[Cispes-update] US State Department Official Slanders FMLN Party

[CISPES National Office]

US State Department Official Slanders FMLN Party


CISPES Update


Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Also in this update:

-         Buses Burned in Protest of Fare Hikes

-         Peace prize awarded to President Saca stands in contrast with
social conditions in El Salvador

-         Police director promises to cut murder rate

 

State Department official announces crime-fighting funds for El Salvador,
slanders FMLN party

During a recent visit to El Salvador, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John
Negroponte announced the financing of the so-called Mérida Initiative, a
$1.6 billion funding package recently approved by the U.S. Congress that
seeks to fight drug trafficking and organized crime in Mexico and Central
America. $7 million of the initiative’s funds will go to El Salvador’s
National Civilian Police, whose sub-director, Luís Tobar Prieto, says the
money will be used to purchase “equipment for investigating narcotrafficking
networks.”

 

Meanwhile, Negroponte took advantage of his visit to make public statements
regarding El Salvador’s domestic politics. Notably, he congratulated
President Saca on his work to combat organized crime, while expressing his
concern about allegations of links between the FMLN opposition party
(Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front) and the FARC, Colombia’s armed
rebel group. After slandering the FMLN by stating that alleged ties to the
FARC “are very troubling,” and declaring that “these are things that should
not happen,” he condemned “any type of intervention” in El Salvador’s
electoral process.

 

Charles Glazer, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, subsequently reiterated
Negroponte’s warning, stating that “any group that collaborates or expresses
friendship with the FARC is not a friend of the United States,” an allusion
clearly aimed at the FMLN.  These blatant attempts to discredit the FMLN
have been made in spite of recent promises by the State Department to work
collaboratively with whatever government comes to power in El Salvador’s
presidential election, to be held on March 15, 2009. 

 

Buses burned in protest of fare hikes

As the result of recent legislation approved at the behest of business
owners in the transportation industry, bus fares within El Salvador’s urban
centers have increased by $0.10, while interdepartmental fares have risen by
40%. 

 

With the recent fare increases, transportation costs now make up an even
larger portion of the monthly expenses of those working-class Salvadorans
who earn the minimum wage of $157 to 174 per month, depending on the
industry (according to data published by the Salvadoran Ministerio de
Trabajo y Previsión Social). The financial hardship posed by the rising cost
of transportation, as well as the government’s inability to resolve the
situation, has been received with growing discontent by the Salvadoran
population.

 

This frustration was borne out last Monday, June 16, when a group allegedly
comprised of University of El Salvador students set fire to two buses near
the university’s campus. Several armed men wearing masks stopped the busses
and proceeded to burn them in protest of the fare increase. 

 

The transportation sector is among the most heavily-subsidized in El
Salvador, and fares are capped by the government in order to ensure
affordable bus service. However, a series of laws raising the maximum fare
have been enacted in recent years. The owners of the country’s principal bus
companies, primarily supporters of El Salvador’s right-wing political
parties (ARENA and PCN), argue that their businesses are facing financial
losses and have refused to rule out the need for more fare increases in the
near future.

 

Peace prize awarded to President Saca stands in contrast with social
conditions in El Salvador

On June 10, Salvadoran president Elías Antonio Saca was awarded the 2008
Path to Peace Award by the Catholic foundation of the same name. According
to Saca’s office, the prize recognized “a series of political initiatives in
support of democracy and peace, and [Saca’s commitment to] reducing poverty
and fighting criminality in the country.”

 

However, the social and economic conditions facing the majority of the
Salvadoran population seem to contradict the values represented by the
award, which is awarded annually by the Vatican-affiliated Path to Peace
Foundation in New York. Saca’s supposed successes in the area of public
security have not been reflected by homicide and crime rates, which on the
contrary have left El Salvador as one of the region’s most dangerous
countries. According to recent public opinion polls, high crime rates
continue to be identified as among the most serious problems facing El
Salvador. 

 

According to Miguel Guzman, a representative of the Ecclesiastical Base
Communities of El Salvador (CEBES), Saca’s selection for this year’s Path to
Peace Award is meant to influence El Salvador’s 2009 elections. Guzman
states that ‘the Vatican and the Path to Peace Foundation have an interest
in the continuation of the ARENA government’s policies.” The award serves
“to raise [ARENA’s] tarnished image
 they are worried about the next
elections,” Guzman concluded. 

 

The Path to Peace Award was given to Saca at a time of diminished popularity
for ARENA, while the opposition FMLN party has seen its political stature on
the rise. A number of recent polls give the FMLN a clear advantage in next
year’s elections.

 

Police director promises to cut murder rate

Faced with growing criticism of the Saca government’s inability to confront
growing violence throughout El Salvador, the Director of the National
Civilian Police (PNC), Francisco Rovira, held a press conference on June 6
to announce a plan to dramatically cut the homicide rate over the next two
months. Rovira’s plan, which aims to reduce the daily homicide rate from
nine to four by August 7, centers on arresting some 500 gang members. The
effectiveness of this strategy was immediately called into question by the
Salvadoran non-governmental organization Medicina Legal, which pointed out
that the majority of murders in the country are not committed by gang
members. 

 

The experience of recent years has proven increased incarceration to be an
inefficient method of decreasing the homicide rate in El Salvador. As prison
populations have soared, murders have not diminished. Official government
statistics indicate that El Salvador’s penal system, built to accommodate a
capacity of 8,100 inmates, currently houses 17,409 people. While increased
incarceration rates have failed to lower the homicide rate, it has instead
lead to increased violence within El Salvador’s jails. So far this year, 19
prisoners have been killed in a series of attacks at the jails in
Cojutepeque, Chalatenengo, and Ciudad Barrios. Gilbert Cáceres, Director
General of the prison system, recently admitted that “it is difficult to
keep control over all of the inmates,” given the overpopulation of the
prisons. 

 

Public Security Minister René Figueroa expressed his support for PNC
Director Rovira’s plan. Figueroa affirmed that, with much effort, the
government would succeed in decreasing the homicide rate in the coming
months, despite having failed at this same goal for the past four years.
However, Figueroa added that “there is no need to be morbid and marry
ourselves to [reducing the homicide rate to] a specific number” per day.

 

 

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