Eight excutive board members of the Union of Nursing Workers of El Salvador (SIEGEESAL), were arrested on September 4 after helping organize protests in the San Vicente area of El Salvador. The actions were called to protest health services privitization, medicine shortages in public clinics, and the alleged embezzlement and misuse of funds by the regional public health director.

Union leaders have secured the nurses release on bail, but they still face charges for public disorder and damages to private property.

The protests, which took place in early July, involved a call for strikes at Santa Gertrudis national hospital. The work stoppages led to a meeting with the Director General of Hospital Services who agreed to discuss the unions’ demands, launch an inquiry into the charges of embezzlement and not seek reprisals against those who participated in the protest.

The agreement was not kept by the national police who arrested: Ana Luz Ordoñez Castro, Mirian Ruth Castro Lemus, Elsa Yanira Paniagua, Noemí Barrientos de Pérez, Ana Graciela de Carranza, Jorge Emilio Pérez, Manuel Trejo Artero, and Anemias Armando Cantadeiro for their role in the actions.

You can show your solidarity with SIEGEESAL by writing a letter to the government of President Elías Antonio Saca calling for the dismissal of all charges against the eight union leaders and the enforcement of the recently ratified International Labor Organization Conventions 87 and 98 (which guarantee union rights).

Send letters and faxes to: Señor Elías Antonio Saca González, Presidente de la República de El Salvador, Casa Presidencial, Alameda Dr. Manuel Enrique Araujo 5500, Frente a Canal 6, San Salvador, El Salvador and Fax: 503-2243-7857/503-2243-9930 and Ambassador Rene A. Leon, Embassy of El Salvador, 1400 16th Street NW Suite 100, Washington D.C. 20036, Fax 202-232-3763.

For more information on the nurses’ situation go to CISPES [1].