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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=4
color=black face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:
bold'>Mauricio Funes continues to build support one month before Salvadoran
presidential elections</span></font></b><font size=4><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><br>
</span></font>CISPES update<br>
February 14, 2009<br>
<img width=288 height=208 id="_x0000_i1025"
src="cid:part1.09020509.01090802@cispes.org" alt=funes><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic'>also in this
update:</span></font></i></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<ul type=disc>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3'><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Minister of Defense attends
ARENA campaign event</span></font></b><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3'><b><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>El Salvador completes 6th round
of Free Trade discussions with European Union</span></font></b><o:p></o:p></li>
</ul>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
The Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN) presidential candidate
Mauricio Funes continues to grow his broad base of support as political
parties, community leaders, and social movement groups endorse him. On February
10, the National Democratic Front (FDR) gave their support to the FMLN
presidential ticket. The announcement of support came both from the party
leadership as well as its voting base, who pledged to work with him to win the
March 15 presidential elections. Ex-legislative deputy candidate for the
FDR Ernesto Ramos spoke to the party base saying, “I feel convinced that
Funes is an incorruptible person and the only option to stop the corruption in
the government is to change the party in power.” FDR national
leader, Julio Hernández, has endorsed the Nationalist Republican Alliance
(ARENA) party formula, effectively alienating him from the base of his party.<br>
<br>
The same day, the National Council of Field Workers (CNTC) pledged their
support and the 100,000 votes of their members to Funes and FMLN
vice-presidential candidate Salvador Sanchez Cerén. The FMLN formula’s
plans for reviving the agricultural sector in the country appealed to the
organization and its members. Raul Carrillo, a national coordinator for the
CNTC, said, “Funes’ plan says that he will immediately reactivate
agriculture, while [Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) candidate Rodrigo] <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Avila</st1:place></st1:City> says that it will
be necessary to lease out lands.”<br>
<br>
On Thursday, January 12, Funes held a rally in La Libertad that was attended by
over 5,000 people waving FMLN, Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Democratic
Change (CD) party, and National Conciliation Party (PCN) flags. Various
PDC mayors have publicly endorsed Funes and the FMLN ticket, including the
mayors of La Libertad, Sesori, and Texistepeque.<br>
<br>
The wave of endorsements show the continued growth of support for Funes.
In the month leading up to the March 15 elections, Funes says he will continue
to build alliances with political parties and community groups—not to win
the election, but to better govern the country after he is elected.<br>
<br>
<br>
</span></font><span class=Heading3Char><b><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Minister
of Defense attends ARENA campaign event</span></font></b></span><br>
<br>
On February 4, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
Minister of Defense Jorge Molina attended a campaign event for ARENA’s
presidential candidate Rodrigo Avila. As head of the Armed Forces, his
attendance violates article 211 of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s constitution
which requires the Armed Forces to be apolitical. Article 218 goes on to
state that “Functionaries and public employees are at the service of the
State and not of a specific political fraction. They should not utilize
their positions for party politics. One who does will be sanctioned in
conformity with the law.”<br>
<br>
When asked whether his presence violated the constitution, Molina responded
that he was only there to learn more about the proposals of the political
parties; however, he then admitted he had not attended any other party’s
events. When questioned about the evening’s presentation and the
comments made by various speakers that the FMLN was a risk to national
stability, he responded, “Different positions that show themselves as
extreme or orthodox could put [national stability] at risk.”<br>
<br>
Media analysts and movement leaders denounced ARENA for using the Armed Forces
in their campaigning in September of 2008 when <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Avila</st1:place></st1:City> gave a military salute to a group of
15,000 veterans. At that event he went on to warn the Armed Forces as an
institution about the supposed risks that an FMLN victory would bring, using
the rhetoric that the “reds” would take away civil liberties.
.<br>
<br>
<span class=Heading3Char><b><font size=4 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>El Salvador completes
6th round of Free Trade discussions with European Union</span></font></b></span><br>
<br>
During the first week of February, Salvadoran officials attended the 6th round
of discussions surrounding the Association Agreement of the European Union and
Central America (<st1:City w:st="on">AdA</st1:City>) in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Belgium</st1:country-region></st1:place>. The agreement, very
similar to the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), has received
harsh criticisms. Raul Moreno, an economist with the Foundation for the
Study of the Application of Law (FESPAD) and an observer at the negotiations,
said, “We are before an instrument of domination, before a hegemonic
instrument.” He went on to say, “The purpose of this
instrument of domination is to exercise control over our natural resources,
over our water, over our biodiversity, over our mineral resources, over our
energy resources.”<br>
<br>
Much like CAFTA, the AdA would open commercial opportunities for the European
Union in Central America including: privatization of public services and
state-owned business, deregulation and greater protection for investors,
control of natural resources by private businesses, and an increase in what is
considered intellectual property. <st1:country-region w:st="on">El
Salvador</st1:country-region>’s Minister of Economy Ricardo Esmahan,
disputed <st1:City w:st="on">Moreno</st1:City> saying <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
small and medium business would “benefit the most.” Despite
this statement, he later admitted that, “Mr Moreno is correct in that
there is a certain disadvantage [for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>] in some specific
products.”<br>
<br>
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
under 20 years of ARENA party administrations, has followed a program of
implementing neoliberal economic policies such as CAFTA with the support of
foreign governments. Social movement leaders have blamed these policies
for increased costs of basic services, the decline of the agricultural
industry, and the acceleration of megaprojects like mining and dams that have
provoked backlash from environmental groups. Economists have expressed
concern that the <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">AdA</st1:place></st1:City>
will increase the economic crisis and that it will weaken the countries’
sovereignity. “Any measure that obstructs the use of…
resource[s] as an object of commerce can be interpreted as an indirect
expropriation [of international corporations], exposing the state to monetary
penalties by international tribunals” said <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Moreno</st1:place></st1:City>. The mining corporation Pacific
Rim has recently threatened to sue <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region> under a similar
investor protection article in CAFTA.<o:p></o:p></p>
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