About the presentation: We aim to look back at key grassroots struggles and anti-oppression movements over the past four decades (1980s–present)in El Salvador, mapping pivotal victories, policy shifts, and systemic challenges faced by organizers.
Share the historical Roots & Mobilization (1980s–1990s): The origins of the movement CRIPDES —rooted in resistance against state violence, civil conflict, and intervention—and how early emergency response networks laid the groundwork for long-term transnational solidarity (U.S. El Salvador Sister Cities).
We want to share how organizing strategies shifted from urgent humanitarian aid and anti-war advocacy to structural community development, mutual accompaniment, environmental defense, and human rights defense.
The presentation serves as both an archive of past victories and hardships and a toolkit for newer organizers, illustrating that movement longevity relies on deep relationships, adaptive tactics/experiences, and prioritizing collective care alongside resistance.
Presented by:
Kelly Calles is one of the Salvadoran staff of USESSC. She started working with Sister Cities in April 2024. She has a degree in International Affairs and has completed several training courses on human rights, governance and democracy. She has participated in several electoral observation volunteer programs at national and international levels, including the 2022 elections in Peru. She has taken part in international youth forums and interned at the observatory of public policies of Francisco Gavidia University (UFG) in El Salvador. In 2024, she participated in a political program for young people of the Netherlands cooperation. In 2025, she completed the Public Policy course with a Human Rights Approach offered by the School of the Organization of American States (OAS) and represented CRIPDES at the Citizen Political School of the Central American University (UCA) in El Salvador.
Noemí Delgado currently serves as the U.S. Staff Grassroots Organizer at U.S.–El Salvador Sister Cities. A member of the Salvadoran diaspora, she has spent the past six years engaged in community health work as a doula, health educator, and massage therapist. After earning her B.A. in Psychology, Noemí received a Fulbright scholarship in 2019 to spend a year living and working with an association of midwives in El Salvador. Together, they created a book documenting the vital role midwives played during the country’s 12-year armed conflict. Noemí is passionate about historical memory, ancestral healing practices and community care.
Marina Díaz is a single mother and community leader, a longtime human rights advocate, and a former FMLN combatant. At 65 years old, she serves as president of the Municipal Association of Victims of the Armed Conflict in Tecoluca, San Vicente, El Salvador. She joined the social struggles led by the Association for the development of El Salvador (CRIPDES) in 1987. She was part of the post-conflict repopulation process in the 1990s. In 1994, she served on the first FMLN municipal council in Tecoluca, and in the 2000s, she was part of the CRIPDES San Vicente regional team. Currently, her activism focuses on keeping historical memory alive and safeguarding the rights of victims’ families.
Co-sponsored by the Madison-Arcatao Sister City Project.
