"Do these things..."

Losing ARENA

AFP PROFUTURO: weaknesses in the handling of the pension plans

Crashing into legality

News Briefs

"DO THESE THINGS..."

President Flores has not committed himself to the tasks arising from the national plan drawn up by the National Commission for Development. What he did was transfer the responsibility to the citizenry —more precisely to individuals. It could not be any other way. Flores supports, but does not assume, tasks proposed as priorities. It could not be any other way because if he took them up, he would have to do away with his own government plan —if he really has one— or recognize that the one being proposed to him is better than his own plan, which would be going too far. On the other hand, not to support the work of the National Commission for Development would be tantamount to taking away its authority, something which would also not be convenient at this point in time. Flores knows that in the drawing up of that national plan many people participated, which has awakened many expectations and that it has more support than its own, which would only be known by some few illuminati.

So then, the question is, how can the government’s own plan be maintained without taking away the authority of the proposals made by the National Commission for Development? The solution to the dilemma is simple and has served, moreover, to provide the country with a lesson in the purest form of liberalism. President Flores supports the proposals arising from the national plan, but passes on the implementation of them to individuals, "it is an invitation to all Salvadorans and not to a government", because "the creative source of development is the individual and not public institutions". He does not even consider organizations, associations or institutions. As a result, the government, as such, does not assume any commitment; rather, it is the individuals who ought to pursue and obtain national development by their own efforts. So now, President Flores committed himself to collaborate, but only as an individual directing "public administration with regard to those fundamental things which you have discussed and set down". He could not even identify what "these things" are, as if it were a question of trivialities or that one thing was the same as the other.

He has made it clear that he does not wish anyone to tell him "here is the project for you to implement", because a national plan "transcends a governmental administration", which is true —just as it is also true that without a clear and decided direction in one, the other is condemned to disaster. But it is inevitable that the national plan be presented to him together with proposals for action arising from it because the National Commission for Development is part of the presidential category and, it is, therefore, the President of the Republic to whom the fruit of their work should be given. It was the president of the Republic —was it the naivete of Calderón Sol that he did not understand the consequences, or the thoughtless concession of Calderón Sol submitted to external pressures?— who requested the plan and the proposals to orient governmental activity. It makes no sense, then, to complain now because "we want to continually reinvent the country", as Flores does. Unless it is the case that ARENA has already invented it once and for all. As a result, what is required at the present time is to provide continuity to what Cristiani began.

What El Salvador needs in order to develop, according to President Flores, painters, filmmakers and young idealists. When there are many La Palma’s, Suchitoto’s and teams for playing sports such as in Soyapango, that development will become reality. The Minister of Foreign Relations shares this idyllic vision of development. In an interview, she recounted, with a great deal of emotion, how she found, in Paris, a Salvadoran who, at the end of an embassy reception, waited for the assistants in the street with a vehicle loaded with tamales, pupusas, and other national delicacies. In accordance with this vision, the initiative and creativity of the citizens would make government unnecessary. If, moreover, these citizens renege on their obligation to require that those who are corrupt and inefficient and violate human rights must be held responsible ("let us lay guilt to one side"), take up and share the optimistic vision than those who monopolize power ("let us abandon pessimism"), and ignore or turn a blind eye to the hard reality of the country, so much the better. This would be Flores’ dream to perfection. But it is not a dream, but a ruse (though it is open to speculation as to whether it is a conscious or unconscious ruse) in order to permit the government of ARENA to continue forward with its plan to pamper big capital —national and transnational— while the rest of the population involves itself in the implementation of local projects and accepts its fate with resignation.

Sustainable development of El Salvador will not be obtained by multiplying examples such as La Palma, Suchitoto or Soyapango, apart from the fact that there are other experiences in community organization much more interesting than those which President Flores cited. Local development is necessary but it is not sufficient. There are tasks which are beyond their reach and are, in fact, the domain of the government. None of the experiences noted above by President Flores have resolved the problems of jobs, education, health, housing and the environment in its area. There is no lack for Salvadoran men and women with initiative and willingness to work for the wellbeing of their communities, but their efforts do not prosper because they find no echo from the government or because the government obstructs their efforts. Moreover, those who monopolize the power fear —and with good reason— the democratizing potential for local development. They approve of the promotion of national artisanry, art and sports, but are not willing to permit the people at the community level to influence the decisions regarding their own destiny and future.

The questions that Flores asks himself with regard to the expectations awakened by the national plan, national identity, courage to face crises, capability for reconstructing a life destroyed by natural catastrophes, the urgency of the immediate moment and skepticism lead to nothing serious. This is a method already used in his inaugural speech. The President’s reflections do not go very far, given that that conjunct of questions is explained by the frequency of natural disasters occurring in this century. Flores does not question himself about why these catastrophes are so deadly and devastating, above all for the poorest of the poor among the population; he has no clarity with regard to the natural and social causes of these catastrophes and is unaware of the strength which pushes the population to struggle to survive. All of this seems to him to be a completely natural state of affairs, as he is unable to perceive the complexity of social and historic human reality.

LOSING ARENA

The resignation en masse of the municipal leadership of Chalchuapa in the department of Santa Ana is only the last link in a chain of events which have again laid bare the authoritarian tendency of the government party. To that chain of events must be added the embarrassing incident which the ARENA members of Soyapango organized last Saturday in front of the party office, the fights which, some weeks ago, ARENA sympathizers got involved in San Miguel and the recurring flight of ARENA mayors to the PCN, among other situations. All of these cases have a common denominator: they are protests against the party leadership which, according to the party faithful, made fun of them and ignored them.

It is that COENA, quietly laying to one side the popular clamor, has again decided to appoint those who will and those who will not be candidates for mayor and deputy in the upcoming elections. COENA has not taken seriously the fact that the bases unanimously support certain favored options. In the majority of cases, these figures which the majority of the party prefers have not even appeared on the lists of pre-candidates. This was the underlying cause of the disturbance among the Soyapango members who not only organized a state of siege in which the leadership was held for more than two hours while they loudly declared that they would not vote for ARENA "even if it lost" the mayor’s office of their municipality but would, rather end the small meeting chanting the legendary slogan associated with the left: "The people united will never be defeated".

The ARENA rank and file have more than enough reason to be indignant. The lack of coherence between the party discourse and the political practice of ARENA is evident. On diverse occasions, high-level party functionaries have spoken in favor of citizen participation, of the need to listen and take the opinion of the people into account, of the desire to inaugurate a "new way of doing politics" —remember the tour of the rural areas of the country in which direct dialogue with the Salvadoran people was TO BE sought— these were the activities of Francisco Flores before the drawing up of the government plan, based upon which the presidential elections were launched. But what is sure is that the government party continues resisting democracy even to the final consequences. And this gains them nothing more than to engage in purely electoral demagoguery.

The recent internal struggle for the mayor’s office of Soyapango is a classically perfect illustration of the attitude of the ARENA leadership. The first thing they did was to act to repress the abundantly apparent high feelings. In response to the urgent calls of the members of COENA (who were doubtless fearful) the anti-riot squads arrived ready to break up the hot and heavy demonstration with teargas and psychological intimidation. The second was to demonstrate open hostility against the demonstrators and, in so doing, reaffirm their authoritarian posture. Walter Araujo expressed his intentions to expel from the party those who began the riots. Deputy Norman Quijano remembered, without shame, that "the decisions of the party are emitted in a vertical style", for which reason he recommended that those who are not in agreement be invited to "change parties, because they were not in agreement with the party line".

Another reaction —typical of the ARENA leadership in situations which are compromising for them— was to declare that those who participated in the riot did not really belong to the party but were "infiltrators" from other parties which wanted to cause problems in theirs. An ARENA party member "never" chants a leftist slogan, the party dignitaries emphasized. On the other hand, Oscar Santamaría disavowed Araujo’s declarations —without, of course, this being a guarantee that the "rebellious" ones would not be expelled from the party— but clarified that COENA would only "with difficulty change its opinion" with regard to who would be the candidate for the mayor of Soyapango.

In this, as in the case of Chalchuapa —where the municipal leadership has denounced the arbitrary imposition of the nephew of the president of the Legislative Assembly Juan Duch (the nephew is not even 25 years old and who does not enjoy the support of the party rank and file) as candidate for the mayors office— which are only the most recent cases, has placed in evidence once again that ARENA continues to operate in a verticalist manner over and above the supposed interest in opening up the party to democracy. It is evident that the small circle of privileged people who, in the government party, exercise the power of decision, are not interested in the least in opening up the party and do not even sincerely consider the possibility to taking the desires of the rank and file seriously.

This could do no less than to eliminate the legitimacy of ARENA as a motor force in the democratic consolidation of the country. It can be clearly seen that the leaders of the party are convinced that they are the masters of truth and knowledge of what is in the best interest of the Salvadoran people. When Santamaría declared, with regard to the case under consideration, that what will be done "will be what is best for Soyapango" he is doing nothing more than revealing that attitude characteristic of a caudillo in virtue of which political opportunism supports itself in such a way as to make the structures of the state function in favor of some few people. That several "leaders" attribute to themselves the undoubted knowledge of what is good and what is bad is the breeding ground of all centralism and of all authoritarian ways of governing.

It appears that the ARENA leadership has confounded democracy with the existence of plurality of parties. It believes that it is sufficient to have to deal with the FMLN in the Legislative Assembly so as not to have to accept additional insurgent outbreaks in its own ranks. The members of COENA should be reminded that what is decisive for a regime to be defined as democratic, and what makes a democracy a democracy is that the political parties —which exist to represent the interests of a particular sector— is respect the will of the rank and file. It does no good for many parties to exist if their political doings are going to be ruled by the thinking of a reduced group of arrogant and intolerant leaders, who are even capable of expelling sympathizers if they are not in agreement with their decisions.

It is true that ARENA has been trying to open itself up to wider sectors of the population, beyond the middle class, where the party enjoys its "hard vote", and beyond, as well, the poor folks who vote for ARENA influenced by electoral publicity or as a result of illicit incentives. The problem is that those who are at the head of the party do not have the least desire to be truly consequential with this process of opening up. In short, they want more votes but not more voices; and even less so if those voices are critical, if they actually make proposals and if they talk back. The case of the Soyapango party members is once again an example. Members of COENA declared —when faced with the threat of the withdrawal of support from the party in the electoral races— that they did not fear a loss of votes. They preferred to lose the support of the citizenry than to cede terrain or negotiate a way out of their differences.

Definitively speaking, in spite of the worrisome possibility which might result from the fact that an anti-democratic party such as ARENA might be the party to run the country, at least a hopeful conclusion might be drawn from these recent events. And it is that political conscience and the democratic spirit of the majority of people is increasing to the point that it overflowed from the very party structure. It is not true, then that, as the ARENA leadership body declares, that nothing is happening. But it is also not true , as some analysts would wish, that ARENA is falling apart. As long as it has control of the executive office, the government party will continue to be strong. Nevertheless, authoritarianism begins to cause problems which are beyond their control. This is a good time for the options at the center of the political spectrum emerge from their inertia because the flight of votes to the detriment of ARENA will be a fact of life.

AFP PROFUTURO: WEAKNESSES IN THE HANDLING OF THE PENSION PLANS

The new System for Pensions and the Administration of Pension Funds (AFPs) were characterized by their own apologists as one of the best steps along the road to structural reforms. Among its good points are the reduction of the financial burden for the state, the possibility that the workers could accede to pensions in greater amounts than those offered up until now as well as a to a greater availability of funds to finance investment projects by playing the AFP funds on the stock market.

Nevertheless, as in the cases of the privatization of public service businesses or the financial system, the resulting benefits are of a doubtful nature. In the first place, although it could be affirmed that the maintenance costs of the old pension system have been eliminated, it should also not be forgotten that the state ought to go beyond the quotas paid by all of the AFP affiliates, which implies the distribution of millionaire sums. In second place, although it is not known what, in reality, will be the amounts of the pensions which the new system will offer, it is obvious that these will depend upon the amounts paid to the AFPs, for which reason the workers with low incomes might expect to receive equally low pensions. Finally, the very spokespersons for the AFPs admit that sufficient options for long term investment in the stock market do not exist and, in fact, the creation of those institutions does not imply any impact upon the low investment and economic growth rates observed during the last four years.

New data on the AFPs demonstrates, moreover, that the possibility exists that the bankruptcy of these businesses might take place across the board, including the high commissions offered for the service of charging the workers. According to the superintendent of the Pension System, Carlos Funes, since last August, AFP Profuturo —one of the five which operate in the country— showed deficiencies in its minimum holdings, and was urged to become solvent in this regard before November 30. According to the same source, an increase of 7 million colones in capital was demanded of Profuturo, of which 25% had to be paid immediately. According to the Superintendent, until its capital could be increased, Profuturo could be considered to be in a situation of "technical bankruptcy".

This would now be the second occasion in which the same pensions savings institution faced problems of insufficient financial bases. Last May an increase in capital of 5 million colones was required which were put off until the month of June. Paradoxically, the Superintendent himself pointed out that Profuturo is the AFP which offers the best return on quotas paid; that is to say that it receives more than it loses. So then, as long as its holding is 500 workers who pay quotas, that of the other AFPs is less or even negative, which indicates that they are losing affiliates.

Faced with this panorama, the President of Profuturo, Ricardo Perdomo, held that the business is not technically bankrupt, but rather in a temporary state of deficient base holdings which, in his judgment, could be made up for by having recourse to "other accounts and documents to be paid". According to Perdomo, the Superintendent had committed an error in the figures and it is, therefore, "only a question of the Superintendent authorizing us to make a modification in the social pact for everything to be in order". He added, however, that he had agreed upon a plan with the Superintendent of Pensions (SP) to make payments on the 7 million increment in capital in the following way: 1.8 million in October, 3 million on November 30 and 2.2 million on December 31.

From Perdomo’s point of view, Profuturo is a victim of "favoritism" of the SP towards the bigger AFPs and of illicit competition. As proof of this, he pointed out that since last May, they were awaiting the transference of 1,500 new affiliates who had not made their change to the institution effective owing to the fact that the AFPs from which they came had not provided the accreditation of their quotas to the SP, and that the SP had not demanded that they do so. Perdomo estimated that Profuturo is losing 500,000 colones per month because of this delay.

The situation of the institution is strange not only because the AFPs charge high commissions (in amounts greater than what the worker pays to his or her own retirement fund), but also because all of them show positive indicators as an increase in the number of people who pay quotas and in the amount of deposits handled. With respect to the commissions for the present year, the works provide to the AFPs a maximum of 3.25% of their salary and only 2% to the pension fund. As the new system began, 3.5% was paid as a quota for commissions and only 1% to the pension fund.

On the other hand, according to SP data, from November, 1998 until July, 1999, the number of Profuturo affiliates rose from 20,200 to 26,700, while for the same period the amount of funds handled rose from 9.8 to 22.7 million colones. Additionally, the profit indexes of the workers affiliated to Profuturo show levels of up to 10.96% for the month of July, 1999.

This data suggests that Profuturo ought to be in a situation to comply rapidly with any demand to increase its base fund because it receives larger commissions for the increase in the number of affiliates. Nevertheless, in practice, it has not been able to do so and on two occasions it has been required by the SP to increase its base fund. All in all, the funds of those who pay quotas do not seem to be in danger because the Law for the Pension Savings System contemplates the separation of the funds of those who pay quotas from the base funds of the AFPs; this, nevertheless, does not eliminate the questions about the causes of its apparent "technical bankruptcy", which clearly seems to be more related to poor administration of the commissions as well as to a flight of those who pay quotas.

In dealing with the topic of the System for Pension Savings it is necessary to deal also with the question of the total amount of the pensions which the workers will receive. According to the data of the SP, the return on the workers’ savings is rounding out at 11%, which is a rate very similar to the interests rates on delayed deposits paid by the financial system. In some cases rates greater than 11% may be found. The foregoing implies that, in practice, the worker is not receiving a larger return by paying a quota to an AFP and the worker is practically paying an unnecessary commission of 3.25% on his or her salary to the Administrative bodies of the AFP given that these do not offer a higher profit than the financial system.

So then, it is still not clear whether the quotas paid by the workers will be a sufficient guarantee of a pension above the poverty line or, even less, greater than those offered previously by the state pension system. At least in the case of Chile, and during its early years of functioning, the level of pensions offered by the AFPs diminished notably. The case of Profuturo is just one more of those which demonstrates that private enterprise is not synonymous with efficiency and, moreover, it shows that the AFPs, even though they are private enterprises, ought to be submitted to strict monitoring by the state, not only of their basic funds, but also of the levels of returns and future pensions to be paid to the workers.

CRASHING INTO LEGALITY

Elizardo Gonzalez, deputy for the bus owners in the Legislative Assembly had already predicted it: reforms to the Transportation Law will not be approved on the 28^th of this month (perhaps, being demure, he did not add the remaining phrase "perhaps never"). A meeting between the representatives of the Inter-Association Transport Alliance (AIT, for its initials in Spanish) and some ARENA deputies was enough for the decision which had shown how the legislators would checkmate the transportation sector to come apart. The power of the transportation owners, for the umpteenth time, made its overpowering weight felt. The task of making the transportation sector orderly and regular without dealing with the transport owners capricious and egotistical allegations once again showed itself as the most lost of lost causes.

This is paradoxical. Few associations and social sectors can dispute the power of the transportation owners and public bus drivers for the preeminent place which they hold in the citizens' disgust and reprobation. Few associations can maintain themselves so much at the edge of compliance with the law and, at the same time, be so influential in the formulation and application of the law. Few associations are so prolific in the production of cadavers and still escape with such impunity from the corresponding penal responsibilities. In this country, the transportation owners and public transportation busdrivers can allow themselves the luxury of being the depositories of an almost unanimous threat to the population, openly challenge the authorities and come out of it all, most of the time, the winners.

Some naive people thought that the terrible accident of October 11, in which 38 passengers died and more than 50 were seriously wounded, would constitute an impulse to require a change things for the better. In the tragedy of Tomayate an exceptionally high number of dead was joined with the anomalies which are the norm in public transportation accidents: the buss was proceeding at excessive speed; it was passing other vehicles in an imprudent way; the bus was obsolete and in a very poor state of upkeep and to date it is not clear who will respond economically and in terms of penal responsibility for the wounded and dead in the accident and in what way they will be required o respond.

Immediately after the accident, but late, as always, the authorities of the Vice Ministry for Transportation announced that they would bring the necessary measures to bear in order to prevent new tragedies. Among these was the carrying out of a plan to review the busses (in the days following this announcement a few more than 600 busses and micro-busses were confiscated for diverse mechanical imperfections) and to annul the renewal of obligatory insurance for damages to third parties which has been frozen for the last two years. Moreover, the Vice Minister for Transportation, Julio Valdivieso, cried out to the Legislative Assembly to provide him the necessary legal tools to put public transportation bus drivers in order (making reckless driving a crime, applying a brake to the free trade in transportation lines and obliging the transportation owners to join guilds or associations in order to effectively control them, among other measures).

The deputies, for their part, did not delay in commencing the tearing of their hair and the rending their garments as they raised their voices in protest against the homicidally arbitrary rules and regulations under which transportation owners operated. Perhaps in a desire to publicly absolve themselves for their apathy in applying the rules and laws to public transportation, which has been delayed for years, the Legislative Assembly launched upon a fervent series of debates about the measures which had to be adopted after the tragedy. On the 26th, as a result of these debates, the Public Works Commission of the Legislative Assembly agreed to apply six amendments to the Transportation Law and set the 28^th as the date for their approval in plenary session...

These amendments are: (a) the sale or concession of transportation lines would be the province only of the Vice Minister for Transportation and that only businessmen who were members of guilds or associations could apply for them; (b) the Regulatory Commission for Transportation, by means of which the businessmen had been able to veto reforms to the Transportation Law, would be eliminated; (c) the breadth of the requirements for obligatory insurance would be broadened to cover all of those affected by accidents, independent of whether culpability had been established or not; (d) carrying proof of insurance would be obligatory and necessary in order to drive; (e) the Vice Minister would regulate the tariffs on the insurance; and (f) permission for the ownership of a transportation line or route would be definitively suspended to buses which have been involved in an accident because of mechanical malfunction and imperfection.

At this writing, the busdrivers’ association, speaking from its traditional cynical point of view, has limited itself to expressing its grief at the tragedy, showing its concern for the persecution which it has felt itself the object by the PNC and proposing a mechanism which would be an alternative to the adoption of obligatory insurance. After the proposed amendments proposed by the Assembly were made public, the public transportation guild showed its muscle by applying pressure, the result of which has already been pointed out. And so, as a result of the meeting between the AIT and the ARENA deputies, the tactics for convincing the public about the ideal nature of the amendments suddenly became a doubtful attitude together with consideration for the bus drivers. Even the president of the Public Works Commission, Hermes Flores, came to the point of declaring that their intentions of stop the reforms were healthy ones and placed in doubt the capability of the Vice Minister of Transportation to regulate the tariffs for obligatory insurance.

The withdrawal of the decision on the amendments makes many look ridiculous and benefits very few. It principally makes the moralizing urge with which the Assembly has oriented its legislative practice in recent days look ridiculous. Although the exercise of political and moral incoherence is part and parcel with the deputies, it is still difficult to explain why casinos are prohibited in order to guarantee the public good and welfare of the citizenry while the same arguments may not used to stop a more immediate and dangerous activity. Perhaps, for the deputies, the "moral good" of the citizens is more important than the protection of their physical integrity? What reasons might be put forth to justify the condescension with which a business can place the health and life of thousands of public transportation users on a daily basis?

The Vice Minister for Transportation is also made to look ridiculous and, not for the first time. He stands alone once again and his measures and demands crash against the arbitrary and arrogant attitudes and actions of the bus drivers and the complicity and negligence of the Assembly. Finally, the withdrawal of the decision on the amendments ridicules not only the suffering and pain of the victims of the Tomayate accident, but ridicules the frustration of those who are obliged to use a service characterized by mistreatment, the lack of minimal regulations and complete irresponsibility.

The state of affairs arising as a result of the Tomayate tragedy was important because, as a result of the tragedy, a foundation was laid which could allow for the setting straight of the road which the problem of public transportation has set out upon. But for all this, there is no reason to be able to declare that any movement towards a solution is being made. All that is clear is that in our country, cynicism, hypocrisy and a lack of respect toward the citizens are the only "values" really operative underlying the well-intentioned speeches and the false demonstrations of solidarity. In this sense, praised be the transportation owners and the Legislative Assembly deputies.

EXTRADITION. The Legislative Assembly will not ratify the reform to the second section of Article 28 of the Constitution which deals with the extradition of Salvadoran citizens. The said amendment does not enjoy the support in terms of votes from the FMLN, CDU, USC and PCN who consider it "generic and unnecessary". "The political aspects ought to be laid aside because, although they are not in the treaties, the political times change and the Constitution can be turned back against us", stated Violeta Mejivar for he FMLN. This decision was expressed by the political parties to the members of the mission of the Departments of State and Justice of the United States which visited the country in order to examine the situation regarding the topic of extradition. Nevertheless, the parties represented the Political Commission of the Legislative Assembly agreed, in the presence of the delegates of the U.S. government, to work together to draw up a new reform to be incorporated on the topic of extradition for the Constitution. The agreement includes the arrangement that this ratification be one of the first points on the agenda of the deputies who are inaugurated on May 1, 2000. "If this legislature cannot do so, what is important is to maintain the possibility of ratifying [the section] on extradition", stated the ARENA Head of Faction, Walter Araujo (La Prensa Gráfica, October 22, p. 4).

FLORES. President Flores committed himself to push forward the provisions of the document BASES FOR A NATIONAL PLAN which seeks to lead the country towards decentralization, productive reconversion and integration with the Central American region. Flores received, on October 21, the document "Initial Actions on the National Plan", which represents 29 months of work at a national level coordinated by the National Commission for Development (CND). The document focuses on development, regions and instruments which, in the short, medium and long range, can respond to the principal problems of the Salvadoran people. "This is the moment to commit ourselves with the National Plan", stated the president. "This is the moment to commit ourselves with a long range vision which does not belong to one group or the other, but which is national [in essence]", he repeated. Flores called upon the CND to "accept my commitment to lead the public administration in the direction of the fundamental points of the document". Likewise, the president, as he spoke to the citizens, called upon them "to be conscious of the fact that the source of development is individual creativity and to forget guilt and pessimism...in order to create the country we want" (La Prensa Gráfica, October 22, p. 18).

EMBARGO. The Justice of the Peace of San Vicente decided to embargo the Executive Hydroelectric Commission for the Lempa River (CEL) in the amount of 10 million colones. This decision must still be ratified by the judge of another court. Nevertheless, with it, the Judicial Organ seeks to require payment for damages to agricultural and livestock producers of the Lempa Acahuapán Irrigation District. The claim was presented approximately six months ago by 12 agricultural producers of the Irrigation District. In it the inadequate handling of water retained and released in the 15 November Hydroelectric dam carried out on October 31, 1998 is pointed out. One of the claimants explained that the CEL knew about the arrival of the tropical storm "Mitch", but did not effectuate opportune evacuations of water from the dam and that when these were effectuated they were not supervised. The overflows released from the dam flooded the recently sown crops of the irrigation district and drowned domestic animals such as horses, cows, etc. Some of the crops damaged on that occasion were those of corn, plantain and sugar cane, among others. A total of 4,400 manzanas of crops were flooded by the release of water from the dam. Monetarily speaking, this is the equivalent of 9 million 800,000 colones in losses. According to the claimants, the President of CEL, Guillermo Sol Bang must answer for the inadequate handling of the release of water (El Diario de Hoy, October 23, p. 24).

CONFRONTATION. Violent reactions took place on October 23, in the ARENA office in Soyapango when Gabino Hernandez Sosa, candidate for mayor, was eliminated from the municipal leadership. The response of the rank and file was so violent that the municipal leadership was obliged to remain captive inside the office for three hours, protected by the police. Hernandez was eliminated as a candidate and in his place was added Antonio Molina. The decision was rejected by Hernandez followers. Hernandez held the director for ARENA, Liduvina Castro de Moran responsible for his elimination from the list of those standing for office. Likewise, he declared that the members of COENA committed themselves to "listening" to the proposal from the rank and file "and did not respect the will of the people". The Hernandez sympathizers threatened to withdraw their votes from the candidate proposed by the party leadership. "If COENA does not rectify, Soyapango will come under the power of the FMLN", advised one follower of that right-wing party, making reference to the FMLN, who currently is in charge of the municipal office in that city. Other protesters accused COENA of "playing with the people" and demanded "respect for their decisions". "COENA has played with us like a toy", she declared. ARENA leaders declared that they did not fear the possible loss of votes in that area (El Diario de Hoy, October 24, p. 8 and 25 and October 25, p. 10).

SILVA. Hector Silva, the Mayor of San Salvador, announced on October 24 that he had the support of the Democratic Convergence (CD) for his re-election to the mayor's office. "As a party," declared Silva in reference to the CD, "they have made the decision to support my candidacy". Nevertheless, Ruben Zamora, Secretary of the CD, denied Silva's affirmation. "There is a misunderstanding. The party has not made the decision to support Doctor Silva", declared Zamora. The secretary declared that the CD "has not decided nor has it even discussed" supporting Silva. In this way, he contradicted Deputy Jorge Villacorta who, on October 24, declared that they would ask the bases of the Convergence to support the capital city mayor. "I want to be clear: ;for the Democratic Convergence, Doctor Silva is the best candidate for mayor, this is the criterion of the municipal and departmental leadership", stated Villacorta. Zamora defended the unity of the parties which make up the United Democratic Center (CD, PPL and PD), which have decided to leave it to the criterion of their followers who they vote for. He said that the decision of the CDU is not to present any candidate of its own in San Salvador, nor to support any other in coalition. "Members and militants of San Salvador are going to have the freedom to make their own decision, that is the resolution of the CDU, in this we are agreed and we are going to comply", stated Zamora (El Diario de Hoy, October 25, p. 12 and La Prensa Gráfica, October 26, p. 18).

EPIDEMICS. Public hospitals were called to a red alert by epidemic outbreaks of leptospirosis and hemorrhagic dengue. This was confirmed by the Vice Minister for Health, Herbert Betancourt, who declared that he had given orders to the hospitals to increase their level of concern with regard to the illnesses and maintain stricter epidemiological monitoring. "Every time that we detect an epidemic outbreak, the necessary mechanisms are activated in order to control it. This is a red alert", stated the functionary. Indicators of the epidemic focussed, on October 25, on some 32 people being infected by hemorrhagic dengue and 23 with leptospirosis and it was confirmed that a second person had died as a result of this disease. In order to deal with the infection, the government invested two million colones on contingency plans and epidemiological monitoring. Some 300 million colones has been spent on controlling hemorrhagic dengue alone. The Ministry of Health is awaiting seven million extra colones which have been requested through the Panamerican Health Organization (OPS), stated Betancourt. Likewise, monies have been requested from the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) and the Agency for International Development (AID) (La Prensa Gráfica, October 10, p. 4).