With the hope that 2011 will be a year of definitions!

(Para espanol haga click aqui)

Today is December 31th 2010, it is 10:22 pm. We are at less than 2  hours before 2011 arrives here in Vancouver. I have some minutes to still make some reflections on what this year has brought to me, my family and my community.
By the end of december last year (2009), we received a notice to appear to a pre-hearing before an immigration authority on January 25th 2010.   Also it was by the end of December that our family was dealing with the fact that my mother was in critical condition at at Hospital in Oregon.    So we received 2010 with two events that have been present all year round... My mother passed away on January 18th, due to my undefined immigration situation I was not able to be by her side on the last moments of her life, that is something that still hurts... being so close to our love ones yet separated by the lack of understanding and human sensitivity and mistakes made by CBSA officers who have been in charge of "accessing" our H&C application which was approved in principle in 2004.    During almost a year the immigration ordeal that my family have been facing has been in my mind 24 hrs a day, this has stolen some precious times that we could had used more productively continuing working with my son to cope better in society.

It might sound that most of 2010 was negative for my family and for justice, yet there is a little of positiveness in all of this...  Due to our economic limitations I was forced to represent myself during the admissibilty proceedings which in turn forced me to learn more no only about immigration laws but also some other laws, also allows us to put together evidence based on common sense...  to try to demonstrate why the allegations presented by the Canadian Judicial System against FMLN are not based on what the Salvadoran Social and political reality is and was during the period of the Civil War.   Up to this moment, Dec. 31th 2010, at 11 pm, there is not evidence or arguments presented by the canadian government that would make me change mind concerning the moral decision that I made 25 years ago to support politically the efforts made by the Salvadoran social movement to make a difference for my country El Salvador.

Another possitive aspect is that this process has helped to discover that the peace process that we finally reached in 1992, is still very fragil and needs the support of the international community and the unity of all salvadorans...  I also discovered that salvadorans in general have shown the world a great spirit to protect the peace agreement, and regardless of the obtacles we have a tireless will to consolidate the peace process. the very same peace process that Canada supported in 1992 through their participation with UN forces that overlooked the achievement of the agreement of Chapultepec.

2011 should be a year of definitions.   We hope that our immigration situation will be resolve by January 16th 2011.   We are launching the "We are Jose" campaign, with the idea to gain the support of not only the Canadian community but also of the many Salvadorans who struggled to gain peace, and any person who identifies and shares the same aspirations for a better society.   

After 18 almost 19 years of the Peace Agreement salvadorans have matured politically, and we hope that that maturity will help defined a better El Salvador...

We are only 30 minutes away from 2011...  I just want to quote the message that Archbishop Romero sent to the Salvadoran Army and National Guard the day before he was assesinated by the death squads:

"I would like to make a special appeal to the men in the Army, in particular to the bases of the National Guard, Army Barracks:

Brothers, you are from the same people. You are killing your own brothers, peasants. Before an order to kill a man, must prevail the Law of God which reads: You Shall Not Kill... No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the Law of God .... Nobody has to comply with an immoral law. It is time that you recover your own conxcience and obey your conscience rather than a sinfull order.
The Church Defender of the rights of God, of Human dignity, of the people cannot remain silent before such abomination. We want the Government to take it seriously that reforms are useless if they are stained with so much blood....
IN THE NAME OF GOD, IN THE NAME OF THE IMMOLATED PEOPLE WHOSE CRIES REACH UP TO HEAVEN EVERYDAY MORE TUMULTOUS ... I BESEECH YOU, I ASK YOU , I ORDER YOU IN THE NAME OF GOD STOP THE REPRESSION!!!!


Archbishop Romero lives in the struggle of salvadorans to consolidate Peace...

2011 the year of definitions...

If Salvadorans stood against tyranny and repression!!

You can stand for justice, and the rights of Canadian children !!

Happy new year... El Salvador!!!

Because

We are Jose