The principal demands of the participants of the march were five: a stop to dollarization, a stop to privatization of public services, a no to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a no the Labor Flexibilization and a yes to a real Reconstruction for the poor. With slogans like "The only solution is the revolution!", "Workers of the World Unite!", "No to the neoliberal economic model!", "Long Live the International Day of the Working Class!", the protesters marched to the sound of revolutionary music, next to theaters and all kinds of costumes and mockery. They reaffirmed the undeniable need to continue to struggle for a dignified job and for the transformation of the neoliberal economic structure that is oppressive and perpetuates the repression of the working class, in addition to worsening the disenfranchisement of the popular majorities.
Not only unions participated in the march, there was also presence of different municipalities, war-wounded groups, women's organizations, social organizations, peasant's organizations, like the Democratic Peasant Alliance, cooperatives, and the political party FMLN. The FMLN moved a contingent of at least 10,000 people from all over the country, which concentrated on the defense of the colón and against dollarization.
Despite the validity and urgency of the demands and denunciations that were made by the march, and of the enormous quantity of people who participated, the news media, as is customary, preferred to disproportionately focus their coverage on the "acts of vandalism" committed by groups of students. These acts consisted of spray painting (mostly of banks) against dollarization, and burning public phones, tires, U.S. and ARENA flags, etc. It is believed that the government had instructed the media to focus on the images of "destruction" while the Ministers of the Cabinet dedicated themselves to inaugurating projects. There was a flood of propaganda by the media in favor of the government and against the social movement. During the protest, one could easily see the resentment shown to the traditional, right-wing media for always presenting yellow coverage that serves as propaganda for the government and that, on occasions has been falsely invented. This is what they did again. And again, they blamed the FMLN, as it was present at the march in considerable numbers.
Another of the denunciations made by the protestors was over the expulsion of the Venezuelan military contingent that has been working to rebuild the completely destroyed town of Comasagua since the day after the first earthquake. Despite the total rejection of the people of the Municipality, the Minister of the Interior, Mario Acosta Oertel, justified the expulsion because, "[They] failed to meet the timeline for rebuilding Comasagua, they lowered the number of houses to be built, and it would be difficult for them to finish before the rainy season." According to the Minister, the Salvadoran Armed Forces would take over the work underway. The residents of the community expressed their displeasure, since the Venezuelans are not only rebuilding the community, but are also training the people in different economic activities, have hired local laborers, have provided free medical attention and free medicines (to the date they have given some 19,700 consultations). The Venezuelan Ambassador, Solís Martínez, made a statement to the daily "El Nacional" of Venezuela in which he said that he wouldn't be surprised if the United States had been the one to request that El Salvador refuse the aid of the Venezuelans. According to the newspaper, The expulsion of the Venezuelans comes one month after arch-reactionary Jesse Helms, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, stated his disapproval of what he considered Venezuelan intervention in El Salvador, claiming that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "is Fidel Castro's best friend, and has made friends with Saddam Hussein and Communist China." In a publication in the Salvadoran daily La Prensa Gráfica, all of the readers' opinions were against the government. Forced by the great social pressure, on Thursday the 3rd, the Chancellor María Eugenia Brizuela, "clarified that there had been a problem of communication and confusion." Flores himself had to excuse himself the next day. The Venezuelans will stay until June 15th, the date originally stipulated.
For their part, the media and the Right have not ceased their propaganda bombardment against the May Day march, loaded with references to the armed conflict. Thursday, it was announced that the Attorney General's office would investigate the supposed "authors of the acts of vandalism" in the march. The ARENA Legislative Whip, René Figueroa, blamed the FMLN for organizing the march. According to him, the acts of May 1st "send a negative message to foreign investors" and he once again blamed the FMLN for the economic situation of the country (which according to ARENA will be remedied through foreign investment) that is the product of the economic policies of the government. A communiqué given by TELECOM, which "suffered" the burning of two of its telephones during the march, stated that, "this type of actions shows the lack of culture towards private enterprise," and that, "to guarantee the rule of law it is necessary to clarify who the responsibles are." Curiously, this same company is one of those that has most violated and trampled the labor rights of its workers. In other words, it hypocritically assumes a role within the state of law when within the company it fails to even provide a minimum of labor guarantees for its workers. Likewise, the National Association of the Private Enterprise, ANEP, "demanded the authorities act immediately in the aim of safeguarding public order, as established by the Constitution of the Republic." It also accuses the participants of the march of "making open calls to insurrection." Said "state of law" in El Salvador and at the international level are hypocritical as they express and consolidate real laws for the capitalists and for the worker they provide purely symbolic laws. And the "calls to insurrection" that so worry the private enterprise have been made before many times (not to mention the fact that they are completely valid considering the treacherous economic situation!) The problem has been theirs, for not accepting that the reality of the denunciations expressed in the protest is the true and representative reality of the popular majorities and that the life of the businessman is so privileged that they see the economy as alright.
In commemoration of the International Workers' Day it is important to remember that neoliberalism, the prevailing economic model of globalized capitalism, is hostile to the vital interests of humanity in general and to the rights of workers in particular, but most of all to the truly progressive tendencies of all of humanity. The exploitation of laborers has reached new heights through neoliberalism and globalized capitalism. The development of neoliberalism is accompanied by and has been a producer of the impoverishment of the majority of humanity - their suffering has been increased immeasurably with the development of neoliberalism. Only under an alternative economic model will a person receive the work he or she really deserves and will no longer be merely a servant for the bosses, and will be a source of creative inspiration and pleasure, an elemental right of all humans.