The need for a presidential debate

Corruption in the Legislative Assembly

Ethics and politics

The state of poverty

News Briefs

THE NEED FOR A PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE 

Diverse social groups —among which business guilds and associations, community organizations and communications media might be said to be outstanding— have posed the need for a debate among the candidates with the best possibilities for assuming the presidency during the upcoming elections. Moreover, a generalized climate of opinion concerning the obligation on the part of the presidential candidates to present their government plans publicly in the greatest detail possible. But, obviously the demand is that they do it simultaneously, in such a way that it might be possible to compare and contrast their programmatic platforms.

Of all the candidates, Mr. Francisco Flores is the only one who has openly attempted to avoid participation in public events in company with the rest of the candidates. It would seem that, as he feels assured of an electoral victory, he has taken the decision, on the basis of cost-benefit analysis —that it is more favorable for his aspirations not to participate in any debate. "If I am to win ," might be Mr. Flores’s thinking, "why should I run the risk of something happening in a public debate which would not favor me, which will surely benefit my rivals in their promotion of themselves so that they could win , thereby, a political profile which they currently do not enjoy". Moved, perhaps, by this logic, Mr. Flores has taken it upon himself to scorn the organizers of a series of forums organized, for example, by ASI, among others, who either did not receive the ARENA candidate’s response or simply were not responded to by Mr. Flores.

As things go, there has not been any way to require Mr. Flores to participate in a debate with the candidates of the other parties. The conditions he requires for his participation are among the most difficult to comply with, and, when those conditions have been complied with, "Paquito" does not hesitate to withdraw anyway. Meanwhile, the other candidates —those who have less opportunity to win according to the most serious public opinion polls— have taken advantage of every opportunity to challenge Flores, knowing that a debate with him will give them the public support which they would obtain only with difficulty by any other means.

There is no doubt that the political figures who are pressing most forcefully for a debate with Flores do it because they are motivated by the benefits that they believe possible to obtain from an event of this nature. It does not fall outside the bounds of reason to imagine that they see political debate as the opportunity to launch accusations at their rival and make him uncomfortable with inappropriate commentaries The stance adopted by Flores, basing himself on what he considers to be most beneficial for his own interests, is to run away from the debate: beyond the possibility of his being able to deal with his colleagues by returning diatribes in the same form and at the same level, the fact of imagining himself involved in interminable arguments and discussions would prejudice his image as a moderate, who deals well with people, who has a soft and reasonable voice and a level attitude —all of which has been meticulously designed by the publicity experts of his party It is a question of maintaining this image to the last moment and of avoiding the risk that this image might come unraveled.

On the one hand, then, are those who wish to engage in debate because they see in this activity the opportunity to occupy terrain which is currently not in their possession. On the other hand, is one lone candidate who sees debate as a threat to his image. Among these, there is none who is concerned about social interests and demands. It is precisely from this premise that the need for a presidential debate is posed, not in the interest of the possible benefits that might or might not accrue from the implementation of such a debate but rather from the perspective of the interests of society as a whole. And the society —in various ways— has declared itself in favor of the need for a presidential debate, understood not as the occasion for mutual denigration, but rather as an opportunity for the candidates to be able to stated their plans for government in a profound way and with all due seriousness. This demand arises from society as a whole and is directed to the politicians; society has the right to present such a demand and the politicians are under the obligation to respond to it.

It is not a case, then, of whether it is convenient or not for some of the candidates to participate in a public debate or not; neither is it a question of who wishes or does not wish to participate in it. It is a question of society having the absolute right to present such a demand: to obtain the necessarily information concerning proposed plans for government and the decision-making capacity of those who are competing for the position of governing the country for the next five years. This is the heart of the matter and nothing else. As a consequence, the candidates who enjoy the greatest possibility for occupying the presidential office in the upcoming elections ought to demonstrate their full disposition to participate in the debate demanded by society; they ought to prepare themselves to explain to the society what they can and are willing to do in order to confront the most serious problems of El Salvador on questions such as public security, the agricultural crisis, environmental deterioration, social security and economic development.

A presidential debate ought not to be seen as a bloody battleground in which the candidates fight it out; rather, a debate is a forum in which one declares what he plans to do should he be elected and the mechanisms which he proposes to employ in order to achieve this. Seen from this perspective, people such as Flores, who fear for their image, should realize that their fears are unfounded. But neither is there reason for the joyful hopes of those who believe that a debate will allow them carte blanche for their personal grudges This is not what society wants, nor is it what it is demanding. A serious debate that contributes to the advance of democracy in our country must be waged in a style distinct from traditional political debate. Such a debate must aim to generate, in its development, maximum of duly qualified information on what the nature of the new government will be. This is a sine qua non if the citizens are going to be able to cast a mature and rational vote on election day. In other words, a face to face debate ought to be seen as an effort at civic education, that is to say, as an effort which helps us live in democracy.

The two candidates with the greatest possibilities for winning, together with the rest of the presidential candidates all defend their belief in democracy tooth and nail. It is now time for them to demonstrate that their commitment to democracy is more than a merely rhetorical commitment —that it is a practical matter. Serious and responsible participation in a presidential debate is a good opportunity to demonstrate this. The society, for which one of these candidates will become the representative, demands it.

CORRUPTION IN THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 

During the month of December, 1998, La Prensa Gráfica published a series of declarations by Mr. Roberto Serrano, deputy for the Social Christian Union (USC, for its initials in Spanish) concerning a fact that all are aware of: that in the Legislative Assembly—as in all of the rest of the entities of the Salvadoran state—corruption is the order of the day. At that point in time, Mr. Serrano declared that the PDC as well as the PCN lent themselves to the sale of their votes in the plenary of the Assembly, favoring or rejecting specific legal initiatives. From that date on, such declarations have been cause for serious controversies.

The next person to make statements to this effect was the PCN deputy Mr. Dagoberto Marroquín, who, in responding to the accusations of Mr. Serrano, stated that "[in 1995] I was offered 2 million colones to raise my hand in favor of the IVA and I did not do so. For this reason the PCN can say that it has deputies who are not for sale". The functionary also declared that he was unaware of where the offer came from and remembered, referring to Mr. Serrano’s declaration, that his party abstained from voting in favor of the laws to reform the tax in question; this was three years ago.

The words of Mr. Marroquín unleashed a series of declarations by deputies and ex deputies concerning the topic of bribes and illicit payments in the Legislative branch of government. In accordance with these, in 1995, an unknown person offered 1 million colones to each of eight deputies of the then-existing Party for Social Christian Renovation (PRSC, for its initials in Spanish), in exchange for supporting the polemical initiative for increasing the IVA by three more percentage points.

With regard to all of this, Mr. Serrano once again raised his voice in public declaring that it was the ex legislative technician—and now Adjunct Inspector General of the National Civilian Police —Mr. Rudy Medina who, through Mr. Alfredo Arbizú— at that time PRSC deputy and currently the second magistrate for the Comptrollers Office, who made them the offer.

This denunciation was confirmed by Mr. Miguel Espinal, ex head of the PRSC faction and now National Director and interim president of the USC. "I remember perfectly —indicated the politician—,because I know that he did not accept [the bribe], because of his ethical convictions. The strangest of all is that after that, Deputies Arbizú [and others] resigned from the PRSC and afterwards joined ARENA".

Deputies of other political parties joined in this revelations. Mr. Jorge Villacorta of the Democratic Convergence (CD), remembers that "when the reforms to the IVA law were approved, there were agreements in which the PCN, the PDC and ARENA participated, by means of under the table negotiations which concerned quotas of power, positions, economic perks and other benefits in an underhanded way". Mr. Manuel Melgar of the FMLN, for his part, repeated that "the purchase of consciences inside the Assembly" was denounced in the evaluation of 1998 conducted by his party. Moreover, he indicated that the lack of an Ethics Law which would regulate the activities and performance of public functionaries and would permit the investigation of and punishment of those who offer and receive bribes.

The official party stayed on the outside during these declarations. Although Ms. Gloria Salguero, expresident of the Legislative Assembly, declared that during the period of her administration there was no flow of money of this kind, Mr. Walter Araujo, head of the government party faction, called on those who made the statements to take them to the Supreme court and other institutions of the State so that the competent authorities might carry out the appropriate investigations. The rest of the political parties have not joined in ARENA’s desire to enter into details with regard to known acts of corruption in the Salón Azul of the Legislative Assembly, but groups hailing from civil society have called upon the Attorney General’s office to being formal inquiries.

Beyond the commentaries which the topic of bribes might provoke among the legislators, cited here in order to illustrate the development of this new controversy--, some questions come to the fore: for example, why did specific cases of corruption in the plenary which occurred three years ago come to light only now? Could such tardiness be accounted for by the fact that we are now approaching the presidential elections? Or, must we, in the last analysis, think that the possibilities for denouncing such irregularities in government bodies have become broader?

To begin with, it must be said that it is entirely probable that the parties have decided to bring to public light the accusations of bribery in the electoral process as a background in order to occasion a loss of prestige among political rivals and win favor in the elections. This, perhaps explains that politicians with a long history have chosen this particular moment to begin their denunciations after years of having witnessed irregularities in the Assembly.

But beyond the motives of the legislators, it is important to underline the novelty of the fact that these same politicians who are now beginning what —from the point of view of an optimistic vision— could become an anti-corruption movement. Let us remember that that what the deputies are pointing out is no secret to anyone. Who did not know that many of these same determining decisions that were taken in the plenary were a result of negotiations or dirty tricks among the parties and their representatives?

What stands out, in large measure, in this overwhelmingly abnormal state of affairs is the fact that they are the deputies themselves who are denouncing by name the existence of possible corrupt functionaries at high levels. It is also unusual that they are calling for the necessity of a law to regulate the actions of public officials. It would, nonetheless, be too premature and naive to begin claiming victory now on the question of corrupt practices. It is true that Roberto Serrano went to the Attorney General’s Office to present a series of documents to support his claim. But it is also true, for example, that the post of Attorney General is in question because it appears as if the vote to name Mr. Manuel Cordova was achieved in a questionable manner.

And so it goes; it is clear that the path yet to follow in the struggle against corruption will be long and difficult. As has been pointed out in recent months, it is more and more evident that state institutions which have to do with regulation and control of performance of even the state itself, reinforce the continuity of corrupt practices, precisely because they are a product of these practices. It is a vicious circle from which it is very difficult to escape inasmuch as public officials and presidents have done no more than strengthen the circle itself in recent years.

Nevertheless, events and practices such as we have commented upon here reveal that there has been some advance in the process of the separation of powers and, as a result, some steps have been taken toward the democratization of the country. It is not every day that the printed press reveals and follows up on —to some point in a systematic way— a case of corruption, nor is it every day that politicians comment upon it in detail. One can only have confidence that in the relative optimism that certain cases might be the occasion for specific persons and acts to succeed in achieving a state of affairs in which corruption stops being an abstract phenomenon known only as product of rumors—and might motivate the search for the necessary legal procedures in order for serious investigation and the application of punishment against those who engage in corrupt practices.

ETHICS AND POLITICS 

This month, as a conclusion of the process of the Consultation with the Citizenry on BASES FOR A NATIONAL PLAN, was presented, to the tune of the optimistic slogan "Let us Make of El Salvador Everything We Wish For!", KEY TOPICS FOR THE NATIONAL PLAN, A SPECIALIZED CONSULTATION, which "is a product of volunteer work by 211 Salvadoran specialists which ...responded to their country’s call when new paths towards the twenty-first century were being sought". For its editors, the document "contains a particularly edifying civic value and a significant historical fact which will, in time, be fully revealed".

In Chapter X of TOPICS..., "Ethics in El Salvador", begins by stating two premises: (a) the need for a change of model in the relationship between nature and society, and in the relationships between individuals; a change which might overcome consumerism and the excessively economist vision of society; and (b) the recognition of ethics as a factor which might make possible the political, social and economic changes which are necessary to achieve a new model of society and its development. Over and above the presentation of these two premises and the recognition that, at the present time, there exists a crisis of values which place in danger the current stage of transition to democracy, proposes, as a challenge for the future, "to establish a national commitment to ethics".

This commitment would crystallize in a "National System of Integrity and Transparency", which would consist in a requirement for national figures to act in accordance with "ethics, in an interdependent efficient, effective and transparent manner." One of the points emphasized in TOPICS... is that the political actors which ought to be integrated into the system are: governmental institutions, the Legislative Assembly, the Judicial Branch of government, entities charged with control (such as the Comptroller’s Office, the Attorney General of the Republic, the Ombudsman for the Defense of Human Rights), municipalities and the political system.

After this, the document presents a proposal for the system that would bring it to life in the context of the country. Within the parameters which are proposed here the most notable are those which refer to the institutional environment. In summary, as directives for institutional action to achieve this ethical behavior might be mentioned: (a) the elaboration of a Code of Public Functioning and the creation of an organism which would be vigilant with respect to this code in the behavior of governmental functionaries; (b) focus on the independence and credibility of the governmental entities charged with control of the public and private sector; and (c) pass a Law for Political Parties which obliges them to uphold ethical principles and transparency in all of their activities.

But here the dream ends. Paradoxically, in the same month in which they are presented, the results of the process which was begun with BASES..., a document with which the few social and political actors did not publicly commune, have come to light a series of situations which have aggravated the crisis of credibility in which some governmental institutions are found to be key for the installation of democracy: the Ombudsman’s Office for the Defense of Human Rights, the Attorney General’s Office and the Comptrollers Office, among others.

In a process of accumulation which has already begun to approach the absurd, in January was presented, by a varied group of social organizations (universities, groups involved in the study of law and private citizens, among others), a series of demands against Mr. Eduardo Peñate Polanco, Ombudsman for the Defense of the Human Rights. Mr. Peñate now confronts four charges against him, all of which have to do with undoing offenses and insults which no one within the state apparatus seems interested in resolving.

With regard to the Comptroller’s Office, an article has provided a public account concerning Mr. Francisco Merino, the current president of that office, participated, in 1994, by means of a "borrowed name", in the illicit purchase and sale of four lots of land which had been donated as a green area for the Mayor’s Office of San Luis Talpa. In the process, which Mr. Merino calls a simple "business deal", the President of the Comptroller’s Office could have acquired land for a price lower than its real value, and as a result, the economic benefits which he might have obtained from the deal could be considerable.

Events inside the Attorney General’s Office are not less alarming: to date, there are no indications that the current Attorney General, Mr. Manuel Córdova Castellanos, does not model the efficiency of his administration in terms of the party colors of those involved in the cases which cross his desk. In the last few days two examples of this conduct have come to light: on the one hand, questioned about the Merino case, Mr. Córdova responded that he hoped that a conclusion by the Comptroller’s Office in order to begin the follow-up on the question of fraud (when, in reality, he is obliged by his office to do this) and that he had only come to know of the case on January 8 when documentation and evidence shows that he knew of the denunciation a month before.

On the other hand, on January 20, Mr. Córdova Castellanos admonished, for firing the Electoral Attorney Arturo Cruz when this person called Francisco Flores, in his capacity as head of the ARENA campaign, to present a declaration concerning the participation of functionaries of the National Center for Registration in a government party meeting. If the conduct of Cordova in the case of Merino could be interpreted, giving the benefit of the doubt, as naive —the Attorney perhaps would think that the Comptrollers Office is so strong as to clear up the illegal handling of funds by its own president— as a product of a momentary slip of the mind concerning the obligations of his office, in this latter case it is impossible not to observe the obvious intention to alter the investigations.

These three cases which have been resented here share several characteristics in common: in the first place, a marred political system which gives to the leading officials of the governmental institutions according to a perverse scheme of distribution of quotas of power and payment for services received. In second place, and by virtue of the first, the raising up to relevant public posts of individuals who could only with difficulty comply with the minimum requisites to carry out the duties and functions assigned to them, not only on the score of professionalism and administrative capacity, but also at the level of proven honesty and probity.

Finally, these three cases show, definitively the division between the state sphere of functions and the ambience in which the citizenry lives: after being appointed, it is not only virtually impossible that social pressure would lead him to resign —probity and honor do not exist in Salvadoran politics— of a serious questioning of his performance as a public official , but that the state entities which should collaborate in requiring his destitution demonstrate no willingness to channel citizen complaints and demands and initiate due processes against them. When faced with a corrupt or incompetent functionary, the only thing to be done for now is to wait —with Christian resignation— for the end of his term in office.

It is in this context that the parameters for action outlined in TOPICS... acquire sense and strength: the need for a set of ethics to direct political life in order to avoid giant steps backwards in the installation of democracy is now more evident than ever before. Nevertheless, wherever one looks, this does not cease to be a platitude: that the politicians should act in an ethical manner, okay, but, how can change be introduced when the political class protects itself and is impermeable to the demands of citizens? That a change in paradigm is something that no Salvadoran would disagree with —from this arises the "Let’s construct the El Salvador that we all want!"—, this is evident, but how many generations of Salvadorans must we wait so that the minority who are truly concerned about the country become the "all of us" of the slogan? Aiming too high is a problem when what is to be changed is at ground level. For this, it is important that in the citizen proposals the enthusiasm not lead to idealism, but rather to plausible and concrete solutions, perhaps less ambitious but, in the long run, closer to reality.

THE STATE OF POVERTY 

Measuring poverty is one of the principal tools for evaluating the results of economic growth in the satisfaction of basic needs. In El Salvador, the statistics for poverty have always been high, even at moments in which the rates of growth were higher than they are currently.

Reviewing official data, poverty has diminished systematically since 1992 (Proceso, 802), coinciding with an increase in family remittances, with growth rates of up to 6% (until 1995) as well as with the privatization of diverse state enterprises.

It is difficult to establish what the possible causes of the recent reduction in poverty are; nevertheless, important reasons exist for thinking that they are not owing to the behavior of the economy, but rather to the remittances and to the methodology used in the calculation of poverty. Previously there have been diverse criticisms of the manner in which the poverty rate is criticized (Proceso, 531) and the inclusion of family remittances within the category of family income (Proceso, 635); for 1997 doubts still persist as to the data on poverty used by governmental entities charged with statistics and census.

The levels of extreme poverty and relative poverty are calculated defining the value of the basic and amplified food baskets as ranges of poverty, respectively; then, these values are assumed by the government as the calculations for poverty being so low, even for the same data provided by government entities.

On the one hand, the Social Information Division (DIS) of the General Direction for Statistics and Census (DIGESTYC) assumes that for 1997 "the cost for the basic amplified food basket [is] 2,498 colones for the urban area and 1,947 colones for the rural area"; while the cost of "the basic food basket for 1997 was 1,249 colones for the urban area and 973 for the rural area". Paradoxically, DIGESTYC itself presents, in its publication on the Consumer Price Indices (IPC), a very different statistic for the previous paragraph. In accordance with the IPC for December 1992 it was estimated that the basic cost was close to 1,313.38 colones for the category of "Food, drink and tobacco", and of 3,160.39 for a total of categories in which the IPC includes food, housing, clothing, related services and miscellaneous. This implies that, even for 1992, the data utilized for calculating poverty in 1997 are lower than they should be.

If we use the indices for calculating prices presented by DIGESTYC for December 1997 and apply them to the basic expenses recently detailed above, we obtain statistics much higher than those used to calculate poverty. For December 1997, the IPC had increased by 48.8% as compared with December, 1992 and this would appear to indicate that in order to acquire the amplified basic food basket one would need a total of 4,701 colones. The prices of goods in the category of food, on the one hand, experienced an increase of 59.47%, which implies that one would need 2,094.4 colones in order to buy the food basket.

The differences between the statistics used by the DIS and by the IPC are abysmally low, even considering the highest estimate, that is to say, that for the urban area. The price of the food basket calculated by the DIS represents only 59.6% of that presented by the IPC, while that for the amplified food basket represented only 53.1%. So it is that the values established for the baskets used in order to calculate extreme poverty and relative poverty would be undervalued by between 49% and 47% and, inevitably, the levels of poverty then established in a very considerable proportion, as even a very simple exercise demonstrates.

If we assume that the basic food basket for 1997 reached a value of 2,094 colones and we accept the data for the Polls for Multi-Purpose Homes of the DIS, which show a figure above 2,000 colones for income are found to be a total of 654,161 homes, which would be the only ones which might rise above the level of extreme poverty —given the fact that the homes were 1,265,365—, we would have 51.7% of the homes not located within the boundary of extreme poverty and 48.3% which would be.

Relative poverty is more difficult to calculate owing to the fact that the Polls for Multi-Purpose Homes have as a level of income the rage of 3,000 colones or more, which does not allow the distinction between those homes with lesser incomes than the amplified food basket, according to DIS (4,701 colones). All in all, even assuming that the cost of the amplified food basket would have been only 3,000 colones in 1997, it is clear that the levels of relative poverty would easily be above 65%. If we consider that the homes with incomes between 2,000 (approximately the value of the food basket), and 3,000 colones are 221,666, we would have up to 17.5% of homes in a situation of relative poverty. Evidently, this estimate could be greater if data on the number of homes with incomes of less than 4,701 colones were taken into consideration.

Even so, this provokes a strong contrast between the statistics for poverty calculated with two different sets of data presented by the same government institute. According to IPC data, one might be able to establish as poor 65.8% of homes in El Salvador and only 34.2% of homes, which are not.

Examining this evidence one might reflect on the possibility of underestimating the calculations for poverty, especially when faced with the contraction of activity in the agricultural and livestock sector, the stagnation of minimum salaries and the greater rhythm of growth in food prices.

The statistics on poverty which the government represents do not inspire much confidence because they exhibit a tendency to broadly undervalue the values of the amplified food baskets and the food baskets. For the same reason, neither can one affirm that the results of economic functioning are satisfactory in that they continue demonstrating the eternal problem of the almost generalized lack of satisfaction of the basic needs of the country.

NATIONAL JUDICATURE COUNCIL. The deputies of the Legislation Commission of the Legislative Assembly stated, on January 25, that they were ready with the legal projects which will permit the process of independence to take place for the National Judicature Council (CNJ). With this, the CNJ will act with independence in its decisions concerning judicial power and become, in this way, into a judicial body with all of the attributions as such as well as its own budget. Some of the changes which the Council will experience will be the reduction in the number of councilors from 11 to 7 members; and that the judges association will have only one representative. Among the attributions with which the council will be the sole representative. Among the attributions which will be the province of the Council is that of presenting candidates for judicial posts and the magistrates of the second level. Likewise, the CNJ will present to the Assembly, candidates for Supreme Court Magistrate, among other things. In order to arrive at these agreements, the Assembly consulted with the institutions related to judicial administrate. According to Deputy Abraham Rodriguez, this "is a law which is totally consultative". Nonetheless, a group of judges presented to the Legislative Assembly a bill which demonstrated their discontent with the decision to have only one representative. They request 3 such posts in the Council, arguing that "they know the needs of the administration of justice better " (El Diario de Hoy, January 26, p. 8).

CA-4. After the government of Guatemala decides, on January 1, to maintain restrictions on migration for the document known as CA-4 (which permits the entry and free movement through the isthmus of citizens of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua without the need for a passport), Salvadoran Foreign Minister Ramon Gonzalez Giner, stated that "the unilateral attitude of limiting entry into the country will be paid with the same coin". He added that El Salvador wishes to resolve the problem by means of dialogue, but, should this recourse not succeed, the entry of Guatemalan citizens into El Salvador will be limited. The Foreign Minister of Guatemala, Eduardo Stein, stated that "for the moment there exist no intentions to eliminate the measure"" On January 23, the presidents of Nicaragua and El Salvador, Arnoldo Alemán and Armando Calderón Sol, respectively, coincided in the necessity to meet with his counterpart from Guatemala in order to end the restrictions on immigration. "We see this as a step backwards in the process of integration, and we lament the fact", stated Mr. Calderón Sol. It seems as if the situation has come to the point that the deputies of the Foreign Relations Commissions of the Legislative Assembly held a meeting of the legislative bodies of Honduras and Guatemala with the objective of coming to an agreement. Then, according to reports, there was a meeting held with the Guatemalan Parliament to try to reach agreement on the topic (El Diario de Hoy, January 22, p. 6; January 24, p. 10; January 26, p. 10).

ELECTORAL PLATFORMS. The FMLN presented, on January 24, their electoral platform for the campesino sector. The presidential formula of that party signed an agreement of 15 points with indigenous and campesino organizations. Among other things, the FMLN presidential candidate, Facundo Guardado, offered them credit through a development bank. "State funds will not be deposited in a private bank, but we will seek to encourage a development bank for the country", explained Guardado. For their part, the PCN candidates also presented their "Social Welfare Plan" to the inhabitants of Cojutepeque. "The PCN proposes to develop a Welfare Plan for all which includes fighting crime, reactivating agriculture, combating corruption, and attention to education and health", stated Julio Moreno Niños, the vice-presidential candidate for the PCN. "As members of the PCN party we only make promises which we can fulfill...", he stated. The election campaign of the PCN has been rather poor. In fact, according to statements by Julio Menjivar, the campaign manager, the PCN hopes to invest no more than 9 million colones in it. It would seem that part of the money destined for publicity will be donated to the homeless of hurricane "Mitch". Menjivar explained that the reduction in the publicity budget is responsible for the low profile of the party in the communications media (El Diario de Hoy, January 22, p. 8 and La Prensa Gráfica, January 25, p. 16).

BRIBERY. Gin the alleged existence of bribery in the Legislative Assembly in the buying and selling of votes for the approval of some laws, the Attorney General of the Republic, Manuel Cordoba Castellanos requested that deputies and other functionaries present resounding proofs when they are called to declare at the Public Ministry. Investigations around supposed acts of bribery began last December when deputies Dagoberto Marroquín and Roberto Serrano assured the congress that they were offered money in exchange for votes. Cordoba requested the deputies to be clear and concise in their declarations when they appeared before the Attorney General’s Office, that they should give names of the deputies bribed and the amounts offered. Moreover, he stated that the first deputy to present a declaration was Roberto Serrano of the Social Christian Union when he appeared on January 22 before the Judicial Unit of the Attorney General’s Office. At the meeting, Serrano presented documents and clippings that, as it would appear, proved that in 1995 that votes were bought" in order to achieve the approval of the Value Added Tax. Nevertheless, he refused to name names or other information in the case. "I have complied with my obligation as a citizen in stating what I know", he affirmed. The next to be named for the purpose of presenting declarations will be Marroquín and the Magistrate of the Comptroller’s Office, Alfredo Arbizú Mata (El Diario de Hoy, January 23, p. 14).

CANDIDATES. The most recent poll by La Prensa Gráfica-UNIMER revealed, on January 24, that ARENA can depend 39.3% of those who prefer their candidate, Francisco Flores, as opposed to 17.3% who prefer the FMLN candidate, Facundo Guardado. These results are different than the show voting held on January 20 by the Interdisciplinary Consultant ship on Development of Gallup Latin America, which showed that ARENA could count on 36% of those expressing a preference, while the FMLN held only 14%. One point on which the polls coincide is that more than 75% of the population would like to see a debate between the candidates, especially on the questions of unemployment and delinquency. In this respect, Francisco Flores has stated that he will hold out for compliance with two conditions before he will attend a debate: that he will have completed his Government Plan and that the second strongest candidate will have done the same; and that the debate be only with the second strongest candidate because, according to his statements, he does not wish to waste his energies on parties who have no real probability of winning. Facundo Guardado, on this point, said that he is willing to debate Flores. "Now he has the solution for everything. But the problems of young people, health, education, delinquency, water, for everything he says he has a solution, gut they [the ARENA party] have governed for 10 years", the left candidate stated (El Diario de Hoy, January 21, p. 2; La Prensa Gráfica, January 25, pp. 16 and 19).

INVESTIGATIONS. After a year and a half of investigations which have not yielded significant results, the Attorney Generals Office of the Republic asked, on January 20, that the National Civilian Police begin again their investigations in the case of the kidnappings of Andres Suster and Alberto Hill, among others. According to statements by the Attorney General, Manuel Cordoba Castellanos, "there is insufficient proof" in the current procedure. Likewise, he explained that the dropping of charges were provisional, in the eventuality that new proofs or evidence are presented, the accusations against the suspects will be reopened. Given this situation, the Minister of Public Security, Hugo Barrera, and the Director of the National Civilian Police, Rodrigo Avila stated that the Attorney General has demonstrated no interest in resolving the case. Barrera argued that the police "had conducted serious work" in the investigation, and for this reason the Attorney General’s Office and the Judge of the First Court, David Vidaurreta are at fault for not following up on the investigations. "There are a great many elements that have not be adequately investigated", he stated. The specific accusation in the case represented by the National Association for Private Enterprise (ANEP), held that there exist sufficient proofs. He added that "credit must be given to the elements of proof" which already exist because they show the participation of those accused (La Prensa Gráfica, January 21, p. 6).