Release: U.S. Embassy Admits to Intervention in 2004 Salvadoran Pres. Elections, CISPES Pledges to Hold Current Ambassador to Non-Intervention in 2009

[CISPES National Office]

(Vaya aquí para comunicado
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=416&Itemid=
29>  en español)

 

U.S. Embassy Admits to Intervention in 2004 Salvadoran Presidential
Elections

Fact-Finding Delegation Pledges to Hold Current Ambassador Glazer to
Non-Interventionist Commitment for 2009

July 10, 2008

 

Contact: Burke Stansbury – 202 521 2510 ext. 205 or burke at cispes.org 

 

During a recent heated meeting at the US Embassy in El Salvador, Ambassador
Charles Glazer admitted to U.S. intervention in the 2004 Salvadoran
Presidential Elections.  The meeting on June 27 was requested by a group of
12 U.S. citizens, including professors, students, journalists and community
activists who were taking part in a 10-day delegation organized by the
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES).

 

In their meeting with the Ambassador, the group focused specifically on the
history of U.S. political and military intervention in El Salvador.  They
cited statements made by US State Department officials denouncing. the
leftist Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN) party during the 2004
presidential campaign.  The delegates also referenced legislation put
forward in Congress by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) that threatened to cut off
remittances sent by Salvadorans in the U.S. to their families in El Salvador
should the FMLN win.  “The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador never countered this
absurd threat or clarified the impossibility of such legislation being
passed,” said Rosa Lozano, a delegate from Washington D.C.  “Ultimately,
such intervention helped turn a close race for the presidency into a
decisive victory for the right-wing National Republican Alliance (ARENA)
party.”

 

When asked directly if the U.S. government had intervened in the 2004
presidential elections on behalf of the ARENA party, Glazer replied in the
affirmative.  When asked if such intervention would occur again, he said
“no”.  “We believe that this is the first time that a representative of the
Bush Administration has taken responsibility for the manipulative
interference that took place during the 2004 presidential campaign,” said
Burke Stansbury, Executive Director of CISPES and a participant in the
meeting with the ambassador.  “It’s really quite remarkable; CISPES and
others have been crying foul since State Department intervention began in
mid-2003 but the Embassy has always denied it played a role in President
Saca’s victory,” continued Stansbury.  “But admitting fault last time is not
enough.  We will continue to demand that no such intervention occurs, not in
2009 nor ever again.”

 

During the meeting, the Embassy labor attaché claimed that the possibility
of fraud in the 2009 would be diminished because of the active monitoring of
various international organizations and emphasized the role to be played by
the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic
Institute (NDI), both subsections of the National Endowment of Democracy
(NED).  When challenged about the partisan nature of these quasi-non
governmental organizations, as well as accusations that the IRI and NDI have
played an interventionist role in other Latin American elections, the
Embassy representative admitted that there was controversy and doubts
surrounding the NED.  

 

“In 2007, the IRI – headed by Republican presidential candidate John McCain
– presented President Saca with its ‘Freedom Award’, showing its clear
ideological preference in the polarized Salvadoran political process,” said
Laura Embree-Lowry, a member of the Boston chapter of CISPES and a
participant in the Embassy meeting.   “We believe that the presence of
partisan groups like the IRI and NDI will in fact be counterproductive to
the goal of the Salvadoran people, which is to hold free and fair elections
in 2009.”  

 

The CISPES delegation also expressed concern about the aggressive conduct of
Ambassador Glazer during their brief meeting.  “Mr. Glazer arrived with the
idea of attacking our delegation and rudely countering everything we put
forward, to the point of being verbally abusive to at least two of the
delegates,” said Andrew Kafel, a member of the delegation from New York.
“Whether or not the Ambassador agrees with the concerns we laid out about
potential U.S. intervention, he has a duty as a public official to hear us
out in a respectful manner,” continued Kafel.  “If this is how we as U.S.
citizens are treated, we can only imagine how the Ambassador interacts with
Salvadorans.  We hope that in the future the State Department will better
orient their representatives about how to respectfully dialogue with those
holding a differing opinion.”  

 

The group plans to issue an extensive report of the information gathered
during the June CISPES fact-finding delegation, including an analysis of the
current human rights situation, information about the potential of fraud and
irregularities in the 2009 elections, and concerns about U.S. involvement in
the process.  The report will be release at the end of July.  For more
information go to www.cispes.org <http://www.cispes.org/>  

 

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