Editorial

Single-Mindedness

Economy

Restructuring the electricity company (CEL)

International

Runaway shops on the northern mexican border

News Briefs

SINGLE-MINDEDNESS

In the final section of the president's June 1 speech --to which, as a matter of fact, not much attention has been paid-- some ideas are expressed which may help to understand the idealistic tone of the text and the general proposal which the government sustains about the country. It is in this final passage that President Calderón Sol declares that he is convinced that El Salvador is advancing "inexorably towards the realization of its great destiny". This could mean at least two things: that no effort will impede the achieving of that destiny and that this destiny is guaranteed, on the condition that the current policies continue in place. Nevertheless, the speech does not describe the content of that destiny nor its grandeur. It limits itself to referring to it by using a very generic formula: "Our new El Salvador". The content of this "newness" must be specified as to its content so that it may be possible to know if it is what is in the best interest of the majority of Salvadorans.

At times it would seem that this new phenomenon is defined as modernity, democracy and participation. These are terms currently in use which are not explained in a very profound way; the assumption as to clarity and general agreement on the content of this term is taken for granted. At any rate, it is noteworthy that equality and justice do not appear on the list. But none of this seems to matter, because El Salvador is predestined, by some unknown superior force, to enjoy this great destiny. Seen in this way, its strong points are presented as being greater than its weaknesses.

If El Salvador moves upon that "horizon of real and marvelous opportunities" which are guaranteed to it beforehand, it is, then, logical to call for an accelerated movement to arrive as soon as possible at such a very promising goal. In this scheme of perceptions, any step backwards is nothing more than an unnecessary and useless postponement. As a consequence, one should not waste energy in "fruitless, superficial debates", and neither should one become distracted concentrating on "things of the past"; nor should "doubtful attitudes" paralyze the sure march forward of the country. There remains nothing to be done but act with "determination and wisdom", "strength and promptness" in order to reach that goal so laden with marvelous opportunities.

The speech assumes, gratuitously, that Salvadoran society shares this vision of the future, as promising as it is vague and undefined. The vision, however, discounts the fact that the whole country committed itself to the Peace Accords, placed its bet on democracy and accepted the proposals of the National Commission for Development to draw up a plan for the nation. It is true that it does not ignore the existence of fears and resistance to change owing to narrow political views, to ideologies or to the egotistical satisfaction of private interests, to the detriment of the common good; but it pays no significant attention to those obstacles, doubtless moved by the certainty of the great opportunity which the country impatiently awaits.

It is not an exaggeration to declare that President Calderón Sol dreams, knowing that to dream is not a bad thing, because it may help one to move forward. But that is not the most questionable part of the vision held by the President of the Republic concerning the country: it is his almost absolute certainty that what is politically and economically correct is the neoliberal premise. Moreover, the reduction of Salvadoran reality to exclusively economic terms, is held up as the only possible mode of thought, and this presents itself as being open to discussions in which only specialists can participate.

Such single-mindedness is a closed ideology. Although it limits itself exclusively to the economic sphere, it presents itself as a global representation of reality. Its central thesis is that the market is in control and that the government administers what the market dictates. Single-mindedness is an attitude in which one is always right, whatever the circumstances may be, and it presumes, as well, that any other argument must give way before it.

Fundamental ideas which make up this species of single-minded thinking are the following: the market is the most adequate means for resolving all problems; finance is the motor force of the economy; unlimited free exchange is a factor promoting uninterrupted development in trade; the globalization of the financial market and the production of manufactured goods lead mechanically to development; the international division of labor moderates trade union demands; a strong currency is a stabilizing factor; deregulation of the economy is the indispensable condition for its growth; the cost of this in terms of ecology is irrelevant; the process of reducing the state is also the process of extending civilization; the market economy leads to democracy; pragmatism replaces ideology; an attitude of not attacking the weak, but only the pretensions most weakly justified; an assumption that there has always been and will always be corruption, but that it will be marginal; a presumption that there will always be inequality because it is in the nature of things; the assumption that first of all one must create wealth so that it can later be distributed; a conviction that national sovereignty is a thing of the past and that the Chilean economic experience is the example to be imitated.

In the imposition of this single-minded mode of thought, presented together with the illusion that no alternative exists, it is almost impossible to raise any consideration of the common good. Concepts such as solidarity, community, etc. are considered to be of less value when compared with concepts such as extreme competition and individualism which obliges the population to work on the principle of survival. In this way of thinking, the market economy provides the measure of what is necessary, unique and good. The market economy is, therefore, a source of single-mindedness in which politics no longer places the person and the society at the center, but its success or failure is determined by the instruments which it uses. The result, then, is a dubious invitation to join in with this single-mindedness. Finally, by this logic, participation in the drawing up of a national plan is very questionable: given the governmental perspective, only one alternative exists.

The hour has certainly arrived to lay aside prejudices, jealousies and ancestral egotism, as the presidential speech indicates, but it is also the hour to open the way to solidarity and common effort, oriented towards the assumption of the challenge of truth, justice and peace. Only then will El Salvador be truly new and open itself up to real possibilities for human life. But this novelty and this possibility are not the same matters of which President Calderón Sol spoke, because those possibilities and new ideas are based in solidarity and equality, and the policies which the President encourages are exactly the opposite: exaggerated egotism and scandalous inequality.

RESTRUCTURING THE ELECTRICITY COMPANY (CEL)

One of the most noticeable components of the process of privatization during 1998 has been the sale of the companies which distribute electrical energy. Given the foregoing, it may not be out of line to expect a deepening in the process of the privatization of the electrical energy sector, proceeding from the generation of electricity to the distribution of it.

This possibility was discarded recently by the President of the Executive Hydroelectric Commission of the Lempa River (CEL), Mr. Guillermo Sol Bang, who announced an institutional restructuring which, according to his declarations, does not necessarily imply its privatization. According to this same source, the aim is to comply with the mandate of the General Law on Electricity and modernize the institution, improve its efficiency and lower prices to the final consumers.

According to the proposal for the restructuring of CEL, four different enterprises would be created and these would administer CEL's resources in the following way: lower Lempa River, which includes the 5 de noviembre and the 15 de septiembre hydroelectric dams; upper Lempa River, which is made up of the Guajoyo and Cerrón Grande dams; Parque Térmico, which includes the generating plants at Acajutla, Soyapango and San Miguel; and the Parque Geotérmico, which includes wells in the municipalities of Berlin and Ahuachapan. CEL would continue to be the owner of these four enterprises, given the fact that, according to Mr. Sol Bang, "we have no plan to privatize the generation [of electricity] which will remain with CEL"; he added, however, that "if the political decision to privatize takes place, everything will be much easier. It will be similar to the way things were done with the distributors."

Nevertheless, according to this functionary's statements, CEL advisors recommended "that the government never stop the generation [of electrical energy] by means of natural resources"; that is to say, the geothermal and hydraulic means [of generating electrical energy]. This would imply privatization of the generation of electricity by unadvisable means, however, even from the point of view of the advisors on the privatization of CEL.

It may be advisable to offer a clarification on this point concerning the restructuring of CEL does would not imply that the doors really be closed to the inclusion of the private sector in the business of the generation of electricity. In fact, according to CEL itself, at least three foreign companies are interested in coming to the country to invest in the generation of electricity using methods of thermal energy, that is to say, by means of plants or centers using electrical energy generation based on petroleum derivatives. El Salvador already has, in fact, a private business using this method of energy generation.

Laying to one side, for the moment, the positions taken by the advisors to CEL, two elements might make the sale of energy-generation businesses difficult. These are: first, the short use-life remaining for the hydroelectric dams; and, secondly, the concession for the use of natural resources implies the privatization of the benefits of electrical energy generation but it implies, at the same time, the socialization of the elevated social and environmental costs. According to studies conducted at the beginning of the decade of the 1990's, the principal dam constructed on the Lempa River--the Cerrón Grande--suffers an annual loss of capacity of 13.6 million cubic meters as a result of obstruction by silt build-up. This implies a remaining use-life of approximately 18 years. A similar or worse situation confronts the remaining three dams constructed on the Lempa River, owing to the fact that CEL has not had a plan to administer the banks of the reservoirs which would diminish their tendencies towards sediment flows and the preservation of natural resources. CEL has engaged in, rather, a legalized practice of indiscriminate depredation of natural resources which it uses in the process of generating of electricity.

On the other hand, to intention to sell the resources for hydraulic and geothermal generation of electricity would cause inequality because it would transfer into the hands of some few beneficiaries what has been obtained on the basis of elevated economic, social and environmental costs paid by the whole society. The construction of the dams, for example, has implied, among other things, the contracting of foreign debts, the loss of fertile lands, forest resources, infrastructure, displacement of populations and the worsening of the local population's conditions of life.

Accepting the declarations of Mr. Sol Bang as true--that at least for the moment, there is no plan for the privatization of the electricity generating businesses--there is room for reflection on the implications of the possibility that over and above the prices to the consumer there could be a plan to restructure CEL. Even though, with the restructuring of this autonomous enterprise, a reduction in the prices of electrical energy might be achieved, no guarantee exists that the prices passed on to the final consumer would behave in the same way, given that energy distributors, which have recently been privatized, exist and it is these which, finally, will fix the value in terms of costs of electrical energy service. These energy distributors could increase their profit margins while maintaining their prices constant to the consumers and paying, at the same time, a lower price to the CEL enterprises. In spite of the fact that the law regulates these profit margins, the possibility for fraudulent use continues to exist. In fact, there have been recent cases of unjustified increases in electrical energy bills issued by recently privatized distributors. Even worse, plans exist to substantially increase electricity bills to the consumers (Proceso 808).

The modernization announced by CEL is in clear contradiction to the practices which have been developed in the case of the financial system, sugar refineries, shares of INCAFE and, more recently, the electrical energy distributors. Among these last, the slogan has been to sell shares without taking into consideration--even from afar--the possibility of modernizing the administration of state enterprises. Likewise, in practice, the ARENA government administrations have made modernization the equivalent of privatization.

Very probably those who make privatization a dogma and consider it a panacea for under development will find themselves in open disagreement with a situation in which CEL maintains its shares because the defense of privatization presupposes accepting the premise that the state is, by nature, inefficient. What is certain is that the process of restructuring CEL is the first measure adopted by the government which would indicate movement towards a more extensive modernization of the state.

Up to this point in time, the government had not considered the possibility that state enterprises could restructure themselves in such a way that they could become more efficient, without the need to transfer them into private hands. In reality, it is highly questionable that the government has removed itself from the ownership of profitable enterprises such as the distributors of electrical energy, sugar refineries and even the financial system itself. At the present time, it aims to remove itself from others, such as, for example, the enterprise in charge of telecommunications.

At this point in time, when the restructuring of CEL is being announced, it may also be the moment to eliminate ideology from the process of privatization because it could reveal that it is possible that the state might operate its businesses in an efficient manner, that it might offer low prices to the consumer and, at the same time, might generate non-tax income for the state itself. What remains to be seen, however, is if a real political interest exists on the part of ARENA to actually implement a real process of modernization in CEL or if its restructuring responds only to a pre-electoral strategy which does not include abandoning ideological postures characteristic of the party in government.

RUNAWAY SHOPS ON THE NORTHERN MEXICAN BORDER

The Project for the Industrialization of the Border began in 1965 with the construction of an area on the U.S.-Mexican border where run-away shops (maquiladoras) could operate. Since the devaluation of the peso in 1994, the number of run-away shops has doubled and, today, there are more than a million workers employed in this sector.

Nevertheless, the lack of environmental and labor regulations in the border industry of these shops has led to the degradation of the environment and the exploitation of the workers. The workers suffer health and security problems as a result of the precarious conditions in which they work. At the same time, the salaries paid to these workers are lower now than they were in 1982: workers earn between U.S. $25 and $35 per week.

To the foregoing must be added that, in a general consensus of opinion, Mexican trade unions do not represent the interests of the workers. Nevertheless, in order to understand trade union work in run-away shops, one must understand how Mexican trade unions function. Many of them belong to the Mexican Confederation of Workers (CTM) which is an instrument of the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), the political party which has governed Mexico since 1938.

The unions working in these border shops vary in their efficiency and autonomy in relation to the PRI. In the western section of the border at Sonora and Baja California, the workers maintain that these unions are "ghosts", because those affiliated pay quotas but know neither the business agent for the union nor its representative. In the middle section of the union, there are unions which attempt to represent the interests of the workers, but do not confront the state policy which maintains salaries at low levels. In the eastern section of the border at Tamaulipas, there are unions, even unions of the CTM, which have applied pressure to improve salaries. All in all, they have not met with much success in bettering the working conditions in these shops.

The situation of the workers on the northern Mexican border is, given the foregoing, a serious one. The conditions are certainly difficult, but there are efforts being made to confront these problems. Some workers' groups, oftentimes with the support of non-governmental organizations, international groups and groups made up of base members, have drawn up strategies for resistance which depend on how the specific context in which they are working is perceived, as well as on the level of organization among the workers and their relationship with groups which defend their rights.

One point, however, is not open for discussion: the workers know that the majority of unions do not represent their interests. It is for this reason that they seek ways of bettering their working conditions through direct acts of coercion: they pressure supervisors and management to respect Mexican federal law; they form resistance groups which develop strategies for the defense of their rights without risking their jobs; and they unite to demand improvement in working conditions in the border shops.

In some places the workers have decided to pressure their unions for better representation. The workers in Matamoros, for example, pressured their union for salary raises and, in 1983, the plant raised the salaries of all workers in the maquila shops of that city. This was possible because the leader of that union did not have to confront the PRI, although he was a leader of a union affiliated with the CTM and because it is the only city on the border in which maquila jobs are controlled jointly by the union together with the factory administrators.

Other groups of workers have tried to form an independent union to represent their interests. In some of these efforts, the workers have sought the support of international defenders. In this way, in Piedras Negras, an independent union was created in the Carrizo maquila, in which the best salaries in the city are earned. At the present time, in the Han Young maquila in Tijuana, the workers are struggling to form an independent union. This effort is supported by the Authentic Workers' Front (FAT) which encourages the establishment of independent unions on the border. Additionally, they receive support from Canadian and U.S. unions.

Given the precarious working conditions in these border shops, the workers are looking for strategies which will improve their situation. Doubtless, whatever strategy for the improvement of working conditions in Mexico and Latin America, in general, must deal with the following aspects: (1) What is the local political context? For example, what is the nature of the relationship between the unions and the government? (2) How well organized are the workers? and (3) how can international groups be integrated into these strategies?

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This article by Kati Griffith of the University of Arizona.

LOANS. The 58 million dollar loan earmarked for investment in secondary education was ratified by the Legislative Assembly on June 5 with 78 votes from all political factions except the PLD and independent deputies Julio Samayoa and Jorge Barrera, both of the PDC. FMLN and USC deputies lifted the veto which they had been maintaining after they arrived at an agreement with the Ministry of Education. This agreement consists in an arrangement in which funds will be earmarked for the construction of six national institutes--over and above the 12 originally projected in the agreement--and an increase in the number of scholarships from 2,340 to 3,350 for students in lower income brackets. This arrangement was criticized by other parties. The Secretary General of the PLD, Mr. Kirio Waldo Salgado, accused the FMLN of being satisfied with one thousand scholarships and six institutes more in exchange for forgetting about the foreign debt that they had waved as a banner in supporting the ratification at an earlier date. "I am surprised that Shafik Handal [FMLN head of faction] is in agreement, unless there exists something at the bottom of this negotiation that the rest of the parties do not know about", added Mr. Salgado. For her part, Ms. Darlyn Meza, Vice-Minister of Education, expressed the opinion that "the Ministry is satisfied with the support which the political parties have given and with the interest which the FMLN and USC factions have demonstrated..." (LA PRENSA GRAFICA, June 4, p. 5 and June 5, p. 5).

CEL. As part of the process of the restructuring of the Executive Commission of the Lempa River (CEL), four corporations will control the generation of electricity in the country. According to the president of the institution, Mr. Guillermo Sol Bang, and the executive director of CEL, Mr. Jose Oscar Medina, the objective of the restructuring of CEL is to increase the efficiency of the Commission so that it can compete with the private sector in the energy market. At the same time, however, functionaries disavowed the existence of plans for the privatization of CEL, although they said that "this is a political decision which does not depend so much on us as upon the next government". Mr. Sol Bang added that the advisors to the enterprise have recommended that it continue with the method of generating energy by natural means and so it will therefore not be privatized. Currently, CEL operates as "one single whole, with a single production [process] and a single income", affirmed the president of that institution. The goal is to separate the four "generation [of electricity] units" so that they can begin to function on the basis of their own budgets, he added. And so, on June 6, the transformation of CEL was made official and Mr. Sol Bang confirmed that the institution will cut itself loose in the short run from distribution enterprises in order to become "a body which generates only electrical energy" (LA PRENSA GRAFICA, June 7, p. 10 and June 4, p. 30).

OMBUDSMAN. The Political Commission of the Legislative Assembly increased to 12 the names on the list of possible candidates to occupy the post of Ombudsman for the Defense of Human Rights. According to statements by several deputies, the only measure lacking is the methodology to be used for the election, which is still under discussion and which is considering four proposals for defining the election methodology. Among the names of the persons who make up the list are to be found Ms. Gloria de Gavidia, Ms. Silvia Barrientos, Mr. Alvaro Campos, Ms. Mirna Castaneda, Ms. Maria Hortencia Cruz, Mr. Luis Dominguez Parada, Mr. Augustin Garcia, Mr. Enrique Hayem Moreno, Mr. Eduardo Penate and Mr. Marcel Orestes, among others. Mr. Ruben Zamora, deputy for the Democratic Convergence, explained that the candidates all enjoy the support of the political factions in the Legislative Assembly. One possibility could be to reduce the list of 12 names to two candidates who would engage in a final runoff in the presence of a Legislative plenary session. If one of the candidates were able to obtain 56 votes, that person would become the new ombudsman. If neither of the two were able to win the minimal support required by law, the FMLN and the USC would have to commit themselves to supporting the candidate who obtained the greater number of votes. Another option for an electoral methodology would be for all parties to support one of the candidates and bring the question to a vote in the plenary (LA PRENSA GRAFICA, June 4, p. 4 and June 5, p. 4; EL DIARIO DE HOY, June 4, p. 3).

VICTIMS. On June 4, the victims of the FINSEPRO-INSEPRO financial fraud burst into the building in a new protest measure. "Thieves, open the doors, all that is inside is ours, you bought it with our money", shouted those present. Mrs. Margarita de Orellana, one of the protesters, declared that her discontent was owing to a supposed misuse of the funds of the trusteeship created to recuperate the swindled monies. "We are sure that there are people working in this place who have earned more than 40,000 colones in salaries; they are spending almost half a million colones in salaries which could well be returned to us", Mrs. Orellana declared. The victims demanded that the state Controller's Office conduct an audit in order to learn what is happening with the money of the trust fund. One day later, the protesters invaded the grounds of the building which houses the Superintendency of the Financial System (SSF). A commission made up of the victims met with the Superintendent, Mr. Francisco Bertrand Galindo, although without significant results, according to reports. "We have not advanced much; they only repeated that they are looking for the goods which they surely have, outside the country", declared one of the members of the aforementioned commission (EL DIARIO DE HOY, June 5, p. 10 and June 6, p. 16).

FINANCING. On June 8, the Interamerican Development Bank (BID), modified the terms of the loan earmarked for investment in the municipalities. The modifications will facilitate the ratification of the funds by the Legislative Assembly, according to political sources. The reform is oriented in such a way that the mayors would have the authority to directly administer the funds which correspond to the complementary six per cent of the General National Budget. This complementary amount will be given as a loan by the BID, in the amount of 3.6 million dollars and by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, in the amount of 24.4 million dollars. The two portions of the financing of the project make up part of a package of external credit which has yet to be approved by the Legislative Assembly. The resources of the loans will be assigned by the Fund for Social Investment for Local Development (FISDL), a measure which has been objected to by the legislative deputies for the opposition. According to the Mayor of Olocuilta and the director for political affairs of the Corporation of Municipalities of El Salvador (COMURES), Mr. Marco Antonio Funes, with the implementation of the modification, the proposal is to delegate the administration of the 3.6 million dollars to the municipalities and their communities. The position of FISDL is that it should be charged with providing technical assistance to the municipalities in the drawing up of technical files and infrastructure projects (LA PRENSA GRAFICA, June 9, p. 4).

HEALTH. The Tripartite Commission of Social Security doctors and the governmental Comission made up of representatives of the Ministry of Public Health, began, on June 8, the preparation of a working agenda and the creation of commissions to discuss possible solutions to the problems posed during recent negotiations. Both commissions committed themselves to holding three meetings per week and to creating five commissions which would work in human resources, financing, infrastructure, review of program norms, among others. The representative of the Tripartite Commission, Mr. Melvin Guardado, said that they had asked the governmental commission if the executive branch had the capacity to resolve the problematic, so as "not to waste time". The commissions agreed to some of the points, such as those requiring immediate action and those projects to which more time ought to be dedicated in order to present national proposals. Mr. Guardado and the representative of the government commission, Mr. Carlos Rosales, declared that the attitudes would now be focussed on a work team and not on institutional oppositions, this in favor of the principle proposal, which is "to improve the health system of the whole country". Mr. Guardado expressed the opinion that the most urgent matters are medicine and modern hospital equipment (LA PRENSA GRAFICA, June 9, p. 10).

EMERGENCY. Legislative Assembly deputies pushed forward a proposal to declare a national state of emergency because of the crime wave which is affecting the country. The majority of political factions called for placing the army in the streets to fight crime together with the National Civilian Police (PNC). The PDC, in a piece of correspondence, called on the Legislative Assembly to intercede with the Executive branch of government in order to apply short-term plans involving the police and the armed forces. According to the members of the PDC, the possibility exists for training military personnel so that they could accompany the PNC in the struggle against crime. ARENA deputies indicated their support for the idea of a combined patrol of these two bodies. The FMLN, for its part, opposed the involvement of the Armed Forces, arguing that public security is, by constitutional mandate, the exclusive responsibility of the PNC. Mr. Hugo Barrera, the Minister of Security must explain to the Security Commission whether he has an emergency anti-crime program; on the basis of such a program and other points, it will be decided whether the army will participate or not. The legislative deputies will also request that the functionary specify the activities adopted to deal with the problems of assaults on banks, gang violence, theft and other minor crimes (LA PRENSA GRAFICA, June 10, p. 6).