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Proceso 1140
March 16, 2005
ISSN 0259-9864
Editorial: A couple of international misfortunes
Politics: The defeat of the Salvadoran diplomacy
Economy: Award?
A couple of international misfortunes
The Salvadoran government has still not understood the
importance of the international rights and it will be a difficult task to
understand what they are about, because that government usually proceeds in an
arbitrary fashion. The sentence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
against the Salvadoran State for violating the right to grant judicial
protection to a couple of young girls that disappeared during the conflict has
put it again in the public eye. The ARENA government speaks much about
globalization and about a process of integration to the most important
world-wide events, but it does not know what its own responsibilities are. El
Salvador cannot be opened to the world without respecting the international
rights, and this has transcendental internal repercussions. In the past, the
fundamental rights could be violated with impunity. Now, this kind of situation
runs the risk of being punished, since the victims can go to the international
courts to demand their rights.
That is, indeed, what has been done by the relatives of both children that
disappeared during the civil war, in an army operation. If the Salvadoran State
had respected their rights, the demand would have not taken place. The
performance of the Judicial Organ, in this case, has not been approved by the
independent judges. The actions of the Executive power have also been considered
inappropriate, since the Judicial Organ is connected with it as well as with the
parties. To deny the existence of these two children, as the ARENA
administration did, is a simply stupid thing to do. To argue that this is a
politically partisan failure is another senseless attitude of the present
government.
The sentence is not a simple recommendation. The Salvadoran State is supposed to
accomplish this task even if it does not like to admit such fact, just like the
Honduran and the Guatemalan States have done it before in similar situations.
Therefore, it has to publicly apologize itself, for not investigating the
disappearance of the two children and for not doing justice to them; it must
accelerate the investigation procedures to determine the whereabouts of the two
sisters; it must dedicate a day of the year to the memory of all the children
who suffered the same fate, to open a web site and help locate those who are
still missing, and to pay over $700,000. There will be plenty of people who will
consider that this amount is an extremely high price for a government with
limited resources. Others will think that to apologize in public, before the
relatives of the children in question and before the public officials, will be
humiliating for President Saca, or that to dedicate a day to the memory of the
missing children is to open a wound. These people should know that it would be
much more inexpensive and, certainly, less humiliating if the ARENA
administration fulfilled the duties of the State, which are to guarantee and to
protect the population’s right to justice.
It has been this administration’s tenacious refusal to fulfill its duties what
has led it to an apology and to compensate the victim’s relatives for the
damages that have been caused. But, the ARENA administration prefers to go
through all that before the possibility of an investigation that could show how
the fundamental rights of the population have been violated, because then it
would have to identify those responsible for the crime, probably civilians,
politicians, members of the army, people rooted in the structures of power.
Therefore, it turns out that that the impunity of these powerful characters of
the national life falls on the taxes paid by the citizenry. It would be more
equitable if they undertook their responsibilities and not the State, that is,
the taxpayers, the ones that urgently need to see improvements in the social
services that are offered to them.
The Salvadoran State had to face another international misfortune, because it
refused to sign certain documents of the International Work Organization (OIT,
in Spanish). The ARENA administration intended to enjoy the general system of
preferences of the European Union, which would grant important commercial
advantages to the Salvadoran production, without fulfilling the requirements.
The European Union had already warned the Salvadoran representatives that they
had to sign these treaties, but they responded that it would go against the
Constitution. They thought that they could enjoy the commercial advantages
without making concessions. Again, they miscalculated their moves. If they do
not meet the basic requirements, there are no concessions. The refusal is not
definitive. The Salvadoran government has a little more than a year to reform
its internal legislation and to sign the treaties in question.
The reaction of the Saca administration to this misfortune is a contradiction,
and it shows that it is not ready to face the challenges of integration in the
world. The truth is that the ARENA administrations are not accustomed to face
categorical positions such as the European one. The reactions of ARENA are
usually are quite rudimentary, the party takes a long time to make a decision
prefers to make “shady” deals. President Saca reacted immediately and announced
a new committee that would discuss the freedom to create unions, the collective
negotiation system, and the learning regime. In order to make the image of ARENA
come out clean, he stated that his decision responded to the obligations
acquired in the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. It might be so and
the rejection of the European Union is a mere coincidence. It seems as if for
ARENA it is more acceptable to surrender before the United States than to
Europe. The reaction of the Minister of Economy was different. According to her,
there was no time to deal with this issue.
In fact, the European Union delayed its decision, to give a second and a last
opportunity to the Salvadoran government. The Vice-minister of Work went further
on and denied the existence of external pressures and the commitment to reform
the internal legislation to be able to sign agreements, and with this, he did
not only contradict the official position of his government, but he also showed
his lack of internal consistency. According to him, the formerly mentioned
committee will just discuss labor subjects.
The decision of the European Union was delayed through the intermediation of
Spain, which obtained the initial part of an agreement. It intervened, not as
much by solidarity with the Salvadoran interests, but to favor the interests of
a Spanish company that imports canned tuna fish products, which is established
in the Salvadoran eastern area, a company interested in the benefits of the
general system of tariff preferences. The agreement principle allows El Salvador
to enjoy the commercial advantages if it signs both treaties related to the
freedom to organize unions and a collective form of negotiation before the year
2006 ends. Therefore, the departing legislature will have to approve the
constitutional reform before dissolving itself, and the new one will have to
ratify it during first sessions. It is evident that the Salvadoran State updates
its legislation because of the external pressures and that it does it in an
awkward fashion . This uncomfortable situation, not to mention violent, is the
result of the lack of interest, and the lack of both political will and
long-term vision of the party’s politicians and rulers.
The defeat of the Salvadoran diplomacy
The dreams of greatness that Francisco Flores have ended.
With it, the foreign policy of El Salvador had a steep fall. At the moment, this
is about the first negative harvest of the absurd and the uncritical bet placed
by Antonio Saca, to assume without hesitating, the legacy of his predecessor in
matters of the international affairs. After leaving the Presidential House,
using his friendship with Bush, in the context that everyone already knows
about, that is, a context of absurdity in the Organization of the American
States (O.A.S.), the former president prevailed as the "Central American
candidate" to hold the position. He thought that the show staged in the regional
organization would have been enough (flanked by the person designated in the
White House to take care of the hemispheric affairs, Roger Noriega) to make sure
that the sympathy of the other fellow member countries was on his side.
The former president had –it is expected that with the lesson of the last week
he will change his attitude in the future- very bad habits. In El Salvador, he
was sure that was enough to handle the local press well in order to gain the
sympathy of the whole world. How many Salvadoran citizens, including
politicians, were not surprised in their good faith, in more than one occasion,
by the alleged "charms" of Flores? That one who became an expert in the image
game, thought that he was at the center stage of Latin America, and that
everyone was going to shower him with rose petals in his way towards the main
office of the O.A.S. On January 16th, within the framework of the symbolic
ceremony to begin with the reconstruction of the Cutuco Sea Port, located in the
department of La Union, Flores declared that he did not have more time to waste
on sterile conversations with the Honduran President because he was more
concerned about the negotiations he had to establish with other regional
leaders.
The contemptuous attitude that Flowers always had towards his political
adversaries affected him in the end. In a quiet way, but with perseverance and a
good sense, Honduras truncated his race towards the O.A.S. The politicians of
this country did not allow themselves to be frightened by the pressures of
Washington and, they disregarded the alleged regional consensus that surrounded
the image of the former Salvadoran President. Two days before celebrating the
election, Flowers had to announce his resignation, according to him, in order to
avoid the division of Mesoamerica.
Now it is clear that before the definitive defeat of Flores and the hostility of
Washington before the candidacy of Jose Miguel Insulza, they asked the former
president to step aside to favor the Mexican candidate who counted with more
support. There are enough indicators that allow to say that reality is even more
embarrassing than what the people politically responsible for the Chancellery of
El Salvador are actually willing to publicly admit. According to the information
revealed by a sector of the press, Flores and the Salvadoran authorities did not
even have the decency to tell those that had supported them -the Central
American capitals with a foreign policy dictated from Washington- that the
public officials of the White House requested that he would stop looking for the
possibility of being elected as Secretary General of the O.A.S.
The people responsible for the foreign policy of El Salvador – with President
Saca leading the way- did show a weak leadership in the case of the
international political aspirations of Flores. Without being convinced about the
political stature of the character for a task of such importance, they were
intimidated by the former president. In addition, they showed an unacceptable
level of ignorance about the diplomatic procedures. With their irresponsible
attitude, they ruined the possibilities of Central America of keeping the
control of the General Secretariat of the hemispheric organization.
The decision of Mexico to be part of the race to direct the O.A.S. is precisely
due to the incapacity of the Central Americans to reach an agreement. The fact
that Flores is saying now that he stepped aside to avoid the division of the
countries of the isthmus it is simply a lie that does not fool anyone. The
deception of seeing himself forced to resign pushed by those who had supported
his candidacy motivated, without a doubt, the declarations of the former
president. But, the only problem is that the image of personal generosity that
Flores intended to project that day can be actually denied by all of his
political trajectory.
In the end, Saca and Flores will become part of the history of the Salvadoran
diplomacy looking like a couple of clumsy characters, whose incapacity to read
the language of the continent’s diplomacy (in the case of Saca), and the
stubbornness (and the arrogance, in the case of Flores) left the foreign policy
of El Salvador in a bad position. In the case of Flores, the confusion created
by the support of the President of the United States can explain why he did not
measure his real possibilities to hold the secretariat of the O.A.S. The case of
Saca, however, is unforgivable. The former president knew well that a
controversial image and the lack of autonomy in reference to the American
foreign policy of his predecessor was going to irritate the leaders of South
America.
Part of the responsibility of Saca, as a member of the Salvadoran diplomacy, is
surrounding himself by qualified advisors, with enough intellectual capacity to
analyze the international matters. They should have made him understood that the
mature attitude displayed by the presidents from Venezuela, Chile, Argentina and
Brazil was going to go against El Salvador, especially against Flores. In this
case, he would have not spoiled the possibilities of the Central American region
of staying at the top of the hemispheric organization.
Beyond the stupidity and the subsequent rudeness in which the Salvadoran
diplomacy is involved, there is a new element that should be taken into account
to understand the failure of Flores. It is the leading role that the Brazilian
diplomacy is playing in the region. Before the overwhelming pressures of the
diplomats of Washington, the public officials of Brasilia have managed to get
the support of most of the Caribbean countries for the cause of Jose Miguel
Insulza. Just like he mentioned after the results were revealed, the countries
that continue to support him have had to bear an unspeakable amount of pressure
coming from the White House.
However, the public officials of Bush underestimated the determination of the 17
countries that supported the Chilean candidate in the construction project of a
regional organization worthy of this name. Historically, some local journalists
said to convince themselves that Flores would be elected, a candidate supported
by Washington has never been defeated. This is how the organization had been
considered as an extension of the Secretariat of Hemispheric affairs of the
White House. Taking advantage of this, the White House easily achieved the
expulsion of Castro’s Cuba, and put it out of the organization.
The impasse in which the election of the Secretary General has ended, on last
Monday, April 11th -after five rounds of voting none of the candidates managed
to get the majority of votes- this has to be seen as the awakening of some
countries of the continent. Before the presence of the Mexican candidate,
supported by Washington, Brazil and other countries of South America, they
managed to convince half of the continent that the best way to defend the
affairs of the rest of the continent was to protect its autonomy. No one knows
how this political battle will end. In any case, the Salvadoran authorities
should learn the lesson well. In order that the rest of the continent listens to
the country’s opinion, it is necessary that their political leaders show a
certain level of dignity and become more independent of the United States.
Award?
The North American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will
include in her first tour through Latin America countries such as Brazil, Chile
and El Salvador. Among the subjects that the public official will include in her
agenda are the free trade, and the combat against both delinquency and drug
trafficking. Since El Salvador is her only destiny in Central America, President
Elías Antonio Saca has announced that he is pleased with Rice’s visit, which
will take place on April 29th.
For the President, "Rice’s visit is an award, a recognition for a country that
is also a friend". An award? Why? In addition to the meeting that she will have
with Saca, Rice will give an award to the soldiers who fought in Iraq. The
medals that Rice will place on the chests of the Salvadoran soldiers are a
recognition for following the foreign policy of the U.S.A.
It is an award for having the doubtful honor of being the only Latin American
country that continues supporting with more troops a war that lacks legitimacy.
It is an award for betting more lives on a war that the U.S.A. does not know how
to walk away from, because they cannot accept that it was a mistake from
beginning to end.
However, besides the medals, no one is able to tell where the award is to be
found with the visit of Rice. And if this were the case, does that mean that she
would also be awarding the governments of Brazil and Chile. The government of
Lula da Silva would deserve an award delivered by Rice’s own hands for working
in a common economic agenda with the countries of South America, even if this
contradicted the vision of the U.S.A. over the Free Trade Agreement Area of the
Americas (ALCA, in Spanish)?
On the other hand, will the U.S.A. give an award with the visit of Rice to a
government like the Chilean one which, besides supporting the idea of an agenda
of independent trade, has also remarkably contributed to the elucidation of the
political crimes during the dictatorship and during the restoration of the
victims’ honor?
Then, the awards are different, because in El Salvador they lack both things: a
policy independent of the U.S.A., and a policy focused on the interests of the
Central American region; and the decision to overcome the dark past of the war,
not with amnesties, but from the perspective of the victims. In this sense, it
is important to remember that the government of Saca has completely refused to
the possibility of reopening the investigations about the murder of Monsignor
Óscar Arnulfo Romero, stating that it is not necessary to reopen an old wound.
The President, who stated that sometimes he worked as an altar boy for Romero,
declared that "I think that the Salvadorans chose me to administer the future,
therefore to reopen a wound is a situation that I do not agree with".
Without a doubt, the visit of the Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is an
important fact and it is necessary to see the true importance of the event. When
stating that it is an "award" for the country, it can only remind us about the
type of relations that former president Francisco Flores established with the
U.S.A. and with President George W. Bush, especially when he used to rave about
their "personal friendship".
Flores handled the relations with the Bush administration like a personal
matter. He intended to use that “personal friendship” as the decisive factor for
issues such as the Temporary Protection Statute for the Salvadoran immigrants (TPS),
and the Free Trade Agreement between Central America, the Dominican Republic and
the U.S.A. (CAFTA), events that were made public as if they were accomplishments
of the Salvadoran government. Flores began to believe in that "friendship" with
the American President so much, that he practically assumed that he would be
elected as Secretary General of the O.A.S., with the results that everyone
already knows about.
The international relations cannot be handled by "personal friendships", nor by
"awards". In any case, El Salvador is not a "good student" who deserves to be
awarded because it knows its lesson well. This approach would have to change.
The international policy is decided by practical results, such as the reciprocal
benefits.
Important subjects in the visit of Rice: the O.A.S. and the CAFTA
It is important to consider two great subjects that are being developed at the
moment, previously to the visit of Rice: the election of the Secretary General
of the O.A.S. and the discussion on the ratification of the CAFTA in the
American Congress.
The resignation of Flores, forced by the forcefulness of the facts, has
“purified” the environment for the candidacies to the General Secretariat of the
Inter-American organization; now there are two candidates left with the
possibility to lead the O.A.S.: the Chilean, Miguel Inzulza, and the Mexican,
Luis Ernesto Derbez. But, far from smoothing the way for a quick election, the
situation has become a dead end, since the voting was in a tie. To complicating
things even more, Peru and Panama would be considering the possibility of
proposing their respective candidates.
Therefore, it is probable that the visit of Rice to the three formerly mentioned
Latin American countries is contemplating something more substantial than "to
give an award" to the governments. The vacancy in the O.A.S. is a subject that
concerns the U.S.A.. Historically, the Inter-American organization has been a
key factor in its foreign policy towards Latin America. To have a Socialist
candidate like Inzulza -who, by the way, counts with the support of governments
like Lula, Kirchner and Chavez- could be disadvantageous.
The other subject that, without a doubt, will be a matter of discussion between
Rice and President Saca will be the CAFTA. The commercial treaty is now in a
phase of ratification. In Central America it has found the way, since the
congresses are virtually dominated by parties of the right wing that bet on the
CAFTA as the great solution to the economic problems of the Isthmus. In the
U.S.A., the situation is not quite clear.
The congressmen, both the Republicans and the Democrats, have expressed their
reluctance to ratify the treaty in the terms that the Bush administration
indicated. Subjects such as labor, ecology and rights are the most crucial ones.
On the other hand, there are economic sectors of the U.S.A. that are reluctant
to open the markets, especially, the sugar and the textile sectors. These
sectors consider, for example, that the massive arrival of textile products
manufactured in the Central American maquilas would be disadvantageous. Not only
because they would do it without paying tariffs, but with lower prices. The
maquilas in the Isthmus have the "advantage" to pay smaller wages, smaller than
those that they pay in the U.S.A.. On the other hand, they are also afraid that
the arrival of 500,000 metric tons of sugar, coming from Central America and the
Dominican Republic, would be a negative factor for the local production.
On the other hand, as indicated by The Wall Street Journal of the Americas,
published on April 13th, they also fear that, with the commercial openness,
China could use its access to the countries of the Caribbean to "flood the
U.S.A. with manufactured textile products" at inferior prices.
In order to fight against that atmosphere of uncertainty, the representatives of
the governments that will sign the CAFTA are at the moment in Washington looking
for an endorsement among the North American congressmen. Evidently, the visit of
the Secretary of State will discuss with President Saca the “backstage” events
of this problematic atmosphere. What can be expected from the visit of the
American public official is predictable. And that is that they will probably use
it as propaganda, focusing on the visit as a sample of political support.
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