The week of June 21st saw tens of thousands of people gather to protest the G20
summit held in Toronto. We protested against the undemocratic policies of social and
economic control that have been imposed by the G20. We gave voice to our causes by
exercising our democratic right to peaceful assembly. However, over this past week,
police rounded up and arrested over 600 people.

These people, including several members of Toronto's Latin American-Canadian
communities, have been denied access to legal counsel, telephones, food and water,
and held in deplorable conditions in makeshift steel cages. Police engaged in an
excessively violent, heavy-handed style of policing. Random people and bystanders
were arrested, and many were arbitrarily detained, in one case, several hundred at once
during a rainstorm. Many were beaten in the streets and in their homes, shot at with
rubber bullets and tear gas. Some were sent to hospital with severe injuries. Hundreds
are still in custody.

From the Latin American Solidarity Network-LASN (Toronto) Coordinating Committee

Toronto, Canada—June 25, 2010

National Popular Resistance Continues Undiminished

A year ago, on June 28^th 2009, a U.S. backed military-oligarchic coup was perpetrated against Manuel Zelaya, the democratically-elected President of Honduras.  This coup established a reign of state-sponsored terrorism and persecution and it played a key role in the regional plan being promoted by the U.S., Canada and business elites, of attempting to halt the advances of Latin American countries in their legitimate aspiration for sovereignty, participatory democracy and addressing social inequities.

What you can do:

• Send a letter to the Ministers of Public Security and Immigration
• Download petition to be presented to Parliament
• Sign the declaration in solidarity with the FMLN and Salvadoreans everywhere
• Make a donation to the Figeroa family legal fund

Cheques payable to:

Jose Figueroa
c/o Walnut Grove Lutheran Church,
20530 88 Avenue,
Langley, BC
V1M 2Y6

For Immediate Release
June 1, 2010

(TORONTO) – Latin Americans in Toronto will be launching a campaign to challenge the Immigration and Refugee Board’s (IRB) decision to deport a B.C. man and his family on the basis of his affiliation to a political organization in his country of origin which Canadian authorities contend “engaged in acts of terrorism/subversion.” José Figueroa was declared inadmissible to Canada by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Ministry of Public Safety due to his past association with the Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation (FMLN), a former opposition guerrilla organization that is now the governing party of El Salvador.

The Immigration and Refugee Board has issued a deportation order against Salvadorean refugee claimant José Figueroa, married father of three Canadian-born children, given Canadian Border Security Agency and Ministry of Public Safety arguments that the Farabundo Martí Front for National Liberation (FMLN) to which Mr. Figueroa was affiliated in the mid-1980s, "engaged in terrorism or subversion."

The FMLN is not and never has been a terrorist organization, and no one should be denied entry to Canada for having ties to the FMLN.

Join Barrio Nuevo and key allies as we publicly declare our support for Mr. Figueroa, his family, the FMLN, and all Salvadoreans with past and/or current ties to the FMLN!

Sign the declaration in solidarity with the FMLN and Salvadoreans everywhere.

A sample letter is included below to send to Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney.

Please copy Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas) Peter Kent, and the relevant critics of all three opposition parties.

All their email addresses are after the letter.  Please also include your own MP, whose contact information you can find here.

To: Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development

Re: Investigation on Human Rights in Venezuela

Dear Committee Members

I am writing on behalf of Barrio Nuevo, an independent, political, grassroots organization working with the Latin American community in Canada. We organize with the aim of building a movement of people working towards the goal of long-term societal and economic change. We work with Latin American community organizations as well as labour unions, student groups, community groups, community centres as well as agencies such as Toronto Community Housing. Our work includes community media where we assist in running a Latin American radio station and newspaper; community building projects and services including murals and recreation programmes; as well as, educational initiatives that mobilize Canadians of Latin American origin around issues that impact our community.

Salvadorean refugee claimant in British Columbia to be deported for his affiliation with the FMLN!

Salvadorean refugee claimant, Jose Figueroa, a married father of three who has lived in Canada for 13 years, has been ordered deported by the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) due to his past affiliation with the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN), currently the governing political party in El Salvador. 

This was based on the Canadian Border Security Agency's (CBSA) assessment that the FMLN "is or was engaged in terrorism and/or subversion" and on coinciding legal arguments from the Ministry of Public Safety.

The case sets a very dangerous precedent, given among other things the internationally recognized legitimacy of the FMLN's past armed struggle against a murderous regime, the democratic governing role of the FMLN today, and the implications for the many Canadians of Salvadorean origin with past and current ties to the FMLN. 

If he is deported, Mr. Figueroa will be forced to uproot his family, including his Canadian-born children, despite by all accounts having contributed positively to his Langley, B.C. community for many years.

Please TAKE ACTION!