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Syndicate
El Salvador election 2009: High hopes for FMLN
By the National Committee of the War Veterans'
Sector of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN)
Separation
of powers exists only on paper -- the centralism of the executive power
predominates. There are no oversight bodies, accountability systems or freedom
of information, which has led to high levels of corruption. This has produced,
in consequence, an erosion of the country's institutional structures and of
democracy.
Poverty and inequality
The
governance crisis is also founded in a lack of equality, which finds its
expression in increased poverty, caused by economic and political imbalances.
Rural life has collapsed. There is accelerated urbanisation, pressure on public
services, employment and public safety; accelerated emigration. In the urban setting,
employment opportunities are mostly absorbed by the informal sector, with the
risks this entails for workers. Men predominate in regular employment and women
in the informal sector and in maquiladora
assembly plants, which means they are less protected. Schooling is low level
and poorly funded, which does not favour the technological development required
for an increase in productivity. Crime has worsened as a result of these
inequalities. Law and order is a recurring public concern. A range of studies
on the matter have produced recommendations for the development of public
policies aimed at preventing, containing and addressing the situation, but the
government has not shown much political will and its approach to the issue has
been counterproductive and increased the problem to some degree.
Authoritarianism
As there has
been no plan aimed at bringing about a lessening of social divisions, there has
not been any democratisation of society and the state, but rather a greater
concentration of power and greater authoritarianism. Inequality and
authoritarianism have damaged the legitimacy of democracy and the political
system. As socioeconomic conditions have worsened, people's demands upon the
government have grown and governments usually resort to repressive measures to
maintain the status quo, which is easy to do in an authoritarian society.
The
country's viability requires the wealthy, the government and the social forces
to arrive at minimal accords to reduce inequality. Accords have been the usual
practice only amongst sectors with much in common, not with adversaries.
Accords have been between the senior leadership of political parties, not with
the sectors affected. The alliances proposed by previous governments as a
governance and transparency tool were very soon forgotten. At present we have
the practice of isolation, sociopolitical conflict, imposition, confrontation
and polarisation instead of accords.
Democracy
Democracy is
unsustainable with such large social divisions. Governance, to be consistent,
should be accompanied by viable proposals and/or should close these gaps.
Democracy cannot be built with institutional structures lacking in legitimacy.
Democracy also requires active social participation in the government. This
does not just mean good electoral results. It is related, as well, to the
channelling of social demands, social, legal and legitimate control. The democratic
sustainability of the country is nourished by the preparation of pacts or
accords, public discussion of problems and the prevention of conflicts.
The National
Committee of the War Veterans' Sector of the FMLN, 9ª Av. Norte No. 229 entre
1ª y 3ª Calle Poniente,
Mauricio Funes, the FMLN candidate for hope
Excerpt from
Amanda Shank, Upside Down World, http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1282/1/
“Let's do
this interview before dinner, Mauricio”, Vanda advises, “but change your shirt,
first”. Energised by the day's successful events, Funes stops to think and
admits that he could use a couple of minutes alone. He has already appeared at
three public events, and held an afternoon press conference. With a packed
agenda and plans to leave next week for
After a
ten-minute break in his room, Funes returns with a new shirt and invites me to
take a seat at a nearby table in the hotel's outdoor restaurant. When I ask the
first question, he speaks quickly and clearly, an ability that he has practiced
and refined throughout 21 years of professional journalism and six months on
the campaign trail.
Q: From the election of Hugo Chavez to the
recent election of
We are often
asked, ``Well, what type of left do you represent?’’, and I have said: “We
represent the left of hope. We are a sensible left, a reasonable left, a left
that is betting on change, a stable change. We are looking for a type of
society that builds functioning institutions in
Given the
current international context, we do not aspire to build socialism in
We do not
need to be close to Chavez, close to Lula or close to Bush in order for our
institutions and democracy to work. What we need is to build a model of public
management that responds to the needs of Salvadorans and that will resolve
Salvadoran problems.
We respect the
process being followed in
Those processes are a response to other circumstances. What we hope to build are relationships based on cooperation and solidarity with the people represented by each one of these countries. However, we are not going to follow the same recipe or model that might have worked in other countries, but has nothing to do with our reality...
People's Government Program of Hope
1. Completely founded in human rights All
public policy and government action will be built upon, and aimed at reaching,
the greatest degree of effectiveness in human rights, to better meet the
essential needs and aspirations of the Salvadorean people, the basis of the
legitimation of democratic governance which will begin with the Social and
Democratic Inclusiveness Program.
2. Informed by gender policy Despite
struggles, women still suffer discrimination and exclusion from decision making.
Thus, for the People's Government, the exercise of democracy begins precisely
with widening the spaces which rightly belong to women as co-actors in the
history, present and future of
3. Environmental rehabilitation The
People’s Government immensely values all life forms in the Salvadorean-Middle
American ecosystem.
4. Local level strengthening The
inclusiveness model proposed by the new government stems from an understanding
that
5. Independent Integration in Central America
The new government is integrationist and will launch an initiative, involving
all the country's social and economic forces willing to contribute to the
deepening of Central American and Caribbean integration, from the standpoint of
the real interests of the people of El Salvador and the country's economic
strengths, as well of those of our sister peoples. This means seeking benefits
for people; an increase in our domestic and regional capacities; the promotion
of knowledge; scientific and technological innovation; social rights; and
environmental sustainability.
FMLN War Veterans’ campaign for 2009 elections
We, FMLN war
veterans, were the driving force behind the foundation of the FMLN on
Our aim was
to take political power through armed revolutionary struggle to bring about
social transformation with a people's revolutionary government for the benefit
of
In 1972 and
again in 1977, the political opposition of our Salvadorean people won the
presidency through the ballot box and both times was shamefully robbed of
victory by the right wing and the military. What we confronted was a military
dictatorship under the direct political, military, economic, ideological and
intelligence control of the
For 12 years
we fought them with success, and we can therefore now say, with pride, that we,
the War Veterans' Sector of the FMLN, are the moral and historic reserve stock
of the FMLN Party, and as such we can and should transmit our experience to the
Salvadorean people, together with all our militancy, as adapted, of course, to
the current historical and political moment in El Salvador. As veterans we have
every capacity to train contingents of new comrades who will join and
strengthen the party, in political schools based upon revolutionary principles.
In other
words, the FMLN is the party born of the people and which cost tens of
thousands of deaths of heroes and martyrs of the Salvadorean people. Therefore,
as war veterans we have both the duty and the right to keep on developing and
strengthening it to make it capable of taking political power in 2009, which is
what our dead dreamt of, those who fell in the course of our struggle in past
decades.
The signing
of the Peace Accords on
We knew that
we had not achieved political power, but that we had managed to dismantle the
military dictatorship which had been deeply entrenched for over 100 years. We
also knew that with the signing of the Peace Accords we had opened the way
towards a real democracy which would have to be built together with the people,
making full use of the opportunities opened up through the negotiations and that
could not be gone back on.
But now
practically the opposite is happening. Once peace was signed, our party the
FMLN worked to transform itself into a political party which could participate
legally in Salvadorean politics, since that is a requirement laid down in our
constitution, in order to take part in elections. Over the past five years we
have been making an effort to organise FMLN war veterans (both men and women)
with the aim of continuing the struggle to change our country into a more just society
with a place for everybody.
The FMLN is
the best-organised and strongest left-wing force in the country. The National Committee
of the War Veterans' Sector of the FMLN wish to help strengthen the party and
join in the social organisation of our people, to prepare favourable conditions
to win government in 2009. In order to organise the youth, our plan is to
foster demand-based, economic, political and social struggle. We plan to create
12 departmental committees, one in each of the 12 departments of
Comments
Open letter from US academics on Salvadoran 2009 elections
1 December 2008
We the undersigned are North American academics who study Latin
America. We wish to make known several concerns with regard to the
electoral process now underway in El Salvador and which include
legislative elections in January 2009 and presidential elections in
March 2009. In particular, as academics who have studied electoral
processes throughout the hemisphere, we believe that there are a
minimal set of norms and conditions necessary for elections to be
free, transparent, and democratic. These include the freedom to
participate in civic and political activities without fear of
violence, repression, or reprisals, and the existence of rules and
regulations that assure transparency in the voting process and that
safeguard against the possibility of electoral fraud. We wish to make
known in this regard the following four concerns:
We are against foreign interference in the electoral processes and
the internal affairs of other countries. We observe in the Salvadoran
case that the United States government has brazenly intervened in
previous elections to influence the outcome and that once again it
appears to be undertaking such intervention. Among various incidents
we draw attention to statements made by the U.S. ambassador to El
Salvador, Charles Glazer, in May 2008 on alleged and unsubstantiated
connections between the principal opposition party in El Salvador,
the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) and the FARC
guerrilla organization of Colombia. Ambassador Glazer stated that
“any group that collaborates or expresses friendship with the FARC is
not a friend of the United States” Also, in February 2008, the U.S.
Director of Intelligence Director J. Michael McConnell made public a
report that, without any evidence whatsoever, charged that the FMLN
was set to receive “generous financing” from Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez for its electoral campaign. In October, Ambassador Glazer
made public reference to this report.
Such statements constitute unacceptable outside interference in the
electoral process. They are a veiled threat against the Salvadoran
people that, should they elect a government not to the liking of the
United States, they will face U.S. wrath and possible reprisals. We
consider this interference to be in violation of international norms
and we call on the U.S. government to immediately desist from all
such interference. The United States government must respect the
right of the Salvadoran electorate to choose its government free from
threats of U.S. hostility or reprisals.
We are alarmed by the increase in political violence in El Salvador
over the past two years and the atmosphere of impunity with which
this violence has taken place. There has been a spate of
assassinations the circumstances surrounding which strongly suggests
that they have been political in nature. The victims of these crimes
have exclusively been leaders of trade unions, community and
religious organizations and members or supporters of the FMLN. In
2007, according to the legal department of the Archbishopric of San
Salvador, only 31 percent of the homicides which that office
investigated was attributed to maras (gang members) or to common
crime, while 69 percent, showed clear signs of “death-squad style”
and “social cleansing” crimes . The San Salvador-based Foundation for
the Study of the Application of the Law has documented 27 murders of
young social movement activists and members of the political
opposition over the past three years that appear to be death squad
slayings. In addition, the El Salvador Human Rights Commission has
denounced an increase in such death-squad slayings against opposition
leaders as the elections have approached and warned that these
assassinations are generating a climate of fear.
There have been a series of legal changes and reforms to the
electoral code that open up the possibility of fraud. Among these, we
observe that article 256 of the electoral law was partially derogated
unilaterally in December 2007 by the current government. This article
(256-D,c) stipulated that all ballots must be signed and sealed by
election officials appointed to each voting center in order to be
valid, thus safeguarding against tampering with ballots once they are
deposited by voters. In addition, the current Salvadoran government
unilaterally moved the official opening of the electoral period from
September 17, 2008 to September 1, 2008. This meant that the
electoral register will be based on the 1992 national census rather
than on the new census conducted in 2007. The electoral register at
this time lists 4,226,479 Salvadorans registered to vote, on the
basis of the 1992 census. However, the new 2007 census indicates that
there are only 3,265,021 eligible voters, 961,458 less than the
electoral register. Relying on the outdated 1992 census opens the
possibility of ballot-stuffing and related types of voter fraud by
using the names of people who are have died since 1992 or who have
migrated and are no longer residents of the country. Moreover, the
Organization of American States concluding its audit of the electoral
register at the end of 2007 and in early 2008 presented its report,
which included a list of 103 recommended measures with regard to the
electoral process, including 56 which that international organization
characterized as “obligatory,” incompliance with which would put into
jeopardy the integrity of the elections. To date, the great majority
of these recommendations have not been acted upon.
Finally, we are highly alarmed by statements issued in Washington
D.C. on September 18, 2008, by the Salvadoran foreign minister,
Marisol Argueta de Barillas, in a speech before the American
Enterprise Institute (AEI) . Ms. Argueta was personally invited by
AEI visiting fellow Roger Noriega, a U.S. assistant secretary of
state for Western Hemisphere affairs during the administration of
George W. Bush and a man who shamelessly intervened in the 2004
Salvadoran presidential elections. At that time, and while serving as
assistant secretary of state, he threatened that if the FMLN were
elected the United States would seek to block the sending of
remittances from Salvadorans in the United States to their family
members in El Salvador and to deport Salvadorans residing in the
United States. In her speech before the AEI, the Salvadoran foreign
minister openly called on the U.S. government to intervene in her
country’s electoral process.
Ms. Argueta declared: “The United States must pay close attention to
what is happening in El Salvador and the resulting national security
and geopolitical consequences, since our enemies are joining together
and becoming stronger. The upcoming municipal and legislative
elections in January of 2009 and the next presidential elections in
March 2009 will be without a doubt, the closest electoral
competitions in the history of El Salvador…The opposition party is a
remnant of the former guerrilla movement. Some members of its
leadership have been closely related to ETA or to the FARC. Losing El
Salvador will threaten the national security of both El Salvador and
the United States…It will generate instability in the country and in
neighboring countries and it will set El Salvador back 30 years, to
when Central America was in turmoil. As President Ronald Reagan said
25 years ago…the security of the United States is at stake in El
Salvador.…US foreign policy in the region must be reassessed and
there must be a review of growing anti-American sentiment and the
coming to power of increasing numbers of anti-American governments in
this backyard.”
These declarations virtually call for U.S. intervention in El
Salvador to avoid a possible electoral triumph by the FMLN, and to
undermine in this way the right of the Salvadoran people to elect the
government of their choosing free from threats, pressures, and
interference by a foreign power. Given the long and sordid history of
U.S. intervention in El Salvador and in Latin America we view these
statements with grave concern and we call on the Salvadoran
government to desist from inviting U.S. intervention.
We wish to make these concerns known to the incoming Obama
administration. We are hopeful that, with its renewed commitment to
better diplomatic relations with Latin America and its message of
political change, this new administration will not support any
intervention in the Salvadoran elections and nor will it tolerate
human rights violations and electoral fraud.
SIGNED:
William I. Robinson, University of California at Santa Barbara
Hector Perla, University of California at Santa Cruz
Charles Hale, University of Texas at Austin and past president of the Latin American
Studies Association (2006-2007)
Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Immanuel Wallerstein, Yale University
Arturo Arias, University of Texas at Austin and past president of the Latin American
Studies Association (2001-2003)
Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College and past president of the International Studies
Association (2000-2001)
Ramona Hernandez, City College of New York and Director of Dominican Studies Institute
Helen I. Safa, Emeritus, University of Florida and past president of the Latin American
Studies Association (1983-1985)
Carmen Diana Deere, University of Florida and past president of the Latin American
Studies Association (1992-94).
Sonia E. Alvarez, University of Massachusetts at Amherst and past president of the
Latin American Studies Association (2004-2006)
Lars Schoultz, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and past president of
the Latin American Studies Association (1991-1992)
Thomas Holloway, University of California at Davis and past president of the Latin
American Studies Association (2000-2001)
John L. Hammond, Hunter College and Graduate Center, CUNY, and former chair of the
Latin American Studies Association Task Force on Human Rights and Academic Freedom
Miguel Tinker-Salas, Pomona College
Greg Grandin, New York University
Manuel Rozental, Algoma University
Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, D.C.
Jeffrey L. Gould, University of Indiana
Arturo Escobar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mark Sawyer, University of California at Los Angeles
Ramon Grosfoguel, University of California at Berkeley
Peter McLaren, University of California at Los Angeles
Gilberto G. Gonzales, University of California at Irvine
John Foran, University of California at Santa Barbara
Christopher Chase-Dunn, University of California at Irvine
Alfonso Gonzales, New York University
Gary Prevost, St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict
Sujatha Fernandez, Queens College, City University of New York
Howard Winant, University of California at Santa Barbara
Jon Shefner, University of Tennessee
Daniel Hellinger, Webster University
Agustin Lao-Montes, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Millie Thayer, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Jeffrey W. Rubin, Boston University
Ellen Moodie, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Brandt Gustav Peterson, Michigan State University
Adam Flint, Binghamton University
Richard Stahler-Sholk, Eastern Michigan University
Richard Grossman, Northeastern Illinois University
Manel Lacorte, University of Maryland
Ana Patricia Rodríguez, University of Maryland
Beth Baker, California State University at Los Angeles
Aaron Schneider, Tulane University
Misha Kokotovic, University of California-San Diego
Marc McLeod, Seattle University
Michael Hardt, Duke University
Bruce Ergood, Ohio University
Beatrice Pita, University of California at San Diego
Rosaura Sanchez, University of California at San Diego
Nancy Plankey Videla, Texas A&M University
Kate Bronfenbrenner, Cornell University
LaDawn Haglund, Arizona State University
Judith A. Weiss, Mount Allison University, Canada
Susanne Jonas, University of California at Santa Cruz
Robert Whitney, University of New Brunswick (Saint John), Canada
Aline Helg (U.S. citizen), Université de Genève, Switzerland
Stephanie Jed, University of California at San Diego
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, California State University
James J. Brittain, Acadia University, Canada
Margaret Power, Illinois Institute of Technology
Philip J. Williams, University of Florida
R. James Sacouman, Acadia University
Carlos Schroder, Northern Virginia Community College
Frederick B. Mills, Bowie State University
Judith Blau, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Egla Martinez, Carleton University, Canada
Walda Katz-Fishman, Howard University
Judith Wittner, Loyola University
Yajaira M. Padilla, University of Kansas
Tanya Golash-Boza, University of Kansas
Erich H. Loewy, University of California at Davis
Jonathan Fox, University of California at Santa Cruz
Steven S. Volk, Oberlin College
Marc Edelman, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
W. L. Goldfrank, University of California at Santa Cruz
Benjamin Kohl, Temple University
Lourdes Benería, Cornell University
Philip Oxhorn, McGill University
Ronald Chilcote, University of California at Riverside
Judith Adler Hellman, York University, Toronto
Barbara Chasin, Montclair State University
Matt D Childs, University of South Carolina
Sarah Hernandez, New College of Florida
Catherine LeGrand, McGill University
Nathalia E. Jaramillo, Purdue University
William Avilés, University of Nebraska, Kearney
Dana Frank, University of California at Santa Cruz
Robert Andolina, Seattle University
Sinclair Thomson, New York University
Patricia Balcom, University of Moncoton
Josée Grenier, Université du Québec en Outaouais
Manfred Bienefeld, Carleton University
Susan Spronk, University of Ottawa
May E. Bletz, Brock University
David Heap, University of Western Ontario
Dennis Beach, Saint John’s University, Minnesota
Aldo A. Lauria-Santiago, Rutgers University-New Brunswick
William S. Stewart, California State University, Chico
Sheila Candelario, Fairfield University
Erik Ching, Furman University
Marc Zimmerman, University of Houston
Maureen Shea, Tulane University
Héctor Cruz-Feliciano, Council on International Educational Exchange
Karen Kampwirth, Knox College
Marco A. Mojica, City College of San Francisco
Nick Copeland, University of Arkansas
Silvia L. López, Carleton College
Marie-Agnès Sourieau, Fairfield University
Karina Oliva-Alvarado, University of California at Los Angeles
Erin S. Finzer, University of Kansas
Dina Franceschi, Fairfield University
Lisa Kowalchuk, University of Guelph
Amalia Pallares, University of Illinois at Chicago
B. Ruby Rich, University of California at Santa Cruz
Edward Dew, Fairfield University
Nora Hamilton, University of Southern California
Deborah Levenson, Boston College
Linda J. Craft, North Park University
Thomas W. Walker, Ohio University
Jocelyn Viterna, Harvard University
Cecilia Menjivar, Arizona State University
Ricardo Dominguez, University of California at San Diego
María Elena Díaz, University of California at Santa Cruz
Guillermo Delgado-P, University of California at Santa Cruz
Guillaume Hébert, Université du Québec à Montréal
Leisy Abrego, University of California at Irvine
Michael E. Rotkin, University of California at Santa Cruz
John Blanco, University of California at San Diego
Steven Levitsky, Harvard University
John Beverley, University of Pittsburgh
Evelyn Gonzalez, Montgomery College
Tom O'Brien, University of Houston
Pablo Rodriguez, City College of San Francisco
John Womack, Jr., Harvard University
James D. Cockcroft, State University of New York
Mark Anner, Penn State University
John Kirk, Dalhousie University
Jorge Mariscal, University of California at San Diego
Susan Kellogg, University of Houston
Susan Gzesh, University of Chicago
Luis Martin-Cabrera, University of California at San Diego
Lawrence Rich, Northern Virginia Community College
Jeff Tennant, The University of Western Ontario, Canada
Meyer Brownstone, University of Toronto and Chair emeritus, Oxfam Canada
Charmain Levy, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Canada
Liisa L. North, York University
Denis G. Rancourt, University of Ottawa, Canada
Barbara Weinstein, New York University
Kelley Ready, Brandeis University
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