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Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI)
E-mail: cidai@cidai.uca.edu.sv

Central American University (UCA)
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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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Some people assert that it goes against the Constitution and against the religion freedom that it guarantees; others, that it is a very little practical measure because of a series of reasons, and so on. The project of the decree that would oblige to read the Bible in the national education system, for at least ten minutes a day, was filed again, with no comments or explanations. The debate about this issue was focused on constitutional and practical viewpoints. And although both aspects must be considered in a decision of that nature, neither one is the bottom line, but if that is the adequate answer for the objectives that were pursued.

It is evident that there is an enormous immorality in the Salvadoran society, which is not an exclusive feature of the familiar and individual environments, but also a characteristic of the public scene. There is no doubt that it is necessary to do something —and soon— to stop this serious situation of public immorality, in which is difficult to distinguish between what goes against the law and what does not, what is fair and what is unfair, what is good and what is bad. In these days, for instance, a vehicle that belonged to the Supreme Court of justice was caught with smuggled cheese. The Court did not give a convincing explanation about it. The Republic's Attorney General, in the other hand, announces that the Katya Miranda case will be closed because of a lack of evidence, and although he accepts that such proof vanished because the crime scene was "polluted", he does not seem interested to investigate why and who made it disappear.

The same pattern was used to free the policemen who attempted against the life of a doctor. In this case, the Public Ministry was neither able to find evidences nor interested to find out why there was no proof. A millionaire Japanese donation of fertilizers, destined to small farmers, ended up in the hands of important producers, and the governmental authorities were not able to explain it. The list can get longer. In all these acts of public immorality, two facts are gathered: the one committed by the public officials or individuals, and the one of the authorities who, having the obligation to protect the society, do not take care of it.

It is obvious that with the obligation to read the bible these immoralities will not be left behind. If not, why do not they start reading it to those people or to those immorality prone institutions. In this sense, the right-wing deputies who propose and support this measure, could start by setting the example, a very appropriate action in this cases. Someone should make them listen to the Bible before starting the Legislative Assembly’s sessions. That would not be bad for them, and they would realize how far their conduct is from God's will. We have to acknowledge, however, that the fundamentalists believe that God's word operates in a mechanical way, and they trust in its absolute power: just to read it or to listen to it, it will put an end to the prevailing immorality.

The obligatory reading proposal, throughout the national educational system, was made by an evangelist convert deputy, who was surely supported by fundamentalist and Pentecostals. The idea was immediately supported by other right-wing deputies, and it seemed to have the majority on its side. However, ARENA took a step backwards when president Flores objected with practical order reasons. This is a typical case of how the Salvadoran right-wing legislates. One fine day, the idea occurs to the convert deputy or his congregation tells him that it is worth a proposal. In that situation, he presents a very deficient decree project, which lacks precision and clarity. Without realizing the former idea and without consulting no one else, the right-wing enthusiastically supported the proposal.

It was the Human Rights Defense Procurator the first one who dared to question the constitutionality of such measure. Other questionings followed. The deputies who supported the measure are the same ones who agreed with the death penalty, the ones who wanted to take away the rights of the accused, the ones who oppose to restrict the alcoholic beverages consumption at public places, and those who do not dare to control the circulation of guns, nor the overwhelming profits of the multinational companies who purchased the public services. Generally, these deputies do not stop to reflect about their decisions, nevertheless to consult the experts or the affected ones. It seems as if they consider themselves the owners of an absolute power, which allows them to decide over the lives of others as they please.

Not only the Salvadoran left-wing has difficulties to define its post-war identity, the right-wing also has them. That is why the former —without thinking about it meticulously— proposes issues such as the death penalty or the mandatory reading of the Bible in the classrooms or any cause that might seem flamboyant enough, but that it does not mean a compromise to introduce important changes in the social structures. The identity that they do not have emerges from causes like this one. How different would it be if the deputies and the politicians started by publicly confessing their vices and changing their most serious immoralities, in a short term.

This would actually be an efficient way to recover the society's moral values, and to start demanding from the other public institutions their obligation to protect the society. Otherwise, they will keep shocking the citizens and causing more immorality. Instead, the right-wing deputies come back again with a proposal very much alike the other one: the obligation to study morals and civics in the classrooms, including the universities, forgetting that these ones are independent.

There is no doubt that it is necessary to teach morals in the classrooms. But not in a traditional way. The right-wing does not seem to realize that the society and the world have changed, and also that, as far as El Salvador is concerned, they have been an important part of that change. Therefore, the past that they now long for is lost, partly because of them. The El Salvador of ARENA cannot be anything but immoral. A small group cannot freely accumulate richness on the population’s expense, and at the same time talk about equality, solidarity, truth and justice. You cannot teach morals when you do not practice it, and when there is no one to teach it or to set the example. The Salvadoran right-wing is overwhelmed by the changes that it has introduced, and it is now seeking to contain the evil forces that it has unleashed, however, without regret or conversion.

Just like the fiscal deficit case, the farming sector’s crisis has been for a long time a palpable reality. Two of the main indicators of that situation are, most of all, the reduction of the importance of the farming Gross National Product, and the persistent reduction of the sector’s average growth rates. The causes of these dynamics have national as well as international origins and, without a doubt, they configure a perspective that demands from the economy an urgent change.

Ever since the eighties, the farming sector faced some strong obstacles for its growth, which were a result of the scarce productive and investment diversification. However —with the implementation of neoliberal policies ever since the first ARENA government— the situation turned worse. The vigorous growth rates of the early nineties were a result of the dynamism of urban economic sectors such as commerce, construction, services, the financial sector and the industry. The farming sector has not been favored by the neoliberal policies; on the contrary, now it faces generalized problems of profitability that do not only affect the cultivation of the basic grains, but also an exportation cultivation such as coffee.

In this context, the impact of a regular weather phenomenon (such as the dry season) has acquired dramatic dimensions. Not only because it reduces the food availability, but also because it happens in a moment in which the production and the rural employment have fallen into a depression. Due to the former situation, it is worthwhile to reflect over the crisis and the farming perspectives, examining its behavior during the nineties, its participation in the total GNP and its perspectives.

By the end of the eighties, the farming sector was already involved in a compromising situation, because of the 1987-1988 dry season effect (and its precedents of 1986 and 1982), as well as because of the dissolution of the Coffee International Organization and the reduction of the coffee international prices. This situation was perceived during the early nineties, when the growth of the farming sector was not so vigorous. In fact, the farming sector poorly grew in an average rate of a yearly 2% between 1991 and 1999, in a period in which the GNP grew in a 6% yearly average.

In the foundations of this behavior, the effects of the coffee international prices’ downfall were located, caused by the excessive offer of the grain. In fact, if the coffee sub-sector growth rates are examined it will be detected that during the nineties the value of the production has been reduced, not just because of a volume reduction, but mostly because of a price reduction. If the total is considered, the sub-sector's GNP was reduced to 6% between 1991 and 1999.

As it was predictable, this situation has led to a drastic reduction of the farming sector's participation in production. Therefore, it can be mentioned that between 1991 and 1999 the farming sector's GNP went from representing a 16.5% of the total, to report just a 12.9%, which means that the participation of this sector was reduced in a 21%, approximately.

These activities did come along during the nineties, without the governments being able to identify and implement the measures that would neutralize such tendency. There have been proposals to reactivate the farming sector, however, as it can be inferred by the available data, these have not been effective enough to stop the crisis.

Although it is not about saying that both the coffee's international prices and the dry seasons’ (along with the disasters that they cause) crisis can be resolved through public policies, it is necessary to mention that the government's strategy for the farming sector does not approach the main causes of the crisis: scarce diversification of the farming production, and the absence of investments that provide the sector with profitability and dynamism.

The Salvadoran farming sector is centered in the coffee, basic grains and sugar cane cultivation, which altogether represent a little more than one half of the sector's GNP. That is why, whatever happens with any cultivation has a great impact in the farming sector's behavior, as the recent impact of the coffee prices’ fall and the loss of most of the basic grains' first harvest (caused by the 2000 dry season) have recently revealed. These external conditions, although they do not belong to the public policies' field of action, reveal that the farming sector has a high vulnerability level that must be reduced.

That vulnerability emerges from the little diversification of the farming sector, to the point that whatever happens with the coffee or the sugar prices will immediately have an impact on our economy. The situation is specially delicate in the case of the coffee, since the conditions of the international market indicate that the international prices will not improve. We overcame other price crisis —during the 1930's and the 1970's—; however, in the present, the excessive offer and the addition of new areas for coffee cultivation do not indicate any good signs.

The dry season impacts are not new either (there are records since 1916), but those increase because, during the last years, the basic grains have been cultivated at inadequate areas. In addition, the basic grain cultivation does not count with watering systems and, in most of the cases, dry season resistant seeds are not used. Obviously, to organize the production in such way increases the disaster risks caused by the repeating dry seasons that affect the Central American territory.

Another source of crisis for the farming sector comes from the scarce investments —public or private— that are made in that area. Recent indicators have shown that there has not been much farming diversification, which is a sign of the absence of productive investment projects. In most of the cases, this situation obeys to the difficulties to obtain financing from the private bank for the mid and long term production projects. Fundamentally, the bank has placed the clients' savings in short term activities that allow a faster recuperation of the investment, and which do not represent as many risks as the farming activity does.

The government has not only favored the urban sectors growth with its economic policies, but it has also concentrated the public investments in the urban area, and specially at the city of San Salvador. Very little emphasis has been made on the transportation, watering, and storage infrastructure construction, and the farming sector has received very little support.

In summary, the farming sector crisis is not only related to the coffee prices’ downfall or to the dry season, since there are many aspects that have an influence on the vulnerability of this sector. Therefore, it is evident that the government must assume a more active role to encourage the farming activities. Two measures are unavoidable in this context: first, the adoption of a profitable cultivation that allows to compensate or to overcome the impact of the coffee crisis. And second, the technical and credit attention for micro farmers who produce basic grains, and who are always the most affected ones by the dry seasons, disasters, and public policies designed to favor the sector.

We are into a complete surgical compulsion, which has
a tendency to amputate the negative features of things
and to ideally remodel them by means of a synthesis operation.

Jean Baudrillard

It is impressive how the Salvadoran society has ignored the news about the most recent price increase on the electric energy. During the seventies and the eighties, we got used to the bodies lying on the streets; we got used to hear (and sometimes to believe) in the politicians' promises; we got used to our fenced homes and to the security guards even at the ice cream parlors; very few things surprise us, very few things shock us. We are also contemplating, with much simplicity, the increase on the basic services' prices. The journalistic coverage of the electric energy price increase in both of the most important morning papers of the country proved that tendency. El Diario de Hoy assigned a page to announce the price increase, on August 9th., and one more page for the following day. La Prensa Grafica, on the other hand, published one page on August 10th. And the issue just ended there.

Qualitatively speaking, therefore, the news hardly called the attention of the media and, as far as quality is concerned, the information revealed in the papers was sufficiently explained, however there was a lack of analysis and interpretation. The available data showed that the energy would be approximately increased in a 3.49% in August, depending on the adjustments that each distributors did. CAESS would apply an average increase of 4.23%; Delsur, 3.57; Clesa, 3.24; y EEO, 2.93.

Only El Diario de Hoy cared enough to explain to its readers that "the consumers should keep an eye on the fact that the former percentages are only an approximated average of the increase, since the real increase could be either higher or lower, depending on the amount of energy consumption" (August 10th.). For instance, CAESS 4.23% meant, in fact, a 5.6% increase on the electric energy bill of a person who would consume between 0 and 200 Kilowatts/h, according to El Diario de Hoy. Although it left a lot to be desired, this paper followed the advice that the Reporter's Writing Manual of the Spanish newspaper El Pais gives: "Do not be satisfied just to tell what is going on. People need to know why, what does it mean, what are the consequences".

The suggestion that none of the Salvadoran newspapers followed was not to write and inform thinking on the experts, following their discourse and using their vocabulary. This aspect was noticed through the absence of explanations about the relation between the Market Regulator System (MRS), the way the energy prices were fixed, and the Transactions’ Unit (UT). That is a very complicated relation that, certainly, was very difficult to understand for the economic sources' reporters, and it was going to be something worst than a riddle for the average newspaper reader.

The texts of La Prensa Grafica, as well as the ones of El Diario de Hoy published almost the exact same discourse of their sources, an they did not include others but the official ones (The General Superintendence of Electricity and Communications–SIGET, the distributors, UT and MRS), as if nobody else had nothing to say about the subject. It would have been useful that the reporters that worked on this story recalled another suggestion: “Whenever you talk to someone that belongs to the economy world, the interests of the person you are interviewing must be very clear to you, so you do not fall into partial or biased information, do not allow yourself to be used” (The Reporter’s Writing Manual, El Pais, Spain). With a quick glance at the information that appeared in both morning newspapers, you can observe a certain persistence to justify and legitimate the last and the former electric energy price increases.

The initiative of El Diario de Hoy to include in one of its pages some advice to reduce the energy expense was very accurate (August 10th., p.28). With that action, this morning paper showed the service will and the orientation task that the media should have more often during situations like this one, related with the people’s consumption habits. La Prensa Grafica, on the other hand, made an effort to show the fluctuations on the energy price increases (from last January to the present). Their graphic work regarding this subject was also very illustrative. What was missing, as it has been mentioned before, was analysis and interpretation.

About the reasons for the increase, for example, it was made clear that the SIGET and the distributors were interested to see that the people would settle with the dry season explanation and the insufficient hydroelectric generation. Such insufficiency, according to the reasons exposed in the papers, caused a more frequent use of the thermal energy, which has a very high generation cost. Neither La Prensa Grafica nor El Diario de Hoy, however, made an effort to analyze the facts and explain the readers how the new prices are established, who says when they have to be raised and what are the criteria these decisions are based on. A paid announcement of the SIGET (August 13th., 2001) says that “the generation market is not regulated, therefore, the generators have the freedom to fix their prices”.

No written press media has worried enough to show what that freedom to fix the prices means and if it is done, at least, based on the costs. Maybe some source of the generation enterprises (independents and privates), probably some independent company who knows the electric energy market, could explain this subject better. In the professional journalism, it is said that “the economic information was for a long time a series of stories told by businessmen. They talked and us, the economy journalists, transcribed their opinions. Today’s news media demand something more” (The Reporter’s Writing Manual, El Pais, Spain). If only this was the case with the local press. The times in which journalists were “repeating antennas” should be long gone by now.

The analysis that refers to the electricity prices says very little about the costs that the population has to pay for, and which appear in the monthly bills (so difficult to read as if they were written in an ancient language): the use of the net, the energy prices and the attention to the client. The press has not made an analysis on how the price for the use of the net is kept steady. Until now, no study has been made on how the price was established and how many years would have been enough for the distributors to recover their investment.

As it has been seen, the analysis left a lot to be desired, however the press did not want to complicate its life researching deeper into the news. That indifference, which prevailed in the country’s most important written press media, was parallel to the abundant space that other issues received, such as the ravages that the dry season caused in the Salvadoran oriental zone (a certainly justified coverage), the municipal order that regulates the alcoholic beverages consumption, and the controversy for the (failed) proposal about reading the Bible at public schools. The former issue received excessive attention, especially in La Prensa Grafica. At moments, the insistence on a law initiative seemed more like a smoke curtain that the government’s representatives took advantage of to avoid discussing more important matters, such as the lack of mechanisms to control the electric energy prices and their increase. Not only the written press, but also the electronic media spent many hours and a lot of effort discussing less complicated issues than the performance of the country’s energy market.

It has been encouraging to see, during the last few years, how the morning papers (more than the rest of the local press) have made efforts to keep specialized reporters in different areas, the judicial and the economic, among others (in the cultural field, the press is still wearing diapers). It is certain that many private and public sources of the economy respect now more than ever the journalists who show better preparation and knowledge about the issues they are investigating. However, more efforts have to be made to avoid what the Reporter’s Manual of El Pais from Spain calls “the main danger” for an economic issues reporter: “to fall into the specialists’ slang and inform only the experts, or to trivialize the most complex economic matters so that everybody can understand them and to distort the content of the information”.

Collaboration of Xiomara Peraza, Department of Communications-UCA.