Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Globalization from a Central American Perspective, April 10

Chestertown, MD, April 3, 2007 — Central American human-rights activist Salvador Sanabria will discuss "Globalization from Below: The Salvadoran Transnational Experience" at Washington College's Hynson Lounge on Tuesday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m.

Sanabria has worked tirelessly to defend the civil and human rights of Central Americans at home and abroad. In 1981 he helped found El Rescate, the first institution created to serve Central American refugees fleeing from the civil war in the region.

Known worldwide, the organization has a tradition of fighting for the civil, human and economic rights of Latin American immigrants in the United States. Since its creation El Rescate has provided legal, social and economic services to more than 250,000 people.

El Rescate's Index to Accountability, a database linking military officers to human-rights violations committed during the war, was used by the United Nations Ad Hoc and Truth Commissions in their deliberations on cleansing the Salvadoran military.

El Rescate's transnational program facilitated the creation of the International Convention of Salvadorans in the World, which is currently leading the fight for the right of the Salvadoran diaspora to cast absentee ballots in elections in their homeland.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council recently declared March 30, 2007, as "The Day of El Rescate" in recognition of the organization's 25 years of service. (For more information, visit www.elrescate.org.)

Salvador Sanabria, who in addition to being an El Rescate founding member is also its current executive director, was trained by the Harvard Negotiation Project for his work as a member of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) Political and Diplomatic Commission. He was a part of the FMLN's negotiating team that signed the 1992 peace accords.

After the accords, Sanabria worked on public policies and local development projects in El Salvador through the Central American Foundation for Human Sustainable Development (FUCAD).

He returned to Los Angeles in 2001 to develop a cooperation program between the North American Integration and Development Center at UCLA, El Rescate and FUCAD.

Sanabria also is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Central American Round Table Inc., a group dedicated to defending the civil and human rights of Central Americans in the United States.

"Globalization from Below" is being presented at Washington College by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs. Hynson Lounge is located in Hodson Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410-778-7116.

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