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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=5
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold'>President-elect Funes prepares to take office on June 1,
makes official visit to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:place></st1:country-region><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold'><a href="http://www.cispes.org/">CISPES</a></span></font></b><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman";font-weight:
bold'> update<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold'>May 20, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";
font-weight:bold'><img border=0 width=384 height=256 id="_x0000_i1025"
src="cid:image001.jpg@01C9D964.5D6B9B60"></span></font></b><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman";font-weight:
bold'><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:
"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";font-style:italic'>Also in
this update:<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><a href="#_Case_against_Salvadoran">Case
against Salvadoran officers accused of 1989 murder of Jesuit priests begins in
Spain</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><a href="#_Right-wing_legislative_faction">Right-wing
legislative faction rushes through reforms, critics fear a crisis of
“institutionality”</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:
"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:
"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>On June 1, Mauricio Funes and Salvador
Sánchez Cerén will formally take their positions as President and
Vice-president of El Salvador. The former FMLN (Farabundo Martí National
Liberation Front) candidates who triumphed at the polls on March 15 will be
sworn in at a ceremony attended by foreign delegations and heads of state.
Presidents Lula da Silva of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Brazil</st1:country-region>
and Hugo Chávez of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
as well as U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, have already confirmed their
attendance at the official ceremony. Following this ceremony, a public
celebration will take place in Cuscatlán Stadium, where Funes and Sánchez Cerén
will celebrate the victory with the people who elected them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Since March 15, Funes, Sanchez Cerén, the
FMLN, and an executive transition team have been working to put together a
cabinet, determine the policies to put in place during the first 100 days of
the presidency, and visit neighboring countries to discuss foreign aid and
mutual collaboration. Shortly after his election, Funes visited <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Brazil</st1:place></st1:country-region> as a
guest of President Lula to study the local development projects that have
succeeded in the country. President Lula promised financial collaboration with <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>
over the course of Funes’ 5-year presidency. Funes also attended a
meeting in late March with Central American presidents and U.S. Vice-president
Joe Biden in Costa Rica, as well as the April 17-19 Summit of the Americas in
Trinidad and Tobago, where he had the opportunity to meet with U.S. President
Barack Obama.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>On May 18, Funes, Sanchez Cerén, and
members of the FMLN leadership visited <st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region>
to meet with President Chávez and investigate the possibility of implementing <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region>’s subsidized fuel project, ALBA
Petroleos, on a national level in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Many FMLN-governed
municipalities already enjoy low cost fuel through this bilateral cooperation.
However, outgoing Salvadoran president Tony Saca rejected <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
offer to extend the project throughout the country. On the trip to <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region>, the transition team explored other
areas of collaboration between the two countries, including <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
participation in the regional Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA)
initiative.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>President-elect Funes has yet to announce
his cabinet, though he says it is 80% determined. The remaining 20% will be
determined in the week leading up to the inauguration, and the entire cabinet
will be announced on June 1. Based on statements made by Funes, FMLN leaders,
and other members of the transition team, the cabinet will be made up of FMLN
members as well as people from other sectors. Many social movement
organizations and non-governmental organizations have submitted proposals to
the transition team for their ideal cabinet candidates. The transition team has
said it will carefully consider these proposals in making its decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:
"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<h3><a name="_Case_against_Salvadoran"></a><b><font size=4
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Case
against Salvadoran officers accused of 1989 murder of Jesuit priests begins in
Spain<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:
"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The case against 14 Salvadoran army
officials accused of assassinating six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and
her daughter in 1989 begins on May 20 in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Spain</st1:country-region></st1:place>. The murders are considered
one of the most infamous acts of violent political repression in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
history. Judge Eloy Velasco, the magistrate who has accepted the case under the
Spanish legal doctrine that crimes against humanity can be tried in any
country, will hear the testimony of three legal experts that visited <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region> to
investigate the crime at the time it occurred. Several of the army officials
were initially found guilty of the crimes and imprisoned, only to be released
when <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">El Salvador</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
right-wing dominated Legislative Assembly passed an Amnesty Law in 1993
granting immunity to all individuals accused of crimes committed during the
Salvadoran Civil War.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'><a
href="http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=482&lang=en">The
original case</a></span></font><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'> also accused then-President Alfredo
Cristiani of the ARENA party (Nationalist Republican Alliance) of covering up
the atrocity. This charge was not admitted to the Spanish court by Magistrate
Velasco. Human rights organizations have expressed hope that justice will
finally be served to those responsible for the assassinations, and that further
investigation will bring about enough evidence for the judge to hear the case
against Cristiani.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The trial begins as ARENA finds itself
amidst a tumultuous restructuring process after losing the presidential
election in March for the first time in 20 years. ARENA recently named
Cristiani as its new General Coordinator, drawing renewed attention to the
party's repressive history. ARENA found Roberto D’Aubisson is widely
recognized as the intellectual author of the assassination of Archbishop
Monseńor Oscar Romero. Romero’s 1980 murder by Salvadoran military
snipers is considered a catalyst of the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:
"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<h3><a name="_Right-wing_legislative_faction"></a><b><font size=4
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Right-wing
legislative faction rushes through reforms, critics fear a crisis of
“institutionality”<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:
"Times New Roman";font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>In mid-May, the right-wing coalition in
the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly passed reforms to the law governing the
National Registry of Naturalized Persons (RNPN) and the Law of Administrative
and Municipal Careers. The FMLN refused to vote for the reforms and denounced
them as an effort by the right to hold onto power and disrupt the functioning
of certain state institutions. The changes made to the RNPN endow the Supreme
Electoral Tribunal with the task of naming a National Registrar who directs
this institution (currently, the President is charged with this task.) The lack
of transparency of the Electoral Registry—which is generated from the
RNPN—along with its inaccessibility to all political parties as
stipulated in the Constitution, was repeatedly denounced by international
election observation missions (including those from the European Union and
Organization of American States), political parties, and non-governmental
organizations. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>According to Norma Guevara of the FMLN,
“This will make it more difficult for the new government…to be able
to audit and correct the problems that the RNPN currently presents. Some might
say they are trying to cover up or hide the processes that made it possible to
have an inaccurate Electoral Registry containing deceased people, absent
people, foreigners, double identities, and who knows what other defects.”
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The changes to the Law of Administrative
and Municipal Careers that were approved add an additional 42,791 public
employees on the list of posts with job stability protection during changes of
administration. The FMLN contends that this is an attempt to keep high-level government
functionaries in office after Funes’s June 1 inauguration. FMLN
legislative deputy Daysi Villalobos explained that, “ARENA does not want
to accept that it will no longer be in the Executive and is resisting giving up
power. They want to continue controlling things from the outside.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>Both of these legislative reforms were
passed in the Assembly with 47 out of 84 votes. The FMLN won 35 deputies in
the January Legislative, the most of any party, while ARENA was reduced to 33
seats. Still, the two other right-wing parties with legislative representation,
the PCN and PDC, together give the right-wing bloc the additional 14 votes
necessary to pass such reforms in a simple majority vote. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>The 47 deputies from right-wing parties
also managed to confirm PCN deputy Ciro Cruz Zepeda as president of the
Legislative Assembly, a position traditionally given to the party with the most
seats. All three right-wing parties voted for Cruz Zepeda, while the FMLN
abstained in protest. The president of the Assembly has a large amount of
influence in what legislation gets voted on, and the party that holds this
position is also given the presidency of several important legislative
commissions. Protesters entered the legislative session on May 1 to protest
Cruz Zepeda’s election, temporarily disrupting the proceedings of the
Assembly.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-family:"Times New Roman"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"'>These moves come on the heals of
ARENA’s successful effort to block the election of a new Attorney
General—effectively leaving the post vacant—as well as blocking the
election of new Supreme Court Magistrates. Some political analysts, therefore,
are referring to the situation as leading to a “crisis of
institutionality” in the country. Guevara explains that while the Right
and ARENA continue with a discourse of reconciliation, their actions show
“the same nature of this party, the calculating nature, the cynicism, the
concrete demonstration that they plan to continue with midnight legislative
sessions, surprises, and avoiding proper debate.” The editorial board of
the Diario CoLatino newspaper described these actions as demonstrating that
ARENA, “has launched into an absurd strategy of demonstrating its power
without concerning itself with the fact that it’s endangering the
institutionality of the country.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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