[Cispes-update] Twelve rogue deputies split from ARENA legislative fraction

[CISPES National Office]

Twelve rogue deputies split from ARENA legislative fraction


 


CISPES update


November 6, 2009

 

Included in this update:

*	Armed Forces granted domestic security role <> 
*	Salvadoran anti-mining activists honored in <>  Washington, DC
*	Former ARENA ministers charged with <>  corruption

 

 


 


Twelve rogue deputies split from ARENA legislative fraction


 

In a midnight legislative plenary on October 31, the composition and
leadership of the National Legislative Assembly was dramatically
transformed, following the desertion of 12 deputies from the Nationalist
Republican Alliance (ARENA) party’s fraction.  This political division
within ARENA gained public attention on October 12, when over a third of
ARENA’s 32 deputies announced plans to vote against the rest of the
fraction. The rogue deputies cited deliberate exclusion from the party’s
elected leadership as the primary reason for their official split from the
party, during a press conference given the day after the new ARENA
leadership was ratified.

 

The new party leadership, headed by ex-President of the Republic Alfredo
Cristiani, is replete with representatives of El Salvador’s traditional,
wealthy elite and noticeably omits representation of the party’s business
class, associated with ex-President of the Republic and party Antonio “Tony”
Elias Saca.  The twelve dissident deputies, known as the “G-12”, are all
politically associated with Saca, though they deny acting under his orders.

 

During Saturday’s midnight plenary, the Legislative Assembly elected a new
Board of Directors, granting posts to the new G-12 fraction and reducing
both ARENA and the Christian Democrat Party (PDC) representation by one post
each.  The body also negotiated a new plan for the Presidency of the
Legislative Assembly.  The National Conciliation Party (PCN), which has held
the presidency ever since a controversial
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=569&Itemid=
28#_Right-wing_legislative_faction>  vote on May 1, will occupy the post for
the next 15 months, after which Sigfrido Reyes of the FMLN will take over
the presidency for the remaining 15 months of the legislature.

 

Political analysts expect the new composition of the Legislative Assembly to
change the “deadlock” dynamic that has existed since the new Assembly took
their seats last May. Before the appearance of the G-12, the right-wing
parties (ARENA, PDC, PCN) voting as a block could control the movement of
legislation, despite the fact that the FMLN holds the most seats of any
party (35 seats).  FMLN General Coordinator and legislative fraction
president Medardo Gónzalez acknowledged that the appearance of the G-12
fraction and ARENA’s shrunken fraction offer new opportunities for
negotiating legislation. 


 


 

Armed Forces granted domestic security role

 

This past Tuesday, November 3, President Mauricio Funes officially announced
his plan to deploy more military agents to augment the ranks of the National
Civilian Police (PNC) as a measure “to protect tranquility, internal peace
and security for citizens of the country”.  Beginning on November 6, at
least 1,300 additional soldiers will patrol the streets of 19 municipalities
located in the 5 departments with the highest incidence of crime: San
Salvador, Santa Ana, La Libertad, San Miguel and Sonsonate. Soldiers will
participate in neighborhood patrols, search and seizure operations of
individuals and vehicles, and may detain individuals caught in the act of
committing a crime, although detainees must immediately be handed over to
PNC agents.  After a 6 month period, the Executive office will submit a
report for review by the Legislative Assembly, analyzing the effectiveness
of employing El Salvador’s Armed Forces alongside the PNC as a domestic
security measure.  

 

The initiative falls within the rights of the Executive as written in El
Salvador’s Constitution, which grants the President of the Republic the
right to deploy the military for the purpose of domestic security, should
there be an extraordinary risk to internal peace.  According to poll results
reported by the right-wing Salvadoran daily El Diario de Hoy, 94% of
residents of the capital city, San Salvador, agree with employing the
military for domestic security purposes.  The current FMLN government has
been under intense pressure from the Salvadoran populace to quickly address
the grave security situation, the inherited product of 20 years of
structural violence and destructive economic policies implemented by ARENA
party administrations.  The new plan accompanies other longer-term security
strategies of the Funes government that are already in operation, such as
the creation of municipal crime prevention councils and economic measures
intended to alleviate poverty.

 

Criticisms of the plan have been aired since Funes began discussing the
possibility of expanded joint military-police efforts this past month.
Opponents of the initiative, including the Foundation for the Study and
Application of the Law (FESPAD) and Supreme Court Magistrate Mirna Perla
have claimed that this new role for the Armed Forces will not reduce crime,
but rather serve to increase repression and continue the failed anti-crime
policies of the previous ARENA administrations.  “Unfortunately, thousands
of people are captured in the country on a daily basis and this has not
meant fewer numbers of extortions, murders, robberies, thefts,” stressed
Magistrate Perla.    


 


 


Salvadoran anti-mining activists honored in Washington, DC


 

On October 15, five members of the Mesa Nacional Frente la Mineria Metálica
en El Salvador, or the National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining in El
Salvador, were celebrated in Washington DC with the prestigious
Letelier-Moffit <http://www.ips-dc.org/about/letelier-moffitt>  Human Rights
Award in recognition of their outstanding work against mining in El
Salvador. (Watch Mesa delegates receiving the award: Part 1
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlsFnpsOmqg> , Part 2
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuKxS7YdKyo> ).  La Mesa was founded in 2005
when regional groups—including community, environmental, faith-based and
development organizations—united in their efforts to close the El Dorado
gold mine in San Isidro, Cabañas, a project of Canadian mining firm Pacific
Rim.  Since then, the Mesa has evolved into a broad-based national coalition
representing all 8 departments currently resisting the 29 foreign mining
projects in El Salvador.  

 

While in Washington, DC, Mesa representatives met with members of the U.S.
Congress and the State Department to discuss recent
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=631&Itemid=
27>  lawsuits filed against the Salvadoran government by the North American
mining companies Pacific Rim and Commerce Group under the investor
protections chapter of the U.S. Central American Free Trade Agreement
(CAFTA-DR). According to Mesa delegates, the lawsuits are a way to blackmail
the Salvadoran government.  “These companies want full access to pillage and
exploit our natural resources.  If we don’t allow it, the people have to pay
millions,” insisted William Castillo of the Mesa.  The delegation encouraged
the U.S. solidarity community to join in the fight against the mining
lawsuits and to organize for a renegotiation of CAFTA.

 

The delegation also emphasized the political violence ravaging their
communities—including the brutal torture
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=617&Itemid=
1>  and assassination of anti-mining activist Marcelo Rivera last July—which
the Mesa believes to be tied to international mining companies and the local
governments that have been paid off by the companies.  The delegation called
on U.S. government officials to demand that El Salvador’s newly-elected
Attorney General Romeo Barahona conduct a comprehensive investigation into
Marcelo’s death as well as death threats and attempted kidnappings of
anti-mining organizers that have occurred in Cabañas.

 

 

Former ARENA ministers charged with corruption

 

On Thursday, October 1, Minister of the Interior Humberto Centeno presented
five written reports of corruption involving René Figueroa and Juan Miguel
Bolaños, two ex-Ministers of the Interior.  Charges include bribery, illicit
negotiations, perjury, failure to fulfill duties, and the embezzlement of
over 3 million dollars.  The Ministry of the Interior asserts it has
sufficient proof in the form of testimonies and physical evidence, such as
falsified documents, to merit a full investigation by the Attorney General
of the Republic.  Centeno told the press that the reports were not presented
four months ago, when the crimes were discovered because he did not have
confidence in the interim Attorney General Astor Escalante.

 

The corruption charges will be a first test for the new
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=630&Itemid=
28>  Attorney General Barahona, sworn in on September 18.  Barahona’s
election was criticized by some as a continuation of the trend of previous
Attorney Generals that failed to investigate and expose corruption, opting
to perpetuate impunity among State functionaries.  Social movement leaders
have expressed hope that the new FMLN administration will bring justice to
the population by holding government officials and ex-officials responsible
for their crimes.

 

 

 

 

 

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