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     Proceso is published weekly in Spanish by the Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI) of the Central American University (UCA) of El Salvador. Portions are sent in English to the *reg.elsalvador* conference of PeaceNet in the USA and may be forwarded or copied to other networks and electronic mailing lists. Please make sure to mention Proceso when quoting from this publication.
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Proceso 958
July 4, 2001
ISSN 0259-9864
 
 
 
 
 

INDEX

Editorial:  Beware of the police
Politics:  Questions about two murders
Society:  What about the help for the victims?
 
 
 
 
 

EDITORIAL

    The kidnap and the murder of a nine year old child is a repulsive act that must be condemned in the most enforceable terms; the death of two members of the National Civilian Police (PNC, in Spanish) is also regrettable. Kidnapping is a vile crime, that simultaneously shows the social degradation we suffer and the vulnerability in which we live. Therefore, it is necessary to repudiate kidnapping and show our solidarity to the victims and their relatives. We also have to point out that the procedures followed by the government to fight it, modifying the law every time a new crime startles him, are inadequate. Experience confirms it once again in both a dramatic and a sad way. That is why it is necessary to take a distance from the governmental discourse and from the sensationalism of the press.

    The reactions were immediate —including a speech through the national broadcasting system that President Flores gave— and have disappointed us. Of course there are some exceptions, for instance, more reflexive voices. However, most opinions demanded to increase the control over the "suspicious" population, harden the sentence —including the lifetime sentence—, and introduce the death penalty. To accomplish these changes we would not only have to change the Constitution, but we would also have to resign to a series of international treaties.

    The reform to both the law and the codes is a constant activity of every democratic State. However, if those reforms are done in an improvised way, as a reaction to events that go beyond the control of the authorities —and mostly to avoid their duties— is to attempt against the stability of the State. All of these reactions are nothing but signs of impotence, if not a cover-up to move the attention away from the real safety problems.

    Despite the efforts of the PNC's direction, the events are not clear. An anonymous call alarming about the kidnap is not convincing enough. Why the police was not able to prevent it or how did the police arrive where the kidnappers hid the child are unanswered questions.  There is nothing clear either about the conditions in which the agents of an specialized team came into the house: when they heard screams, when they heard the shooting, when they heard both or when they got shot at.  The fact is that the police action put in great danger the life of the young hostage and its result is disastrous: a child and two specially trained officers dead.

    The question that we must ask to ourselves is why the police was not more cautious. Its director has the answer. It was not about a rescue. If this would be the case, they would have taken much more precautions to save the child's life. This is about what they call an emergency operation, since the police would have been attacked by the kidnappers. However, in the information offered by the press it is not clear if the police decided to attack because shots inside the house were heard or because the kidnappers fired their guns first.

    Once again, we can ask why the police squad did not take distance when they surrounded the kidnappers if they knew that a hostage was inside. The police could have closed the area, established a control unit, and tried to negotiate. The director also has an answer for this: the police does not negotiate with kidnappers. Intending to explain, he adds that it was unnecessary for the kidnappers to kill the child because they were already surrounded and, therefore, they would have to give up respecting the child's life. To judge by his declarations, the PNC's director knows very little about kidnaps. He thinks he is playing cops and robbers, and when the robbers surrender the game comes to an end.

    A serious and responsible police knows that kidnappers are not playing, that they have in their hands the life of a hostage, and that their own lives depend on his life. However, the PNC's director insists that the Salvadoran kidnappers are not as cruel as to take the life of a child. If they actually did that, it was because of the influence of Guatemalan colleagues, who usually kill their victims when they find themselves surrounded. According to this curious interpretation of the PNC's director, if there is more violence now in the crimes that are committed in El Salvador, it would be because of the bad influence of the Guatemalan.

    Forensics contradicted the Attorney General's declarations, who assured that the child died because of a shot fired from a short distance. The examination of the body shows that the bullets penetrated and came out from the child's body following a straight pathway. This forensic theory means that the seven bullets that hit the child were fired from a considerable distance and not from a close one. The authorities have not explained this fact yet.

    To make the situation even more complicated, the main suspect of this crime, according to the authorities, was murdered after only a few hours of being locked up at the special section of a maximum security prison. The prison’s director assures that it was almost magical, because he does not know how to explain how did the murder happened, or his lack of control over the prisoners who are considered the most dangerous. Meanwhile, the PNC's director assures that it was all about getting even among kidnappers, and he bases his statement in a story over past fights that they were involved in.

    After all this, it must be witchcraft, because when the suspect went into the prison he apparently did not object to be placed in the same cell where the people who murdered him were. A little while before that, he had asked for a test over the bullets that were fired against the child. In addition, it is interesting to see how calmly the authorities have taken the events, since he was one of the main suspects in the case. The investigations cannot go on as if nothing happened, just as the PNC's director assured. The threats that have victimized the lawyer who is defending the accused have been taken with the same tranquility and have not been investigated. Certainly, those threats do not come from other kidnapping bands that do not agree with the defense of their accused colleagues.

    For the PNC, the most important issue is to win the war against crime, not to save the victims' lives. If one of them falls, it will be regrettable, but nothing else. If this is the situation, it is better to keep the police away, because its director might decide to take the opportunity to make an advertising display. We are not in good hands since the police leads its war without worrying about the lost lives.

    Since last week, there are multiple rumors and questions about the circumstances that led to the death of the Child Gerardo Villeda Kattan. Other questions about the mysterious murder of the main suspect in this case —according to the authorities, the responsible one for the death of the minor— are added to these ones. The population was not yet recovered from the commotion caused by the horrendous crime when the news of Eduardo Henriquez's (a.k.a. Gigio) —murder by suffocation inside of his cell— were spread. This man would have been executed by members of other bands, who he had personal quarrels with. The authorities of the penitentiary washed their hands with this explanation, leaving the responsibility of finding the guilty ones to the Attorney General's Office.

    However, the environment of normality that the authorities insist to show is not convincing. On the contrary, it contributes to raise even more doubts among the population. The police has not offered any explanation yet about the motives of their breaking-in inside the house where the kidnappers had the minor. The fact that the police had surrounded the house and that there was a large number of officers, should have been favorable factors for a less violent end.

    The most logical decision for the kidnappers, once they felt they were surrounded, would have been willing to give up without making their legal situation any worse. Anybody knows that it is not the same to be accused of depriving a person from his freedom than to be accused of kidnap and murder. Why did not the police try to convince the kidnappers to release the child and surrender to face a minor sentence? This is the question that the authorities do not seem to respond.

    To clarify this sort of doubts does not mean, as some people seem to believe, to ignore the responsibility of the kidnappers and blame the police. It is about knowing up to what point the authorities acted professionally, and if they did everything that was possible to protect the life of the child, and the ones of the agents who lost their lives at the kidnappers hide away. The fact that the citizenry wants an explanation about the police's procedure should not be a motive for suspicion.

    On the contrary, what is more disturbing is the authorities' attitude, who have refused to clarify any doubts referring to their procedure.  If the collaboration of the citizenry is requested to fight kidnapping, a good way to gain their trust is to demonstrate that the police acts with the responsibility and the professional attitude that these cases require. Otherwise, nobody is going to trust the life of their loved ones to an institution that is ready to act without concern about for the life and the physical integrity of the victims.

    The most serious aspect of all these situations -in this environment of doubts- has been the murder of one of the men involved with the death of the child. "Gigio" had been accused to be the murderer of Gerardo. The rest of the people implicated in the case —according to some reporters— identify him as the one who shot the minor on the head in an attempt to avoid any possibility of being identified by his victim in case he would be able to escape from the police. Evidently, this is an argument that is not convincing at all, and which does not help to resolve the doubts previously mentioned. Would there be any connection between Gigio's murder and the clarification of Gerardo's death? Is somebody interested in that this subject is kept in the dark? The police and the Attorney General's Office will have to answer these questions. In the mean time, the speculations follow their course about the motives for Gigio’s murder.

    Many voices have been added to the theory that Gigio would have been deservedly executed by some prison mates unhappy with the fact of his horrendous crime against Gerardo. Some people ask for the adoption of a death penalty as a social mechanism to respond to the inhuman treatment that victims receive from delinquents. In this sense, the authorities have seemed pleased to respond to what they call "the popular claim", particularly expressed by the murderers of Eduardo Henriquez. Odd authorities are the ones who shape their behavior according to the prisoners' demands.

    However, an important aspect is that the politicians have intended to tune in with the indignation that child's death has caused. As if it was about competing for being the one who best expresses their indignation. Some of them even propose castration for rapists. This is a way of trying to gain the population's sympathy, and at the same time a way to go on without working on the violence and the impunity that are destroying this society.

    It is evident that many are not willing to pay the least attention to the subject. The prevailing impunity favors the most prestigious groups of society, and there are plenty of those who are not willing to give up such privileges. For instance, if it were about fighting crime and violence through either death or physical mutilation, it is curious that nobody has come up with the idea of asking for the amputation of the hands of those who take advantage of their political contacts and business privileges to steal in the public economy.

    It is evident that a proposal such as this one would horrify more than one. What happens is that, in the end, they cannot picture themselves or their friends with their hands amputated, as a consequence of their acts of corruption. However, in case that such an insane proposal was approved, they would not have to worry much. That is what the Attorney General's Office is for, not to act against the white collar delinquents.

    In summary, it is hypocritical that some opinion builders and politicians, among others, are so angry about the murders that take place in this society —condemnable from any point of view, when they just keep quiet when it comes to the corruption acts committed by the elite's influential members. The social action against crime has to consider other delinquency acts, which also affect the Salvadoran society. If those acts were equally fought, regardless of the social position of the ones involved, at least a little moral would be restored to this society.

    In addition, it is not about isolating some crimes from others. Violence and delinquency are benefited also by the prevailing impunity environment. When the authorities tolerate impunity they are contributing to promote horrendous acts such as Gerardo's murder, the deaths by the altered alcohol, the killing of Katia Miranda or the robbery of the fertilizer donated by the Japanese government.

    The fight against crime must be a national duty, regardless of the economic and social privileges. Likewise, the fight against crime and corruption must be taken and handled seriously. The society is not going to be redeemed if the authorities use procedures as barbaric as the ones of the delinquents. Instead, it is about fighting to rescue society from the human crisis in which a good number of its members are involved.

    It has been almost six months since the tragedy of January's first earthquake, and the Salvadoran society has practically forgotten, deliberately or not, those difficult moments in order to take care of other aspects of their lives. In fact, kidnappings, delinquency, judicial process against criminals, rapists, delinquents, and the strange loss of a Japanese package of donations have been between the eyes of the public opinion in the last weeks. This last event, in which a group of eminent business men kept most of the load of the fertilizers —donated by the Japanese government to benefit low income peasants—, imposes the need to control the reception and the distribution of the help we have received.

    Ever since the first days of the emergency, different sectors of the Salvadoran society and from the international community have assisted the victims and provided them with the basic resources to, somehow, ease their precarious situation. On the other hand, the government asked for the support of international organizations in order to get the necessary funds that would be used for the emergency and the reconstruction. In this sense, it is necessary to point out that an efficient monitoring has not been followed to examine the aid's distribution mechanisms. The government and the news media have released very little information about the cooperation procedures.

    That is why it is logical that questions such as the following emerge: How have the central government and the municipalities distributed the aid? What role have the non-governmental organizations, private business, churches, and religious groups played in the distribution of help? How much money is involved in the aid promised by the international financial organizations, and how much has been actually spent? What is the role that the international community has played in the reconstruction process, and what has been its perception about the aid distribution? This article intends to answer those questions.

The aid according to the government

    President Francisco Flores and his cabinet have already delivered a report about their management during the reconstruction. However, they have not monitored the aid and the publishing of its results. A few hours after the first earthquake, President Flores organized the National Committee of Solidarity (CONASOL, in Spanish) which, together with the Family National Secretariat, would be in charge to distribute the aid for the victims. As it can be inferred from the Flores' second year of administration speech  —pronounced in the Congress—, the January and the February earthquakes are an unavoidable reference point in the administration of the present government.

    In the words of the president, the earthquakes "are the worst national catastrophe of our history". In addition, the management of the tragedy has highlighted, according to the president, the government's ability, which is an opinion favored by the perception of most Salvadorans. According to the opinion surveys —from the University Institute of Public Opinion from the UCA (IUDOP, in Spanish)— 24% of the people interviewed thought that Flores has conducted well the national reconstruction (see Proceso 953).

    Despite this opinion, the president's balance about his administration is not realistic enough. Flores acknowledge the work of the Social Investment Fund (FISDL, in Spanish), and the performance of the Armed Force in the construction of 160,000 and 75,000 temporary houses, respectively. At the same time, he emphasized that "the historic capacity of this country to build low budget houses is 20,000 units per year; today after only 110 days, we have put a roof over the head of more than 225,000 families. That is to 25% of the population". However, he did not doubt to accept the low quality of the construction materials, and the reduced space in which the benefited victims are living in. A proof of this situation is the danger to which 39 families were exposed to during the Chamnico landslide, in La Libertad. During last June, these families lost their fragile temporary houses because of a flood.

The role of the municipalities

    Ever since the attention to the emergency, the local government had to be directly involved in the rescue and the reconstruction duties. Later on, the efforts have been oriented to the recollection of funds to —in some cases— totally reconstruct the counties or, with a little more luck, to repair the damage suffered. Cases such as the Nueva San Salvador municipality were known, in which its officials returned with empty hands after their tour around Europe. Other municipality offices had better luck and they received the direct support from the international community with sponsoring projects, as in the case of the Venezuelan aid destined to Comasagua, in La Libertad.

    There were some mayors who complained about the little aid received by the central government to attend their needs. However, according to CONASOL, the aid was distributed to 171 affected counties, through the emergency committees. The truth is that the aid mediated by the central government has not been enough. For instance, a study in Santa Maria Ostuma, in La Paz, performed by UCA researchers, revealed that the life conditions of the inhabitants gave a serious step backwards after the earthquakes. And, even if a great number of the population says that it has been benefited by the central government in the reconstruction of its temporary homes, it is clear that the authorities have not taken care of the fundamental needs of the county yet.

Business companies, non-governmental organizations and churches

    As it has been mentioned before, the government immediately went to the business companies, and asked them to receive, deliver and audit the aid —the members of CONASOL are the elite's businessmen who are related to the government. During the first weeks after the tragedy, the media published the situation of the reception and the distribution of the national and international aid. However, almost six months after the first tragedy, there is no information available about the present conditions of the cooperation.

    On the other hand, the churches and non-governmental organizations have tried to obtain funds in both national and international levels, in order to invest them in reconstruction projects. Many non-governmental organizations have contacted important sponsors, such as the European Union, to continue with the reconstruction projects of the Mitch and the earthquakes. Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian churches, and Buddhist groups have developed projects to benefit the victims, but they are not efficiently controlling neither the aid nor the information about all this work as a whole.

The international community facing the tragedy

    Maybe Flores' highest accomplishment in his search to get financial aid was in Washington. There is where the United States president compromised himself to donate$110 million to invest in housing and water services in different counties of the national territory. Additionally, Bush gave an 18 month extension of time to Salvadoran immigrants through the application of a Temporary Protection Status (TPS). As a consequence of this action, the Salvadoran government bets that the family remittances will increase from $1,750 million to $1,900 million by the end of the year.

    It has not been easy for the European Union. The new authorities of this block have accepted their responsibility in the post Mitch aid delivery delay. Up until this March, only half of the 250 million (Euro) had been destined to the Central America Reconstruction Regional Programs (PRRAC). In the same way, the aid for El Salvador after the earthquakes seems to follow the same way, if the bureaucratization and the lack of transparency in the use of the funds go on.

The role of the international organizations

    Evidently, the Salvadoran Government arrived with great expectation to Madrid, to the Consultant Group's Meeting. But he did not accomplish much there —even Flores did not mention a word about in his last speech—, partly because funds had already been assigned, and also because of the doubts that still prevail in some of the sponsoring countries because of the blurry administration of the aid. In that context, the BID —one of the event's organizers—, the World Bank, and the Central American Economic Integration Bank (BCIE) compromised themselves to negotiate new funds. The governmental committee —which calculated about $1,700 million— returned with the promise of $1,300 million, from which $300 million were already existing loans, which were added to the $110 million donated by the United States Government.

    What has happened with the funds? Recently, the vice chancellor of external cooperation, Hector Urrutia, explained that they were working to raise the income of the sponsoring nations and organizations for this year, since from the promised funds there was only a12.6% in use (see Proceso 956).

    In summary, from the little information available it is possible to infer that, even if the aid keeps coming from different sources, in El Salvador we do not have a citizen’s culture of social control which demands from the authorities a report of what is that they are doing. In this duty, the communication media play a fundamental role, as mediators of the society to express their doubts. We also need that the rest of institutions responsible for receiving and delivering the international cooperation promote an information culture in order that the citizenry knows about their actions and is able to contribute with ideas for possible improvements.