Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
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The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, based in New York City, 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.
CISPES was a target of COINTELPRO-style domestic espionage during the 1980s, as documented in the book Break-Ins, Death Threats and the FBI by Ross Gelbspan [1] (ISBN 0-89608-412-4).
See also: Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua
[edit] Trivia
- The late D. Boon, guitarist and lead singer of influential punk trio Minutemen, was a member of CISPES.
- The 2005 reissue of Dinosaur Jr's eponymous album features a live picture of the band playing a benefit for CISPES in 1985.
