TO: All Concerned Parties
ER: Billy Tayac
DT: February 6, 1996
ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT
INDIGENOUS SALVADORANS UNDER ATTACK
RESPOND IMMEDIATELY
The National Association of Indigenous Salvadorans (ANIS), representing
68,000 Nahuat, Lenca, and Maya Indians, is being bombarded with attacks
on human rights and forced removals -right now-. ANIS is counting on you
to help them. The issues at hand are:
1) ANIS members, especially Chief Adrian Esquino Lisco and his family,
have received serious death threats from armed men. These armed men have
also fired upon the homes of Chief Esquino and another ANIS member.
Maximiliano Bran Garcia, as recently as January 27, 1996. These threats
must be taken seriously because ANIS members and the Esquino family have
been victims of repeated human rights violations, such as rapes and the
brutal torture and murder of an 11 month old baby. Amnesty International
is acting on these matters.
2) The Salvadoran Supreme Court has disregarded indigenous land titles
and is ordering the eviction of the peaceful Nahuat farming cooperative
of Las Hojas, where 74 ANIS members were massacred in 1983 by the
Salvadoran military. The Las Hojas cooperative has been -threatened
with another massacre- by armed men, in collusion with the ARENA
government and the Minister of Agriculture. Cooperative residents
consist largely of children, women, and the elderly, many of whom lost
men in the first massacre. The murderers of 1983 have never been brought
to justice.
3) Forced removal is planned for 2,600 indigenous people in the
community of Bola de Monte, where the Salvadoran Institute of Tourism
wants to build a tourist resort. Again, indigenous land title is being
disregarded, and human rights violations are imminent. These people have
nowhere else to go.
Send faxes immediately demanding that ANIS members' human rights are
protected, that all criminal acts against ANIS are investigated and
punished, orders for the evictions of Las Hojas and Bola be Monte are
repealed immediately, and indigenous titles are respected. The threats,
murders, and evictions must end. Appeals should go to:
1) Dr. Arniando Calderon Sol
President of the Republic of El Salvador
FAX 011-503-27l-0950
2) Minister Mario Acosta Oertel
Minister of the Interior
FAX 011-503-271-2484
Please send copies of appeals to:
ANIS
Calle Obispo Marroquin
Oficina Antigua Aduana Ferre 5-1
Sonsonate, El Salvador
CENTRAL AMERICA
For more information please contact Gabrielle Tayac 301'495-2633 or if
you speak spanish, the ANIS representative in the United States,
Margarito Esquino, at 202-332-7720. Thank you for your immediate
support.
UPDATE 9PM: Four truckloads of police are at Las Hojas -NOW-. They
are waiting
for daybreak to force people out. Chief Esquino said, "I'm afraid
they'll -kill us all-".
David Goyette
Co-director
First Nations Resource Network, Inc/Red Sticks Press
PO Box 59
St Petersburg, Fl 33731
813-821-6604
813-821-8804 fax
sfuwki@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us
90:3603/264
1:3603/263.2