[Cispes-update] Right-wing Taking Further Steps Toward Electoral Fraud in 2009 (plus: sign on to statement regarding political assassinations in El Salvador)

[CISPES National Office]

Note: please have your organization sign on to this International
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=396&Itemid=
29>  Statement Regarding the Assassination of Hector Ventura and Political
Killings in El Salvador

For more information about the case go here
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=392&Itemid=
28> .  To find out how to take action go here.
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=393&Itemid=
27>   

 

Right-wing Taking Further Steps Toward Electoral Fraud in 2009

CISPES update

May 21, 2008

 

Also in this update: 

-         More neoliberal measures to <>  "alleviate" economic crisis

-         Attacks instead of solutions <> 

 

 

In a press conference held on May 9, Walter Araujo, president of El
Salvador's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), announced that the TSE is
currently working on the creation of new restrictions on international
observers for the municipal, legislative and presidential elections of 2009.
Aruajo is the representative of the right-wing governing party, ARENA, on
the TSE.

 

Araujo explained that the new restrictions being developed "intend to
regulate that no group of observers come and take part in political activity
in the country." Araujo threatened that "meddling in the electoral process"
will result in expulsion from the country. The absence of a clear definition
of "meddling" could leave the door wide open for the arbitrary application
of these new restrictions. 

 

Meanwhile, the ARENA government recently announced the result of the
national census that was compiled in May, 2008. The census results were
released 6 months later than originally promised. The FMLN party and other
social organizations, including the legal organization FUNDASPAD, have
questioned the results of the census, asserting that the results have been
manipulated and do not coincide with population records of municipal
governments. Citizen Action (ACD) - a coalition made up of various
Salvadoran legal and election-focused groups - also raised questions about a
report made by the Organization of American States (OAS) last year that was
not made public by the government but which raises serious concerns about
the electoral registry. 

 

Among the problems with the new census are inconsistencies identified by
officials from the northern municipality of Las Vueltas, in the department
of Chalatenango, who criticized the fact that the census attributes only 940
habitants to the town, while the population reflected in the central
government's Solidarity Network program is 1,491. The difference of 551
people between the results of the census and other official records is
believed to be a result of manipulation to favor the governing party in the
upcoming elections, and may also result in a reduction of governmental funds
awarded to some municipal governments. Las Vueltas, governed by the FMLN
since 1994, is part of a list of FMLN municipalities whose populations have
been reduced in the official census. Especially alarming are the cases of
large cities like Santa Tecla, with a supposed 34% reduction, and Soyapango,
which shows a 19% decrease. The FMLN has denounced the "coincidence" of
having many FMLN municipal strongholds experience a significant reduction in
population. Even the right leaning Christian Democratic Party (PDC), through
its deputy Mauricio Rodriguez, has questioned the results of the census.

 


More neoliberal measures to "alleviate" economic crisis


In the context of the economic crisis and the outcries of the agricultural
sector, Salvadoran President Antonio Saca is pushing for the prompt approval
of the Land-Lease Law, which seeks to "legalize" land tenure and thus
increase local production of basic grains. Various campesino and social
organizations, such as the National Agricultural Workers (ANTA), have
denounced that the law is a "step back" from the land reform of the 1980s.

 

Equipo Maiz, a popular education organization, explains that this law is
part of the ongoing implementation of the neoliberal economic model in the
rural areas of El Salvador. Under the proposed new law, President Saca
intendes to promote establishment of maquiladoras (textile manufacturing
plants) in rural areas, export-oriented fruit orchards, and transnational
hotels. These sectors would promote neither national food sovereignty nor
local production. The ARENA party's policies have worked to legally
concentrate landholdings among large national and international
corporations, which tends to work against local production, food
sovereignty, and the interests of cooperatives and campesino workers. 

 


Attacks instead of solutions


The mixed public-private enterprise established by FMLN municipal
governments known as "Energy for El Salvador" (ENEPASA) continues to come
under attack by the ARENA central government. Instead of recognizing the
direct benefits ENEPASA, a program created under the Latin America-wide ALBA
trade initiative that imports subsidized oil from Venezuela, the government
seeks to further politicize the issue and distort those benefits.

 

According to the Economy Minister Yolanda de Gavidia, ENEPASA is an example
of "disloyal competition," given that major gas stations cannot offer the
same low prices that ENEPASA does. However, ENEPASA president and mayor of
Soyapango Carlos Ruiz defended the transparency of the enterprise and has
reiterated its openness to a possible government investigation.

 

In just four months, ENEPASA has provided savings to Salvadorans through its
low gas prices and contributed over $5 million to the government's budget
through taxes paid. Currently, the concrete solutions presented by the FMLN
party to the economic crisis in El Salvador are subject to attacks and
investigations by the central government, which has at the same time been
strongly criticized for its lack of initiative and ability to offer
solutions to the crisis. 

 

Even founding members of the ARENA party such as Hugo Barrera have publicly
alerted their party that they should focus more on the problems facing the
nation, rather than attacking the FMLN.  Mr. Barrera made these comments in
relation to Saca's latest smear campaign, which seeks to link FMLN leader
Jose Luis Merino to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Barrera warned both ARENA presidential candidate Rodrigo Avila and the
party's leadership to "not go around talking about [relations between the
FMLN and the FARC] anymore." However, ARENA has continued to assert such
connections through the national media.  

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