Dirty politics in El Salvador?

What are the economic policies of the Flores administration?

Reproductive health on the march

Colombia: the whole country is dying

News Briefs

DIRTY POLITICS IN EL SALVADOR

Public opinion polls have, on more than one occasion, made manifest the dissatisfaction which politicians and politics provoke among broad sectors of Salvadoran society. The majority of citizens neither believe nor confide in the political parties or the political class: this is a well-known fact. There surely is no lack for voices who raise questions about the causes of the society's lack of confidence in politics and politicians. But then, those causes, although multiple and varied, arise —practically all of them— from the entrails of the political class itself, whose behavior patterns are at odds with the most elemental norms not only of ethics, but of decency and honor. What is worrisome about this situation is that the tide, far from turning, is instead rising to new heights because the politicians are not rectifying their behavior: on the contrary, they stubbornly persist in that very same conduct. Nor do the parties institutionalize mechanisms which oblige their members to conduct themselves according to the most minimal norms of political ethics.

Recent events surrounding the demands raised by the ex–civil patrol agents illustrate, in exemplary form, the dirty tricks which have come to characterize national politics together with the ills which hang upon the current presidential leadership. This time the irregularities arose concerning the diverting of 10 million colones (part of an aid package destined to help the victims of hurricane "Mitch") to APROAS (the Salvadoran Association of Agricultural Produces), to which belong the ex–Civil Patrol Agents who served under the Armed Forces throughout the armed conflict: this is the source of the endless filth which has begun to float to the surface.

The diversion of these funds was carried out, as it appears, with the authorization of ex–President Armando Calderón Sol as the electoral campaign was in full swing and, according to what APROAS members have revealed, in response to an express request that the ex–Civil Patrol Agents vote for the ARENA candidate, who is now President Francisco Flores. Obviously, Calderón Sol was not alone in this maneuver. At least two other important members of ARENA knew what was happening. They are Minister of the Interior Mario Acosta Oertel and Deputy Walter Araujo. Curiously enough, the principal beneficiary of the ARENA deal with the ex–Civil Patrol Agents was the President–to–be Francisco Flores, who has protested too much on more than one occasion that he knew nothing of this operation.

On the basis of the revelations which various of those implicated have made to the media, one thing is sure: important ARENA figures entered into political negotiations with the ex–Civil Patrol Agents, knowing all the while that, in exchange for electoral support, they were utilizing resources which did not belong to the party. Independently of whether or not it was a question of state funds or international aid funds, the point is that the resources in question were not ARENA party funds and should not, therefore, be used to buy electoral support.

Laying aside the legitimacy, or lack thereof, of buying votes, from any point of view, it is not only an illegal maneuver, it constitutes part of the repertoire of dirty tricks for a party to use public funds for this end. This is, however, precisely what ARENA did —and did with bald-faced cynicism. For all the rest —supposing even that Mario Acosta Oertel did not know that the members of APROAS were ex–Civil Patrol Agents or even supposing that the Technical and Financial Secretary (SETEFE) had a hand in the diversion of the funds or not; or even if the funds were taken from the national budget or from international aid funds, etc.— although it is important to assign responsibilities for it all, a central point in this problematic state of affairs should not be covered up. And this is that ARENA, using the power and influence which various of its members wield within state structures, used 10 million colones which were not theirs to buy votes.

How many times have ARENA members used —specifically, ex–President Calderón Sol— the same mechanisms to manipulate public funds for personal or party ends? It cannot be known for sure and, perhaps —as with the Comptroller’s Office— it may never be known. But given all that has come to light publicly, it is clear that during ARENA administrations, simple and agile mechanisms for diverting and misusing public funds have been established. This is, surely, to say, as well, that mechanisms for "discretion" to cover these dirty deals have also been set up, one of the manifestations of which —which completely escaped control of those who wrought it— were the diversion of funds to the ex–Civil Patrol Agents.

And the President of the Republic: what role did he play in all of this? Well now, President Flores has swung between the absurd and the ridiculous on this matter. Since the problem of the ex–Civil Patrol Agents got sticky, Flores seems not to be able to see his way clear of this situation. So it was that on the day of the confrontation between the ex–Civil Patrol Agents and the National Civilian Police, Flores used up the better percentage part of his television program discourse to explain the details surrounding the death of the ex–Civil Patrol Agent, without offering any solution to the problem which is precisely what one might expect of a president caught in a situation of social crisis. Afterwards, when the topic of the 10 million colones came to light, Flores hemmed and hawed, first of all, that he was completely unaware of the agreement between his party and the ex–Civil Patrol Agents, and, secondly, that there was nothing about the matter that required investigation: an awkward faux pas by President Flores as it is difficult to believe, in the first place, that he did not know what was happening on the matter of the agreement. If he did not know, it is because he was marginalized by his own people, from important political discussions; and, in second place, because there were and are, indeed, matters requiring investigation on the question of the funds turned over to the ex–Civil Patrol Agents.

President Flores has had his authority as president severely undermined by not knowing how to handle the situation as it should have been handled. It is undoubtedly a question of the ARENA members close to him using dirty tricks to open the way for his becoming President of the Republic. If he really did not know anything about the matter, he was simply used in a tawdry way by the others. If he knew and is denying it, he is not different a single iota from them. All of this is to say that President Flores has egg on his face in the eyes of the society which believes less and less in his capability and willingness to create "a new way of doing politics".

With the passage of time, surely this dirty trick performed by ARENA will cease to be an item of interest in the realm of public debate. It will, however, be engraved upon the collective imagination as yet another proof that one cannot trust or believe in politicians or in politics.

WHAT ARE THE ECONOMIC POLICIES OF THE FLORES ADMINISTRATION?

Almost three months now after the inauguration of the third ARENA administration it is still not clear what will be the economic policies to be implemented to increase the growth rate of the GNP and to create jobs and income. In his inaugural address, President Flores announced as series of measures aimed at reactivating the economy (Proceso, 857), these being the foci of his initial policies. None of these, however, has been implemented.

More recently, some government functionaries announced economic reactivation measures different from those previously announced and with which they aimed to improve the business climate for private enterprise. In the first place, Vice President Carlos Quintanilla Schmidt announced the creation of a "Price Stabilization Fund", tailored especially for the coffee producers of the country, the aim being to compensate this sector for possible lowering of international coffee prices. Thereafter, Flores announced the creation of a "Rescue Commission" to aid businesses with financial problems while the Minister of the Economy, Miguel Lacayo, revealed a government plan for studying the implementation of other measures such as the reduction in legal insertion and interest rates.

These proposals arise in the context of what can be considered very unfavorable economic behavior, which has been exacerbated even further by a new reduction in the principal agricultural export products: coffee and sugar. To be sure, during 1999, economic behavior has not experienced any improvement as compared with previous years; on the contrary, the growth rate of the GNP has diminished, the fiscal deficit has increased and the same may be said to have occurred on current accounts. In the financial sector, the signs of crisis have been reduction in profits and increase in the percentage of delinquent credits.

This panorama has come to take shape during a period of more than three years when the growth rates began to show a marked decrease by moving from levels of 7% to 3%. Since then those who formulate economic policy have not succeeded in implementing the measures necessary for establishing growth rates and that there has been a policy of conformity with administration of economic stability and the demand which is generated by the massive affluence of family remittances, which has become a stabilizing factor for the economy.

Recent measures announced by different government functionaries continue in this behavior, although in reality they are not a final solution to the economic problems but rather emergency measures for dealing with the calls for help from the business sectors. In fact, measures were announced first of all to the business associations made up of the country’s big businesses, which appear to be the principal recipients of the measures, which will be described below.

According to Salvador Urrutia, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, the Fund for Price Stabilization for coffee aims to improve income for the coffee-producing sector by "confronting the contingency represented by bad prices when the world market is depressed there will also be a compensatory fund when production is lowered as a result of climatological factors". Nevertheless, he declared that the fund will function under the leadership of the private sector and, moreover, will accept capital from the coffee-producing sector and donations, given that the "government cannot commit itself...to contribute to the fund with state resources".

On the other hand, the "rescue" of businesses was offered by Flores to the business associations and consists in providing refinancing for select businesses for delinquent credits. For this, a commission was created by private enterprise which would take charge of selecting businesses which, after the application of a technical-financial analysis, are identified as "amenable to rescue".

Reduction in the legal insertion and interest rates, on the other hand, aim to diminish the financial costs of investment and increase interest rates. Nevertheless, only the reduction of legal insertion depends on the economic cabinet because the reduction in interest rates is the province of the financial institutions, unless a state of emergency is declared —such as is contemplated by the Bank Law currently under discussion in the Legislative Assembly— in which the BCR would figure as the entity charged with establishing interest rates.

The measures proposed by government functionaries demonstrate that improvisation continues to be the modality in use for economic policy design. Independently of whether it would be convenient or not, the initial offerings to eliminate the exemptions on Value Added Tax for cereals, milk products and vegetables or to improve fiscal income and foment competition among very small and small businesses, do not currently appear in President Flores’ proposals. Even less is known of the government plan or of a proposed date when this plan might be made known. The fact that these measures are being announced by different functionaries hints broadly at the absence of an economic plan or of specific development policies.

Be this as it may, the proposals to create the said fund for coffee, implement rescue strategies and reduce legal insertion would be good news for private enterprise (both coffee-producing and those in debt and delinquent on payments), but these are not, in and of themselves, measures which would permit the country to overcome the current situation of economic deceleration and low competitive value for Salvadoran products. Although it could be argued that with the proposed measures jobs will be saved, the problem, at bottom, is that Salvadoran businesses need radical changes in order to generate products of greater value added dimensions, which would result in their being more competitive on the international market and which would lead to a process of strong, sustained economic growth.

Investment in industry and the modernization of agriculture are still topics pending on the economic agenda of the ARENA administration, although this administration seems not to notice that the principal economic problems are located in these categories. We do not currently have a competitive economy capable of encountering a demand for its products on the international market and, in this way, generate jobs and income for the country. These strategies would allow for increase in levels of income and the quality of life of the population and would reduce, as well, dependency on family remittances as a source of income.

The current economic crisis demands that the state adopt a more fully defined role in reorienting the economy and not merely implement emergency measures which do not go to the root of the problem, which consists in the low level of diversification in the productive apparatus and the low level of competitive ability of the majority of national businesses. In this context, it is important to take up initiatives such as the reconversion of the industrial sector and the promotion of non-traditional agricultural exports as a way of confronting El Salvador’s economic problems using a medium and long-range vision of the matter.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ON THE MARCH

Nine years have passed since the Ministry of Health set in motion a review of the matter of family planning. August is the month chosen for this state ministry to set new norms of family planning in motion, this being a topic which has been noticeably lacking in attention from public health institutions. This activity has, as its specific objective, a process of making the sector uniform with respect to access and utility of different anti-contraceptive methods for men and women. From this unfolds a series of strategies which will be carried out with an eye to informing the population about this important category of reproductive health.

Family planning and all that this implies, is part of a much broader topic which has been evolving positively over a period of time throughout the world: reproductive health, which has arisen as an imperious need, because, it allows for "control", among other things, of the indices of birth rates in each country. Centuries ago, women received medical attention only at the moment when they gave birth because it was thought that this was sufficient. It was not before the end of the nineteenth century that medical science emphasized pre-natal care and so began to design programs of healthcare for mothers and children and family planning. The goal was to have healthy mothers and healthy children. This last decade has witnessed a great advance because it has given importance and attention to the period prior to conception (the period before pregnancy). This includes persons who are sexually active as well as those who have still not become so but are of an age when they should be educated in this regard.

The World Health Organization considers reproductive health to be "a general state of physical, mental and social well-being and not just the absence of pain or illness, in all aspects related to the reproductive system, its functions and processes. As a consequence, reproductive health includes the capacity to enjoy a satisfactory sexual life without risks, to procreate and to be free to decide to do so or not, when and with what frequency. This paragraph summarizes the broad social, cultural and health which the concept under discussion here involves.

It is possible that we have not yet been able to understand the vital importance of reproductive health in its totality as it affects social and family relations, owing to the fact that this topic, as well as all that refers to sexuality, has been hidden behind the veil of "shame or modesty" and the double morale of societies such as Salvadoran society. Nevertheless, the matter is not longer considered taboo because, among other things, the negative social consequences of sexual relations without understanding, and in a disorderly way without protection. The need for the existence of health reproductive projects, especially in countries undergoing development, is clear to all.

The attention required by reproductive health consists, basically, in counseling, access to and education about services, techniques and methods which contribute to the health and reproductive well-being of men and women. Likewise, the aim is to provide adequate and responsible instruction to adolescents be they or not sexually active. This last is indispensable, taking into account that sexual precocity is very common in the current period and that many social problems arise from it.

In this sense, the government, as the only body responsible for the policy and programs governing public health, ought to take into account the importance of establishing and practicing reproductive health. Thanks to adequate and continuous treatment in matters concerning reproductive health, a series of pressing problems might at least be reduced, although not totally eliminated. For example, the accelerated increase in population in poor countries is a constant concern for the state. It should not be forgotten that high population indicators are inevitably linked to aspects such as the poor quality of life of its inhabitants, poverty and environmental destruction.

In the same way, in the context of a well-designed preventive health program, the increase in AIDS and other sexually-transmitted problems might be lessened. This might have the same effect in the number of unwanted pregnancies, mortality or illnesses related to pregnancy, birth, the postpartum period, miscarriage and others. As can be seen, there is much that reproductive health programs can offer in terms of well-being for the population, taking into account that governments must take seriously the task of adequately informing their citizens about it’s importance.

Doubtless, in our country, on the question of health, the low-income portions of the population are more affected. For this reason, inhabitants of rural sectors and peasants must be the special concern of government attention, specifically the Health Ministry which is in charge of creating and implementing reproductive health programs. The matter of population growth is more exaggerated in rural areas. In these areas, as well, are to be found the highest infant and maternal mortality rates. The reasons lie in the minimum or nonexistent access to health services as well as limited or non-existent orientation available on the topic of reproductive health. Likewise, many people living in rural areas are completely unaware of the existence of contraceptive methods or places where they might receive orientation concerning their use.

Adolescents are another group who require attention, as was mentioned earlier. One daily newspaper reported a few days ago that AIDS "has increased among Salvadorans between the ages of 15 and 19 as a result of premature sexual activity". This data was accompanied by the opinion of José López Beltrán, Minister of Health, who noted the necessity for "focussing efforts on educating and informing adolescents and children at an early age about the topic of sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases". During this period it is no longer thought that "educating young people about sex is to encourage them to practice it". Many of them know about it and one should not close one’s eyes to it.

Definitively speaking, although there is much left to do, it is very satisfactory that the Minister of Health should implement a new program of sexual planning. This shows that Salvadoran culture is overcoming sexual taboos which, far from helping to resolve the problem, have made it more difficult to deal with in a realistic way. In this same way, the birth of sexual maturity is made manifest which can spread to all citizens. This maturity men and women can begin to understand and apply the concept of "reproductive rights". What does it mean to enjoy these rights? Very simply stated, it means that people can enjoy choice in the area of procreation because they know the benefits of reproductive health.

This can be obtained, above all, by remembering that to be human is to learn, essentially, by communicating and that, therefore, the best way to arrive at these understandings if by means of health support campaigns, mobilizing public opinion, visiting schools to educate the young people, visiting rural communities and making use of informational media (even the most simple ones, as with bulletins) in order to make public the rights which every citizen has to enjoy good reproductive health.

COLOMBIA: THE WHOLE COUNTRY IS DYING

When, a little less than a year ago, Andrés Pastrana was elected president of Colombia and before his inauguration, he held a meeting with the head of the FARC. This was considered to be a ray of hope in the middle of a dark ocean of tragedy and violence which has been drowning the Colombian people for such a long time. The first hopeful act was, of course, Ernesto Samper’s leaving power. Once the Samper administration was over, with all that this meant, it was possible to mend diplomatic relations with the United States, as well as undertake the peace process which the most prudent people saw beforehand would be complex and full of storms.

It may be pertinent to point out that neither the Clinton administration nor Colombian insurgent groups recognized the legitimacy of the Samper administration. The Clinton Administration decertified Colombia on two consecutive occasions on the question of the fight against drug-trafficking and the Colombian insurgency announced ahead of time that it would negotiate the peace with Pastrana and not with the presidential candidate of the Samper party, the Liberal Party. For all of this, it did not seem out of line to entertain illusions, about Pastrana, at least in principle. If the challenge facing the new president was to obtain peace, with U.S. support and the guerrilla willing to sit down at the negotiating table, it would open the possibility of obtaining it, at least to set the country on the road in this direction.

Now it is clear that things would not be so simple and that neither was Pastrana the appropriate person to begin to pull Colombia out of the maelstrom. On August 7, his administration completed one year in office with nothing the celebrate. On the contrary, the expectations that his coming to power raised have evaporated and almost disappeared, in the midst of a situation in which the word crisis could well pass for a euphemism. The editor of a column in the prestigious magazine Semana, sums up the dramatic situation in Colombia in the following way: "we are faced with an ascending and bloody spiral of a dirty war and a dying peace process, a state that is bankrupt, an economy in a state of recession and vulnerable to attempts against public order, an unemployment rate without precedent in recent history, a labor reform which will change the rules of the game for the workers and nowhere is to be seen the leadership of the president nor a government strategy for lifting the country out of this viacrucis."

Certainly, in order to achieve peace, one of the things needful is to plan it —something which the Pastrana administration has not done, nor, it appears, has any idea how to do. The few steps taken have been taken in an improvised way, making exaggerated concessions to the FARC, while leaving the ELN to one side, and avoiding the need to define the participation of the paramilitary personnel in the process as well as not establishing a firm dialogue with the Armed Forces. Nevertheless, the responsibility for the current failure of the peace process does not fall exclusively on the shoulders of Pastrana. At this point in time, the dialogues are stagnated because the FARC —in spite of having committed themselves to Pastrana to accept international verification on the accords which arose out of that historic meeting and now, more and more remote, of more than a year ago— decided to reject the participation of other countries in the negotiations. Such a stalemate has served for the first insurgent group of the country to take the time markedly to increase its clearly terrorist military power by laying low the outskirts of Bogota, placing bombs, destroying hospitals, schools and health centers and making definitive attempts against innocent lives.

As is the case in Colombia, any movement of some prejudices others irremediably, because of the profound atomization obtaining in the country, the anguished paralysis in the dialogue with the FARC has opened new roads towards negotiation with the ELN. And, as the gamble that this other insurgent group is to involve civil society in the process —for which it has called upon the General Ombudsman of the Republic, with whom they will meet soon in Germany—, the most sensible thing seems to be to remain cautious in the face of this new possibility for seeking peace, especially taking into account the lack of vision which Pastrana has demonstrated at the moment of taking on this task —a titanic task it is for certain—, of bringing peace of Colombia.

On the other hand, to think that the U.S. will become fully involved in the case of Colombia would be an error. The current U.S. administration has been emphatic and has reiterated its affirmation that it can be counted upon only in the fight against narcotics trafficking. In the magazine mentioned above, Semana, the polarization in the U.S. Congress is explained well, as it pertains to a decision of whether to intervene militarily or not in Colombia is owing in great measure to the Salvadoran experience. Clinton and his men think that it was an error to extend astronomical sums of money in support of a war which, finally, ended in a stalemate and from which it was possible to withdraw much before by signing the same accords which were signed in 1992. The Republicans, on the other hand, hold that without U.S. aid, a victory for the FMLN would have been almost complete. However this may be, it is true that there are weighty reasons for the U.S. to prefer gambling on the peace before seeking to withdraw from the armed conflict.

It is germane to the point not to lose sight of what some international analysts have noted: that the social situation in Colombia and Latin America has been of little importance to the U.S. in general. Although reflections about the Salvadoran process might be important, Colombian analysts doubt the possibility of drawing lessons for the case of Colombia where the guerrilla obtains its resources from narcotics trafficking and kidnapping and, therefore, can enjoy the luxury of being absolutely unconcerned about the opinions of the international community. Moreover, and this seems to be the root of the problem in what concerns U.S. relations: it is of little importance to the U.S. that Colombia is bleeding to death at an alarming rate because its true concern is with the many millions which its addicts pay out and that finally end up in the hands of Colombian narcotics traffickers.

As things go, uncertainty is closing over the head of all Colombians who, perplexed and terrorized, watch the death of their country. Multiple social demonstrations, voices calling for a cease fire, movements struggling for peace these are not sufficient to contain the holocaust. The panorama is not hopeful. The ultra right-wing and the ultra left-wing will continue the flow of blood as the incompetent government continues to ignore the magnitude of the problems and the mafias continue multiplying their millions, buying consciences and making it a country convenient for their needs.

One of the most recent atrocities, in that context, is the desolation of every day, was the assassination by an extreme right-wing group which is still not identified, of the journalist, critic and humorist Jaime Garzón. This crime has hit Colombia deeply at its heart. Garzón, in addition to dedicating himself irreverently and intelligently to political satire, was a peace activist whose humanitarian activities were in favor of the many kidnapped and succeeded in bringing about decisive negotiations. Until when? This is the question of a society which has seen its best leaders assassinated with the greatest and dirtiest impunity. Who will follow? People ask themselves, those who saw die their right to smile, to criticize, to struggle and their autonomy . "If they assassinate a person like Garzón —says the common citizen— it is that in Colombia, now, life is worth nothing".

MISUSE OF FUNDS. The Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hector Gonzalez Urrutia, admitted, on August 19, that the Secretary for external Financing (SETEFE) was used to accomplish an objective not contemplated within the legal framework when it disbursed money to the ex–Civil Patrol Agents. The 10 million colones turned over by ARENA to the demobilized Civil Patrol Agents came from the general national fund, stated the functionary. The Vice-Minister of Foreign Relations located the disbursement which then-President Calderón Sol ordered for APROAS (The Salvadoran Association of Agricultural Producers) outside the legal framework. This secretariat deals only with matters of international cooperation, he declared. "We have not used a single cent of international cooperation monies", stated Gonzalez. Minister of the Interior, Mario Acosta Oertel explained that the SETEFE was rated as a provision of the Peace Accords with a single aim: to disburse international donations which were received as part of the process of national reconstruction in the most rapid and efficient manner possible. The Attorney General of the Republic went, on August 19, to the Comptroller’s Office to investigate the use of the 10 mill colones which the government disbursed to the ex-Civil Patrol Agents. The possibility of a misuse of funds will be investigated, given that the disbursement was justified under the argument that the aid received was for those left homeless by "Mitch" (La Prensa Gráfica, August 20, p. 4 y 5).

ARENA. The ARENA party removed its municipal leadership for San Miguel from office on August 18, four days after the Departmental Assembly and the consequent closing of the selection period for pre-candidates at a national level. The National Executive Council of ARENA (COENA) had decided beforehand to remove all leaders from their position. Nevertheless, Deputy Elizabeth Zelaya stated her disapproval. "We are facing a situation of injustice because there are no justifiable causes [for the removal from office]", she declared. Recalling that COENA itself considered that it would not remove any authority from office because of the victory achieved during the past presidential elections. On the other hand, COENA denied, on August 21,that it had removed the municipal leadership from office. "They placed their positions at the disposal [of the party], stated Carmen Elena Calderón, Director of Organization for ARENA. But one of the outgoing leaders, who preferred not to give his name, explained that COENA called the leadership body and made the announcement. "As the elections approach, you must resign or be removed from office for disobedience", stated the source. Moments after the resignation, the Council named Balmore Enrique Iraheta as municipal director to substitute for Arnoldo Perla. ARENA has been discussing this matter for months in an internal debate for positions in San Miguel where the leadership has already been changed before the last election (La Prensa Gráfica, August 21, p. 19 and 22, p. 5).

INTERNAL STRUGGLES. Approximately one hundred people lead by the deputy Elizabeth Zelaya and the leadership of the municipality of San Miguel which had been removed from office, accused COENA, on August 22 of practicing deception. In response, Alfredo Cristiani, the President of ARENA, held them responsible for trying to boycott the process of electing pre-candidates, which was held on that same day. The internal feud arose during the last departmental assembly which was held in San Miguel. The people in question protested outside the hall where the assembly was being held. On August 18 the ex.- leaders met with COENA in order to present work-related problems with departmental director Heriberto Iraheta. The Council explained to them, on that occasion, that in order to resolve the problem it was necessary for them to leave their positions. According to the ex– leaders, they accepted because ARENA offered them an eight-day period to resolve their differences. "COENA deceived us, because three hours after they gave us the eight days, the new leadership body was sworn in so that they could seek candidates close to their interests", they stated. Cristiani, for his part, called for party unity and said that inside the party "there are no ´paquistas´[followers of Paco Flores], nor ´calderonistas´[followers of Calderón Sol] nor of myself [Cristiani] who are seeking quotas of power". "We will maintain the institutionality of the party", stated Cristiani (La Prensa Gráfica, August 23, p. 18).

FLORES. Given the recent outbreaks of violence led by the ex–Civil Patrol Agents of APROAS and the public employees’ strikes, President Flores declared, on August 22, during his weekly address that he will not give in to blackmail. The government sent a clear message: "irrational violence and pressure groups are part of the past. But some few remain that are accustomed to privileges, to not working and of obtaining what they want by threats, intimidation and violence". Flores reminded the strikers of "the big benefit of labor stability and special benefits". According to the president, those who work in the public sector ought to reflect broadly on their activities, which last week led to national labor stoppages. These have been carried out at various national institutions such as Social Security, the post office, the public school system, the courts and others. Flores added that the government cannot cede to these pressures because of "respect for the immense majority of Salvadorans who get up each day to work and earn a living honestly". On the other hand, the president did not, at any moment, refer to the diverting of 10 million colones of government money to members of APROAS (El Diario de Hoy, August 23, p. 3).

POLICE. Statistical data of the National Civilian Police (PNC) revealed that 102 police are prisoners for having committed crimes, 165 have been removed from office because of diverse anomalies and 1,300 are under investigation for having committed slight to serious misdemeanors. For this reason, the 18,837 agents who are at the basic level in the PNC will be submitted to a process of re-evaluation, beginning in October. This activity will take place in the National Academy of Public Security (ANSP) in order to effectuate an eventual sorting out of employees for removal, according to announcements made on August 23 by the Director of the ANSP, Mauricio Sandoval. The head of the police explained that the agents, in groups of 2,000 will remain during four months in the ANSP in order to examine their "dedication and calling" for police work. "We are not going to tolerate the participation of police in crimes", declared Sandoval, after stepping up the process of sorting out the "bad" police which "will take some time". Sandoval explained that the appearance of delinquents within the PNC has been the result of the "rapid and pressured" formation of that security force. Nevertheless, he considered that it "was necessary, although it has had its consequences". The director stated that with the re-evaluation "more quality than quantity" in the PNC, although it did not indicate that the 89 sub-commissioners and 280 sub-inspectors of the institution will be examined (El Diario de Hoy, August 24, p. 2).

SILVA. The capital city mayor, Hector Silva stated, on August 23 that he was sure he would win the next municipal elections. Nevertheless, his candidacy will be tied to a coalition of parties and he himself declares that he will not run only for the FMLN. In recent weeks, some politicians of the United Democratic Center (CDU), with whom the FMLN will form an alliance to support Silva, stated that the media that they will not support the mayor if he "does not take off the FMLN shirt and put one a more common one". Silva says that he is in agreement. "What I would like to see is that we could inaugurate a coalition of political forces which will include important independent social forces", stated Silva, who is optimistic in saying that he has taken a big step to engage the political willingness of the CDU and the USC for the creation of a candidacy. "I would be open to any solution acceptable to the political forces", declared the mayor, in referring to the creation of the coalition which will put him up as a candidate. Likewise, he said he was sure that independent of the candidate which ARENA puts up, he would be the winner of the mayor’s office because the polls and his previous work would favor him. The mayor declares himself to be interested in competing for the mayor’s office because he considers that it is important to continue the projects which he has already begun in the municipality (El Diario de Hoy, August 24, p. 16).