Coffee Hour: El Salvador-Recent Developments and Responses to Its Truth Commission Report
About the Coffee Hour
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
10a-Noon
At the Resource Center of the Americas
What are the issues facing Presidente Mauricio Funes?
How is El Salvador recovering from Ida’s rains?
What are the plans for the 30th anniversaries of the assassination of Monsenor Romero and the murder of the U.S. church women?
What has happened to the findings of the Truth Commission?
What is the work of El Salvador’s Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS)?
These are some of the issues to be addressed by Duane Krohnke, Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he co-teaches international human rights law. He has been a pro bono attorney for Salvadoran asylum-seekers and has been to the country five times, most recently in 2003 as an election observer for CIS.
This event will also be publicized through the University of Minnesota Law School and the law firm of Faegre & Benson.
Speaker: Duane Krohnke
Email: dkrohnke@comcast.net
Language: English
About Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS)
http://www.cis-elsalvador.org/
History
The CIS was founded in 1993 after the signing of the Peace Accords in El Salvador. Solidarity groups from the U.S., Canada, and Europe came together with Salvadoran popular organizations to develop a center to promote people-to-people relations after the war. The root causes of the war - economic and social injustice together with a lack of democratic openings to make change - were still present. It was agreed that continued international accompaniment and solidarity with grassroots movements for social and economic justice and participatory democracy would be needed to achieve structural changes in the post war period. Mission
The CIS mission is to promote solidarity and cultural exchange across borders between the Salvadoran people and others in the search for development and dignity. We work to promote and strengthen a culture of solidarity that implies accompaniment, respect for equality of different cultures, and mutual support between people. We focus on using different strategies to promote a solidarity that creates the space for grassroots organizing for justice and dignity. Objectives
- Promote people-to-people solidarity in the search for development and human dignity.
- Promote human values and cultural exchange with individuals, delegations, representatives of private organizations, and government officials in order to strengthen solidarity and understanding of Salvadoran history and culture.
- Strengthen community and integrated development programs.
- Encourage the development and commercialization of Salvadoran crafts made by cooperatives, especially by youth, women, and ex-combatants.
- Deepen awareness and promote the defense of human rights in El Salvador.
