of a new health care clinic and other community projects.

IN THE NEWS: Gang violence escalated including atrocities such as the Soccer Massacre.
 

March

Ten houses in Comunidad Octavio Ortiz (COO) were reconstructed to repair earthquake damage done in October 2005. The houses were also strengthened to help avoid collapse should another earthquake occur.

The South Bay Sanctuary Covenant arrived in El Salvador for their annual delegation just in time to witness the municipal elections. Violeta Menjivar became the first female mayor of San Salvador when the FMLN won by a small margin. There was considerable evidence the Supreme Electoral Tribunal failed to remain non-partisan, instead blatantly favoring ARENA. These and other allegations of fraud and corruption in the executive branch further contributed to the lack of faith many Salvadorans had in the strength of their democracy.

IN THE NEWS: El Salvador was the first country to implement CAFTA on March 1.
 

April

On April 10, Voices joined hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mostly Latinos, as they gathered in Washington and other cities to proclaim their rights and stand up against proposed draconian immigration legislation.

Also in April, Voices started working with Salvadoran-Americans in Silver Spring, Maryland who were interested in starting a partner community with San Francisco Gotera in Morazán. They came to us with a well-developed plan, great ideas, a sound analysis of the issues facing the community, and lots of great contacts, and we were happy to help them build an official partner community relationship. We’re pleased to be working with immigrants to strengthen the communities they left behind.

May
Construction could be seen nearly everywhere in COO as the community continued to recover from Hurricane Stan. Projects included levee repairs and new sand surfaces on roads to help drainage. At the school, new concrete fence posts were installed to help protect the it from cattle and break-ins. In other community news, the women’s soccer team won their conference championship for the second consecutive year.

Voices raised money for and worked closely with youth in the Lower Lempa on a historical memory photo project, recording some 40 hours of testimonies about the armed conflict from people throughout the region. This footage will be made into a documentary on community members’ experiences, both in the mountains and in the refugee camps, during the conflict. The students have also done workshops on globalization, international trade, labor relations and other topics.

IN THE NEWS: A segment of border 375 km long between El Salvador and Honduras was finally agreed upon by the presidents of both countries after being disputed since 1969.
 

June
Energetic construction continued throughout the Voices partner communities. The San Romero neighborhood of CSM began constructing a neighborhood chapel / meeting place with $7,500 of their own funds (in part from the last Voices delegation from Erie, PA.) Meanwhile in Ciudad Romero materials were purchased (with the help of funding from partners in St. Paul, MN) and work begun on repairs to the Youth Center. Having been abandoned for years, the renovated center was soon able to host large gatherings, serve as offices for the town directive board, and safely store medicine for the nearby health clinic.

The United Communities of the Lower Lempa began a project to organize 160 women from seven communities into women’s committees with multiple purposes: to foster women’s leadership and political education, to provide a safe place for women to share experiences and problems, and to provide income-generating projects for women to work on together. A local woman was hired, her salary initially supported by Voices, to organize these committees. The project has since grown to 15 committees. Voices has supported several committee projects through funds raised from Spirit In Action, Building New Hope, and South Bay Sanctuary Covenant.

IN THE NEWS: An amendment that would have shut down operations at the School of the Americas failed by 15 votes. However, the November 7th midterm elections in the US saw 34 opponents to the amendment lose their seats for the House of Representatives, paving the way for future success in shutting down what is widely known as a School of Assassins.

IN THE NEWS: June 1st marked the start of President Tony Saca’s third year in office, with approval ratings down to 33%. With an increase in crime and emigration due to lack of employment, growing numbers of Salvadorans were out in the streets voicing their concerns
 

July
Voices’ Executive Director Tanya Snyder visited El Salvador and Guatemala (on a GHRC delegation on violence against women) and had much to report.

Salinas El Potrero’s long-time health promoter, Carmen Gutierrez, left the community after 12 years working there, and was replaced by Rubidia, who quickly gained the trust and affection of the community members. When Tanya visited, Rubi was facilitating a youth workshop in which the youth identified as one of the major changes of adolescence that boys start wearing baggy jeans and girls start wearing tight jeans.

Nearly eleven months after Hurricane Stan El Salvador was still working hard to repair its infrastructure. In Ciudad Romero community contributions (one dollar per family) were helping purchase cement to rebuild bridges. Volunteer laborers there also helped repair seven bridges and pave a new road.

Mario, the president of the United Communities of the Lower Lempa (and outgoing president of the COO directive board) returned from a European tour to raise awareness and money for the Lower Lempa. Invited by a German partner organization, he and Alfredo (a young agronomist from UC) met with countless organizations and foundations, and also got to learn about the flood-protection systems of the Netherlands. They were impressed by the extensive levee and drainage systems there, and some European experts later came to the Lower Lempa to see the system there and advise them on improvements.

In Guatemala, Tanya participated in a fact-finding delegation investigating the epidemic of violence against women, which has gone largely un-investigated. Although the problem is less high-profile in El Salvador, rates of violence against women there are actually higher than in Guatemala.

IN THE NEWS: A student protest against a bus fare hike turned violent and resulted in the death of two police officers. News programs placed heavy blame on the students, while reports showed that the police used unnecessary force (helicopters and live ammunition) to control the crowd. Unconstitutional police occupation of the national university was also a cause for concern. Voices joined with other solidarity organizations to encourage US lawmakers to express disapproval of excessive force and unconstitutional tactics against protestors.

Economic conditions in El Salvador continued to be complicated by remittances from emigrants. Studies indicated that the loss of remittances would cause a jump in extreme Salvadoran poverty rates from 6% to 37%. However, there was increasing concern by economists that the flood of U.S. dollars was driving up the overall cost of living in El Salvador.
 

August
August 19th was the annual Corn Festival, held in COO. This year, all of the communities of the region were involved in the planning and preparation, and the festival drew more people than ever before. Many thousands of ears of corn were roasted, made into tamales, drunk as atol, etc. More than just a corn festival, though, the event was also the first attempt at a regional trade fair, which was a healthy stimulus to local economies.

With the funding from Voices wood was purchased for carpentry classes for area war-wounded and youth. After successful classes were taught there an individual expressed interest in investing in the construction of a woodshop.

Emergency preparedness activities continued in the Lower Lempa, with Voices’ funding helping buy radios, a generator, emergency lights, a chainsaw, cell phones, etc. In addition, the community worked on stockpiling water and non-perishable foods to help speed recovery should another hurricane confront El Salvador.

Voices intern Iemanja Brown organized a fundraiser activity which brought together activist poets and musicians at a local theater / bar. The successful event raised consciousness and money for Voices projects.

Probes into why 9.9 km of levees in the Lower Lempa remain unfinished revealed that the Salvadoran Government had used funding exclusively set aside for levee construction to fund another project. Voices’ partner, Global Village Engineers, and German levee engineers met with dignitaries in the Government’s Agriculture Ministry (who is in the region responsible for flood control) and members in their Embassies to put pressure on finishing the levees. Their hope was to make the government aware that there was global concern over the need for the levees.

IN THE NEWS: Nearly 100 uniformed soldiers and police agents came to the community of La Sabana in the Lower Lempa demanding entry to the community’s Historical Museum. Despite not having a warrant to do so, they then proceeded to raid the museum. After taking objects from the museum and threatening to detain the curators the military party left without explanation.
 

September
Funding from Spirit in Action helped fund a women’s micro credit program in COO to purchase a bread oven and a calf.

Voices on the Border joined with the Mobilization for Global Justice to organize two events linking corporate globalization policies to local poverty. A march from the World Bank to the Franklin Shelter brought attention to the city’s intention to shut down the shelter, and contributed to the shelter’s victory just a few weeks later as DC ended its attempts to turn the shelter into a hotel. A film fest two days after the march highlighted immigrants’ struggles in the United States.
 

October
While traditionally the wettest month of the rainy season, October was exceptionally dry, so dry in fact that the Lower Lempa was in danger of drought. Luckily, the drought was not severe enough to affect any crops or farming there. In other COO news, three fuel-efficient wood stoves were installed, one of which would provide more efficient cooking in the school. The stoves were designed to both conserve wood and reduce smoke in the kitchen, a major cause of respiratory problems in children.

Voices El Salvador Director met with new partners in a new area of work for us, San Francisco Gotera, in Morazán, which will be working with their new partner community in Silver Spring, MD.

Alligator activity in the Lempa River stirred interest in a recreational center with swimming facilities. The center would help promote tourism and provide a safe swimming alternative to the alligator-ridden waters of the Lempa, as well as a place to teach fisherman how to swim.

Meanwhile, Tanya spoke at the annual fundraiser of the South Bay Sanctuary Covenant, helping raise thousands of dollars for projects in the Lower Lempa. Meetings with the SBSC steering committee, the social justice ministry of the First Presbyterian Church, the Sanctuary Committee of St John’s of God, and many other notable gatherings helped solidify close relationships with our partners in California.
 

November
November was a busy month of travel for Tanya. She participated in the Charlotte El Salvador Interest Group’s annual planning meeting, providing up-to-date information and analysis about El Salvador and specifically about their partner community, CSM, and helping them plan for the coming year. Then she was off to St. Paul, Minnesota to meet with the Sister City Committee and join forces with Laurie McGinley’s historical memory photo project, for which Voices is now a fiscal sponsor.

Voices participated in the SOA vigil, co-presenting a workshop with the Guatemala Human Rights Commission on the Peace Accords in those two countries, on their 10th and 15th anniversaries. Aside from being a strong symbol of opposition to the School of Assassins, the weekend is also a great time for activists from all over the Americas to come together and learn from each other.

Tanya extended her trip to Georgia to hold a meeting with several Ciudad Romero emigrants living in an Atlanta suburb. Over 200 people from that community live in the same area in Georgia now, getting together several times a week to play soccer. They maintain some contact with Ciudad Romero, and even once held a soccer tournament fundraiser for a project in the community, but they have not yet organized a committee to interface with their hometown. Voices is working with them on this, and connecting them also to Ciudad Romero’s partner community in St. Paul. The next night, Tanya gave a talk to a multinational audience at the University of West Georgia.

November 30th was the anniversary of COO, the celebration of which involved a community dance and a number of baptisms.

Most joyous of all, on November 19th, former Voices Director Wes Callender and his wife, Pat Davis, had their first baby, Anna Grace.
 

December
ALGES continued their community activity with workshops on global economics, solidarity, and gender equality, as well as organizing their community against water privatization.

Voices worked with the Segundo Montes Foundation to arrange a trip for ten women of a Segundo Montes committee to travel to the Lower Lempa region for a discussion of community participation and organization between regions. During their trip they visited project sites working with hydroponics, chickens, and homemade incubators. Hydroponic gardening particularly interested the women of CSM.

On December 8, Voices had its second fundraiser event of the year, also organized by intern Iemanja Brown (who by this time was back at school in Massachusetts). The 5thL, a spoken word / hip-hop group packed the Potter’s House, and a good time was had by all.

The partner community relationship with Gotera had its official kickoff, as its coordinator, Evelyn Gonzalez, went to the community and held an event to celebrate the new relationship. School supply kits were given out to needy children.

As the year ended, Voices turned its attention to coalition-building, one of its major goals for the coming year. Voices is helping bring US-based solidarity groups together, both El Salvador-specific groups and others that work in other parts of Central America. There is so much that unites us, it seems worthwhile to better coordinate our work.

IN THE NEWS: 2,500 Salvadoran members of the Campaign for Action Against Hunger and Poverty protested a law proposing the effective privatization of El Salvador’s water.

 

2005 Year in Review