[Cispes-update] FMLN Holds Successful National Convention, Prepares for 15th Anniversary of Peace Accords

[CISPES National Office]

FMLN Holds Successful National Convention;

Prepares for 15th Anniversary of Peace Accords

CISPES Update

January 5, 2006

 

The year 2006 ended with the FMLN celebrating its 12th National Convention,
where changes to party statutes were approved by almost 500 participants.
The convention's focus was on discussion of strategy and internal changes
that aim at unifying and strengthening the party for the next two years
leading up to the major 2009 elections.  The FMLN also used the convention
to call for reflection on the advances and problems with the implementation
of the Peace Accords.

 

At the December 17th convention, FMLN General Coordinator Medardo Gonzalez
called for the construction of a "Common Front" that will bring together all
the social and civil society actors.  The call for unity was also extended
to the sectors not historically or currently part of the Salvadoran left but
that have been affected by ARENA's neoliberal model imposed on El Salvador
such as CAFTA.

 

The main reforms that were approved relate to the party's structure and
internal functioning: there will now be separate classification for FMLN
"affiliates" and "militants"; the format for internal election changed to a
process of proposals and ratification rather than always having secret
elections between a number of candidates; and the convention voted to keep
the current leadership of the FMLN in power until after the 2009 elections.
The reforms to the statutes had been consulted with the base committees in
all the departments previous to the convention, leading to a nearly
unanimous consensus in approval of the reforms.

 

Late Night Final Legislative Session of the Year Passes Anti-Organized Crime
Law

 

ARENA concluded 2006 with one more piece of legislation aimed at
criminalizing organizing while pretending to address the issue of increasing
crime.  Late in the night on December 20 - just days after the U.S.
Ambassador asked the legislature to do so -ARENA and two smaller rightwing
parties approved the "Anti-Organized Crime" Law.  The FMLN did not support
the law because of its repressive nature towards the social movement and its
potential to be applied arbitrarily.  

 

Officially, the law allows for there to be "legal tools" to punish and halt
organized crime, specifically the creation of new specialized tribunals.
However, it has been widely criticized since it labels gangs "organized
crime" and, like Mano Dura ("Iron Fist") and other past failed anti-crime
policies, makes gangs out to the be the main source of crime and violence in
El Salvador.  Yet even official statistics prove that gang activity is not
the main cause of crime in El Salvador.  The numbers coming out at the end
of 2006 show the continued failure of the government to curb crime: there
was a 3.36% increase in the homicide rate from 2005, and overcrowded prisons
now hold almost 15,000 prisoners, more than double their capacity.  There
was an increase of 2,500 people incarcerated last year, many of whom do not
even have charges against them.

2007 Declared the Year of "Peace"

January 16 will be the 15th anniversary of the signing of the 1992 Peace
Accords.  Although the right wing has rarely celebrated the Peace Accords,
Saca has declared the year 2007 the "Year of Peace."  Additionally, for the
first time in years, there will be an official celebration of the signing of
the Peace Accords on the 13th of January.  The celebration has caused debate
as to whether or not peace can be celebrated, with violence steadily
increasing.  Meanwhile, the social and economic causes of violence are also
getting worse, especially with the implementation of CAFTA and as the ARENA
government moves forward with the neoliberal agenda.  The FMLN is
celebrating the anniversary by commemorating the life and death of the
historic leader Schafik Handal.  The FMLN will also use the anniversary as a
space for evaluating the fulfillment of the Accords.  

Currently, the FMLN and the social movement are preparing for the Foro de
Sao Paulo, an organization founded in 1990 by the Labor Party of Brazil
after the fall of the Berlin Wall to discuss the consequences of the
application of the neoliberal model in the region.  The Foro will be held
from the 12th-15th of January in San Salvador, where leftist parties and
social and popular organizations of Latin America, Caribbean and other parts
of the world will gather to discuss the advances of the Left in Latin
America. Nidia Diaz, FMLN deputy in the Central American Parliament and one
of the organizers of the Forum, says that discussions will focus on the
current struggle for the integration of the people's movement throughout
Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

 

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