Libertad González and Isabel López, representatives of the WMW in the CN in El Salvador, heading the feminist resistance bloc in the street mobilization this M8 along with popular organizations.
Salvadoran women commemorate the historic feat of the women who have offered their lives to get the recognition of their human rights. Since the 20th century, women all over the world have been fighting for all of their human rights to be recognized; in El Salvador, women have worked tirelessly for the governments in power to put in practice the international agreements of which they've participated and ratified and that bind them to safeguard and ensure that women's rights are respected. Every March 8 we commemorate the historical legacy of the feminist fights for justice, equality, and dignity. We are preceded by a long line of women: land defenders, feminists, trans feminists, suffragettes, trade unionists, artists, artisans. Those who fought in the civil war, who combatted colonialism, racism, classism, and now fascism. Thanks to them and their legacy, we keep fighting for all the rights that this patriarchal system has robbed us of. As feminist women, this March 8 we march together to demand our right to live free from all forms of discrimination and violence, to live in peace without political persecution, nor trampling of human dignity. We decry an economy that makes women's contributions through reproductive and care labor invisible. We decry that El Salvador continues to be a clandestine pit; according to the University Observatory of Human Rights, there are 10,144 registered cases of disappeared women in the last eight years. We're in solidarity with the mothers, sisters, and friends who continue their tireless search. We condemn the State's silence and cover-up around these events as it upholds impunity, ignoring the victims' pain.
We decry that the social mandate that gives women exclusive responsibility of care-taking is a limitation to our integration in the labor market and in training spaces. The Salvadoran state, headed by President Bukele, upholds the persecution, harassment, and criminalization of feminist organizations, women journalists, and women defenders of human rights. In El Salvador, we women ask ourselves why we're always the ones carrying the worst load, the largest suffering. On the daily, we see women, sisters, daughters, wives, life partners crying and suffering for their family members that are disappeared, imprisoned, or dead due to the exception regime. This March 8, we demanded of the Salvadoran government that it cease to persecute the right to defend rights. We repeated our commitment with the defense of the rights of women, girls, and the gender-sex dissident. This is ALL of us and we took the streets to say: TOGETHER WE FIGHT, RESIST, AND ADVANCE. We're here to denounce the injustices and human rights violations. We're here to create free bodies and territories for ourselves. We're here to contribute to the transformation of our lives. We're full of strength, art, fire, peace, rage, fight, love, and resistance, because UNITED WE ARE STRONGER.