Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
Encyclopedia
The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, based in Washington, D.C., is a national activist organization with chapters in various cities in the United States. CISPES supports the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
and the progressive social movement in El Salvador
.
CISPES was founded in 1980 in opposition to the U.S. aid (funding and political support) to the Salvadoran military and government during the Salvadoran civil war
. CISPES opposed the politics and the actions of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance
(ARENA) and its leader Roberto D'Aubuisson
during the Salvadoran Civil War, and continues to oppose the policies that ARENA implements.
Since the end of El Salvador's civil war in 1992, CISPES has worked with the FMLN and with Salvadoran popular movement organizations (unions, women's groups, peasants groups, etc.) in opposition to economic policies of free trade
and privatization
such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). CISPES organizes delegations to visit with El Salvador's left wing activists as well as organizing delegations to monitor Salvadoran elections for potential fraud or political manipulation.
From August to December 1981 the FBI conducted a 3-month inquiry (something less than an investigation) into whether CISPES was merely a front organization for the Salvadoran rebel groups, thereby placing the organization in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act
(FARA).
The organization that had grown to over 300 regional chapters in one year, came under DOJ and FBI scrutiny based on the alleged travel diary of Farid Handal, brother of Salvadoran Communist Party leader Shafik Handal, that supposedly had been seized by the Salvadoran National Guard during raids on rebel safehouses and handed over the CIA. A story about the diary made its way into a John Birch Society
publication Review of the News and a Republican House of Representative staffer passed a copy on to the FBI.[14]The diary was said to outline Farid's visit to the US and his meetings with Sandy Pollack
, representing both the U.S. Peace Council
(USPC, the national chapter of the then Soviet directed World Peace Council
) and the Communits Party USA(CPUSA), and with others, with the expressed and sole purpose of creating a solidarity network in the US for the Salvadoran rebels.[15]
Only a few months after Handal's trip in May 1980, during which he did meet with Pollack, according to her biography published by the US Peace Council, CISPES came into being by way of two founding conferences in which various Salvadoran rebels participated. Pollack was a founding member of the CISPES national council and served as such until her death in 1985. But, in the end, the FBI could not authenticate the diary and found no other verifiable evidence to prove direct control of CISPES by a foreign entity or to warrant further investigation. The case was dropped pending any further developments.
From August to December 1981 the FBI conducted a 3-month inquiry (something less than an investigation) into whether CISPES was merely a front organization for the Salvadoran communists, thereby placing the organization in violation of the FARA. While it was only a few months after Handal's trip in May 1980, during which he did meet with Pollack according to her biography published by the US Peace Council Publications, that CISPES came into being by way of two coinciding founding conferences in which various Salvadoran rebels participated, members in the Los Angeles chapter, for example, claimed that they had been informally working together for a year before the founding conference in October.[16] In the end, the FBI could not authenticate the diary and found no other verifiable evidence to prove direct control of CISPES by a foreign entity or warrant further investigation. The case was dropped pending any further developments.
By March 1983, the FBI had received what it considered to be sufficient information to open a full investigation into whether CISPES was providing financial and other types of aid in support of FMLN and FDR terrorist activities. The initial scope of the investigation was focused on CISPES leadership and especially its DC headquarters and Dallas chapter. But in late 1983 a directive was sent to all FBI field offices initiating a nationwide investigation that engulfed all members of 180 CISPES chapters as well as nearly 200 other groups that had the slightest connection to CISPES. The new investigation hinged mostly on information supplied by an informant, Frank Varelli, who the FBI later admitted had not been properly vetted and should never have been taken seriously. The investigation was closed in 1985. Later inquiries into the mishandling of the investigation by Congress led to disciplinary action against 6 FBI personnel, the resignation of the FBI officer responsible for handling Varelli[22], and many FBI policy and procedural changes.
Security classified computerized records related to the investigation are in the U.S National Archives.
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is, since 1992, a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations...
and the progressive social movement in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
.
CISPES was founded in 1980 in opposition to the U.S. aid (funding and political support) to the Salvadoran military and government during the Salvadoran civil war
El Salvador Civil War
The Salvadoran Civil War was a conflict in El Salvador between the military-led government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front , a coalition or umbrella organization of five left-wing militias. Significant tensions and violence had already existed, before the civil...
. CISPES opposed the politics and the actions of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance
Nationalist Republican Alliance
The Nationalist Republican Alliance is a conservative political party in El Salvador. It was founded on September 30, 1981, by Roberto D'Aubuisson, in order to oppose the reformist military junta that was ruling El Salvador at the time...
(ARENA) and its leader Roberto D'Aubuisson
Roberto D'Aubuisson
Major Roberto D'Aubuisson Arrieta was the Salvadoran Army officer and political leader who founded the Nationalist Republican Alliance , which he led from 1980 to 1985...
during the Salvadoran Civil War, and continues to oppose the policies that ARENA implements.
Since the end of El Salvador's civil war in 1992, CISPES has worked with the FMLN and with Salvadoran popular movement organizations (unions, women's groups, peasants groups, etc.) in opposition to economic policies of free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
and privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). CISPES organizes delegations to visit with El Salvador's left wing activists as well as organizing delegations to monitor Salvadoran elections for potential fraud or political manipulation.
FBI investigations
CISPES was a target of two highly controversial FBI investigations during the 1980s, as documented in the book Break-Ins, Death Threats and the FBI by Ross Gelbspan http://www.southendpress.org/2004/items/Breakins (ISBN 0-89608-412-4).From August to December 1981 the FBI conducted a 3-month inquiry (something less than an investigation) into whether CISPES was merely a front organization for the Salvadoran rebel groups, thereby placing the organization in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act
Foreign Agents Registration Act
The Foreign Agents Registration Act is a United States law passed in 1938 requiring that agents representing the interests of foreign powers be properly identified to the American public. The act was passed in response to German propaganda in the lead-up to World War II...
(FARA).
The organization that had grown to over 300 regional chapters in one year, came under DOJ and FBI scrutiny based on the alleged travel diary of Farid Handal, brother of Salvadoran Communist Party leader Shafik Handal, that supposedly had been seized by the Salvadoran National Guard during raids on rebel safehouses and handed over the CIA. A story about the diary made its way into a John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
publication Review of the News and a Republican House of Representative staffer passed a copy on to the FBI.[14]The diary was said to outline Farid's visit to the US and his meetings with Sandy Pollack
Sandy Pollack
Sandy Pollack was an American Communist activist who not only embraced the political turmoil of her time, but played a critical role in shaping it. She is best known for her involvement in the founding of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador , which was the focus of two...
, representing both the U.S. Peace Council
U.S. Peace Council
The U.S. Peace Council was an activist organization founded in the late 1970's.NATO's decision to deploy a new generation of strategic nuclear warheads in Europe and U.S...
(USPC, the national chapter of the then Soviet directed World Peace Council
World Peace Council
The World Peace Council is an international organization that advocates universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass destruction and all forms of discrimination...
) and the Communits Party USA(CPUSA), and with others, with the expressed and sole purpose of creating a solidarity network in the US for the Salvadoran rebels.[15]
Only a few months after Handal's trip in May 1980, during which he did meet with Pollack, according to her biography published by the US Peace Council, CISPES came into being by way of two founding conferences in which various Salvadoran rebels participated. Pollack was a founding member of the CISPES national council and served as such until her death in 1985. But, in the end, the FBI could not authenticate the diary and found no other verifiable evidence to prove direct control of CISPES by a foreign entity or to warrant further investigation. The case was dropped pending any further developments.
From August to December 1981 the FBI conducted a 3-month inquiry (something less than an investigation) into whether CISPES was merely a front organization for the Salvadoran communists, thereby placing the organization in violation of the FARA. While it was only a few months after Handal's trip in May 1980, during which he did meet with Pollack according to her biography published by the US Peace Council Publications, that CISPES came into being by way of two coinciding founding conferences in which various Salvadoran rebels participated, members in the Los Angeles chapter, for example, claimed that they had been informally working together for a year before the founding conference in October.[16] In the end, the FBI could not authenticate the diary and found no other verifiable evidence to prove direct control of CISPES by a foreign entity or warrant further investigation. The case was dropped pending any further developments.
By March 1983, the FBI had received what it considered to be sufficient information to open a full investigation into whether CISPES was providing financial and other types of aid in support of FMLN and FDR terrorist activities. The initial scope of the investigation was focused on CISPES leadership and especially its DC headquarters and Dallas chapter. But in late 1983 a directive was sent to all FBI field offices initiating a nationwide investigation that engulfed all members of 180 CISPES chapters as well as nearly 200 other groups that had the slightest connection to CISPES. The new investigation hinged mostly on information supplied by an informant, Frank Varelli, who the FBI later admitted had not been properly vetted and should never have been taken seriously. The investigation was closed in 1985. Later inquiries into the mishandling of the investigation by Congress led to disciplinary action against 6 FBI personnel, the resignation of the FBI officer responsible for handling Varelli[22], and many FBI policy and procedural changes.
Security classified computerized records related to the investigation are in the U.S National Archives.
Trivia
- The late D. BoonD. Boond. Boon born Dennes Dale Boon, was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Active between 1978, when he joined The Reactionaries, and 1985, when he was killed in a van accident, Boon was best known as the guitarist and vocalist of the Californian punk rock trio Minutemen.-Youth:Dennes Boon...
, guitarist and lead singer of influential punkPunk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
trio MinutemenMinutemen (band)Minutemen were an American hardcore punk band formed in San Pedro, California in 1980. Composed of guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley, Minutemen recorded four albums and eight EPs before Boon's death in an automobile accident in December 1985...
, was a member of CISPES. - The 2005 reissue of Dinosaur JrDinosaur JrDinosaur Jr. is an American alternative rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur, prior to legal issues that forced the group to change their name, the band disbanded in 1997 until reuniting in 2005...
's eponymous album features a live picture of the band playing a benefit for CISPES in 1985. - The late Jolie Christine RickmanJolie Christine RickmanJolie Christine Rickman was an American feminist, humanitarian, and social activist born in Los Angeles, California...
became the Chapter Coordinator for the CISPES New York Chapter - The late Judi BariJudi BariJudi Bari was an American environmentalist and labor leader, a feminist, and the principal organizer of Earth First! campaigns against logging in the ancient redwood forests of Northern California in the 1980s and '90...
, Earth First! and IWWIndustrial Workers of the WorldThe Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
organizer, was a member of CISPES.
See also
- Operation CondorOperation CondorOperation Condor , was a campaign of political repression involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America...
- Jennifer CasoloJennifer CasoloJennifer Jean Casolo is an American citizen who was arrested on November 26, 1989 by Salvadoran government troops during the "Final Offensive" of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front in San Salvador.-Controversy:...
- Wisconsin Coordinating Council on NicaraguaWisconsin Coordinating Council on NicaraguaWorking Capital for Community Needs is a nonprofit organization that organizes partnerships with individuals and organizations in Latin America and the U.S. to build sustainable economic opportunities that help people work their way out of poverty....
External links
- Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
- Anti-Mining Activists Killed in El Salvador - video report by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...