From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: El Salvador: Proceso 524
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 03:34:31 GMT

/** reg.elsalvador: 106.0 **/
** Topic: Proceso 524: Peace process **
** Written  9:44 pm  Jul 26, 1992 by cidai@huracan.cr in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
From: cidai@huracan.cr (Centro de Informacion Documentacion y Apoyo a la Invest. - UCAJSC)
Subject: Proceso 524: Peace process

Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI)
Central American University (UCA)
San Salvador, El Salvador
 
PROCESO 524
July 22, 1992
 
PEACE PROCESS:
The Defense Ministry's annual report and the peace process
 
     On July 14, Defense Minister Rene Emilio Ponce, accompanied
by the top members of the high command, read its annual report
for 1991-92 before the Legislative Assembly. The report provided
a list of activities undertaken by the Armed Forces during a
unique and transcendental period in the history of El Salvador.
The second half of 1991 represented the final stretch of the
negotiations, and all military activity during that time was
subordinated to that process. The first half of 1992, in turn,
has been characterized by a series of activities aimed at best
fulfilling the promises made by both sides in the Chapultepec
Accords. All these important firsts for El Salvador, however, are
essentially distorted or overlooked in the military's report. The
overwhelming characteristic of the report is its simplistic and
triumphalist tone.
 
The content and tone of the report
 
     In terms of its content, the report does not detail
activities covering the last several months of the war. Instead,
the Ministry offers official figures summing up the human and
material costs of over a decade of armed conflict. The report
mentions 8,388 army soldiers killed and 25,125 wounded, of which
25% remain disabled. Furthermore, the Armed Forces reports a
total of 25,000 civilians killed or wounded during the entire
war. The cost of material damage is estimated in $1.5 billion,
and the responsibility for this enormous destruction is laid
entirely at the feet of the FMLN. The report also includes a show
of gratitude to the United States government for having sent
military aid to the Salvadoran armed forces.
     In terms of the specific contribution made by the Armed
Forces to the process of implementing the peace accords, the
report becomes entirely triumphalist and maximalist. The plan
governing the various activities aimed at fulfilling the accords
has, curiously enough, been dubbed "Conquerors I" [Vencedores I],
thereby insinuating that the Armed Forces has emerged victorious
from the brutal conflict, which is obviously in stark contrast to
reality.
     According to the report, "Plan Omega" covered the process of
separation of forces and concentration of its army units in the
62 stipulated points, while "Plan Alfa", governing the reduction
of the army, produced a total reduction of 20,770 members,
including the 6,092 National Police officers transferred to the
purview of the Presidency. The report emphasizes the dissolution
of the National Guard and Treasury Police, and asserted that in
June, a Special Security Brigade would be created to protect
borders, as well as the Military Police, which together will
amount to 2,014 troops.
     The worst part of the report, however, is a set of wild
accusations formulated by the Defense Minister himself against
the FMLN's alleged non-compliance with the military aspects of
the peace accords. The accusations provide a revealing framework
for the content of the military report. In fact, the most notable
characteristic of the top military leaders seated before the
Legislative Assembly was their excessive use of the worn-out
rhetoric of confrontation and propagandistic discrediting of the
adversary. And it occurred at a time when actions aimed at
reconciling Salvadoran society -the beginning of the work of the
Ad Hoc and Truth Commissions- demand of all a more measured tone,
a more pragmatic sense of reality, and a patriotic interest in
making the peace accords effective in both letter and spirit.
     According to General Ponce, the FMLN's acts of non-
compliance include a number of serious violations. In the first
place, the military leaders accuse the FMLN of not turning over
all its weapons during the demobilization of the first 20% of its
troops, while they asserted emphatically that many of the
demobilized were very old or very young, meaning that the most
highly trained members of the insurgent forces have yet to rejoin
civilian life. "Their special forces haven't been touched, they
still maintain them," said the Minister.
     In the second place, in reference to the weapons turned over
by the demobilized contingents, General Ponce, with the tacit
support of his comrades-in-arms, reiterated his claim that the
former rebels only turned over worn-out weapons and much fewer
than what had been agreed upon. "The quantity of weapons turned
over by the demobilized contingents is ridiculous, it probably
represents no more than 10%," Ponce insisted.
     Finally, General Ponce denounced FMLN non-compliance with
the agreements regarding the separation of forces. According to
the Minister of Defense, there are still seven zones throughout
the country which contain FMLN weapons reserves, and where 215
armed combatants transit freely. The areas mentioned are: Finca
La Presa, in Nejapa (San Salvador); the San Salvador Volcano; the
Santa Ana Volcano; El Tablon, in Sociedad (Morazan); Copetillo,
in Anamoros (Morazan); and San Judas and California, in
Jiquilisco (Usulutan). To the above he added that the FMLN
maintains 34 Public Security Commission in villages located in
former conflict zones, made up of 335 rebels who are also
deployed outside concentration points. General Ponce termed these
small civil security forces "terror squads." According to Ponce,
all these alleged acts of non-compliance represent a "slap in the
face and a mockery" of the peace process.
 
The FMLN's reaction
 
     The FMLN has categorically rejected these charges, calling
them unfounded and distorted. Salvador Samayoa termed the
accusations "confrontational" and "out of place." With regard to
the weapons inventory and number of demobilized FMLN combatants,
he appealed to ONUSAL's work of verification, since this is the
organization which has the authority to level such charges.
According to Samayoa, "the army never knew how many weapons and
combatants we had, and if they didn't know that during eleven
years of war, how are they going to know anything about it now?"
Commander Ana Guadalupe Martinez, in turn, provided clarification
regarding the creation of rebel security commissions. According
to Martinez, their existence was never a secret for either the
government or ONUSAL. The creation of these forces was discussed
at the table where the two sides negotiated the terms for
catching up with the delays in the implementation of the accords.
Therefore, she said, all sides involved in the peace process are
aware of their composition, jurisdiction, and activities, and
each one of their functions and actions are verified by ONUSAL.
"They are not clandestine, nor have they incurred in abuses of
power; on the contrary, they have provided security to the
population during this transitional phase," she stressed.
 
     The attitude displayed by the military high command is aimed
at winning public support for heightening its resistence to
future changes which must take place within the armed forces.
Nevertheless, they are only managing uselessly to heighten
tensions arising from the peace process which are inevitable but
possible to resolve.
 

** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 107.0 **/
** Topic: Proceso 524: Editorial **
** Written  9:44 pm  Jul 26, 1992 by cidai@huracan.cr in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
From: cidai@huracan.cr (Centro de Informacion Documentacion y Apoyo a la Invest. - UCAJSC)
Subject: Proceso 524: Editorial

Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI)
Central American University (UCA)
San Salvador, El Salvador
 
PROCESO 524
July 22, 1992
 
EDITORIAL:
The truth must be an effort of society
 
     The Truth Commission has been well received by the Cristiani
government, whose spokespersons have had good words for it and
have promised their cooperation. The Commission's members have
repeatedly stressed the promises made to them by the president of
the Supreme Court, and have taken him at his word. All government
spokespersons have promised to heed the Commission's
recommendations, but the military has been careful to add that it
hopes the Commission will act with impartiality, in other words,
that it refrain from attacking what they refer to as the prestige
of the institution.
     We should not be deceived by governmental appearances. The
Truth Commission has been necessary because the Salvadoran
government has concealed and ignored the vicious reality of
repression throughout the twelve years of war. One government
after another has disseminated its own "official lie" regarding
the massive and systematic violations of the human rights of tens
of thousands of Salvadorans at the hands of the State. The
judicial branch, whose president is now brimming with promises,
has never taken seriously the violations that the Commission must
now investigate. The Attorney General's Office has also never
taken responsibility. The Legislative Assembly never paid any
attention to the problem. The U.S. government and its embassy
refused to acknowledge the most crying outrages and downplayed
others.
     The victims were discredited and their families were
humiliated in government propaganda, by government offices and by
Washington. Instead of defending the victims, they took the side
of those who violated human rights. Instead of guaranteeing
individual life and safety, they promoted death and terror. The
ends of the State were perversely and consciously distorted.
     A Truth Commission, such as the one which recently began
work, has been a necessity because the Salvadoran State turned
against its own citizens, refused to make reparations for the
harm caused them, and has even refused to acknowledge them. The
existence of the Truth Commission, on the other hand,
demonstrates that the official lie is now discredited, and that
its makers and propagators, as well as the deeds they concealed
and the persons they protected, must be exposed before the
public. Consequently, the Truth Commission must formally
establish the existence of the illegal summary executions, the
most relevant aspect of the war in terms of human rights
violations; forcible disappearances and torture to which
detainees were subjected by the army and security forces. The
Commission must also review the judicial proceedings conducted in
the cases of those imprisoned on political charges.
     In the Jesuit case, the Truth Commission must establish, in
accordance with the documentation presented, that there were
higher-ups who planned and gave the order to kill them, persons
whom the State has refused to investigate or even acknowledge,
and that the Armed Forces is perfectly capable of investigating
the case thoroughly and that, in not doing so, its highest
echelons must be considered responsible for the massacre and for
obstructing justice.
     Given how past governments actively collaborated in drawing
up, disseminating and defending the official lie, it is hard to
believe that the current government will make any attempt to
cooperate with the Truth Commission in investigating the crimes
and human rights violations of the previous decade. Its promises
of cooperation are more for public relations purposes than
expressions of political will. Therefore, unless additional
sources of information emerge, the Truth Commission will be
limited to formally recording what occurred. The mandate of the
Commission goes farther than that, however, given that it is
charged with investigating; but without cooperation from the
State or from the United States, it is practically impossible to
investigate more than what some non-governmental human rights
organizations have already done.
     The work of the Truth Commission actually appears to be more
modest than was expected, but that does not make it any less
important. Simply creating a formal register of the tens of
thousands of violations and crimes is of the utmost importance
for this country, because it will unmask the lie that has
prevailed until now. The decomposition of the Salvadoran State
will thereby be formally established.
     Given that the Truth Commission cannot expect cooperation
from the government and the army, it will resort to what it calls
an "open-door policy," in other words, anyone who has been a
victim of or witness to a human rights violation will have access
to the Commission to present his or her case. The Commission's
members have expressed their wish to listen attentively to all
witness who appear to register their claims, something that no
government here has ever wanted to do. Proof of this open-door
policy is the presence of Commission members not only in the
capital, but also in Perquin, one of the most hard-hit areas
during the war.
     For the Truth Commission, circumstantial or indicative
evidence will be sufficient, given that the State, which ought to
provide the necessary evidence, has never done so before nor is
it disposed to do so now, despite its promises of cooperation.
     Besides pointing out the institutional faults of the State
in its report, the Truth Commsion ought also to establish civil
responsibility in cases of human rights violations, since the
government has the obligating of providing reparations. Although
El Salvador does not possess sufficient funds to take on this
enormous responsibility, it could profit by providing a series of
benefits to surviving victims or their families.
     In order for the Truth Commission to fulfill its mandate, as
well as the expectations of the Salvadoran people, the latter
must cooperate by presenting their cases. In El Salvador, truth
requires an effort on the part of society.
 

** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 108.0 **/
** Topic: Proceso 524: News Briefs **
** Written  9:45 pm  Jul 26, 1992 by cidai@huracan.cr in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
From: cidai@huracan.cr (Centro de Informacion Documentacion y Apoyo a la Invest. - UCAJSC)
Subject: Proceso 524: News Briefs

Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI)
Central American University (UCA)
San Salvador, El Salvador
 
PROCESO 524
July 22, 1992
 
NEWS BRIEFS:
 
LAND MINES:  UNICEF, ONUSAL, the FMLN and the Armed Forces came
together to announce a new campaign to prevent accidents due to
land mines and other explosives which were set by both the Armed
Forces and the FMLN. The first phase of the campaign will consist
of identifying and demarcating mined areas which, according to
Col. Ian MacNabb, of the ONUSAL military division, total
approximately 400 square kilometers, mostly in the departments of
Usulutan, San Salvador, Chalatenango, San Vicente and Morazan.
Information about mined areas and the types of explosives used
will be sent to the Inter-American Defense Council, which is
currently sweeping for mines in Nicaragua and will then proceed
to do the same in El Salvador.
 
SUPPORT:  On July 20, the government reported that it had set
aside some 750 million colones ($91 million) to help demobilized
combatants of the Armed Forces and FMLN rejoin civilian life. The
National Communications Secretariat said that the program
included documentation of FMLN ex-combatants, as well as
agricultural tools for those who will live in rural areas and a
set of household items for urban dwellers. There will also be
support for the purchase of land and housing, technical
assistance and loans, direct training or scholarships, which
include university studies and rehabilitation of those with
physical disabilities. The program will directly assist a total
of 47,000 former soldiers and combatants, with a total of 250,000
indirect beneficiaries.
 
OBSERVATIONS:  On July 18, the full Legislative Assembly heard
observations made by the executive branch regarding the bill to
create the National Civilian Police (PNC). President Cristiani
expressed his objections to Article 7, which establishes in
section E that the PNC's Director General could draw up the
regulations which the law contemplates and send them to the
president, following discussions with the PNC's Advisory Council.
Cristiani remarked that the PNC is a hierarchical entity under
the direction of the President of the Republic, who will exercise
that function via the Ministry of the Interior and the Vice-
Minister of Public Security. Within this established order, there
is no PNC Advisory Board, and therefore the president requested
it be eliminated.
 
REDUCTION:  On July 17, the Salvadoran Armed Forces began
dismantling one of its elite battalions, the Bracamonte, with the
presentation of its inventory of weapons and troops. The
battalion will be dissolved in mid-August, but its troops will be
either transferred within the military or discharged, following
an evaluation of each one.
 
ANNUAL REPORT:  In the annual report of the Ministry of the
Economy, Minister Arturo Zablah told members of the Legislative
Assembly that the results of the government's economic policies
in 1991 were a 3.5% increase in the Gross National Product, a 14%
increase in exports and a drop in the rate of inflation to 6.7%
for May of this year. According to the report, the economy has
become stabilized despite the effects of the war, the drastic
drop in world coffee prices, and two successive droughts.
 
REFORMS:  In presenting the annual report of the Ministry of the
Treasury, Minister Edwin Sagrera mentioned the need to update the
relevant laws in order to facilitate the ministry's work. With
regard to the Value-Added Tax, he termed the measure more
technically advanced than the Stamp Tax, claiming it would
correct the failings of the latter by eliminating the trickle-
down effect [of adding 5% to every product and service along each
step in the production/distribution process]. He added that it
was necessary to impose a rate of 12%, since a lower rate would
make it harder for the goverment to finance social programs and
institutions created under the peace accords. Sagrera further
stated that there has been a slight increase in the level of
public debt, both domestic and foreign, which is due to the loans
extended by international lending agencies. He added that this
reflects a positive change in the attitude of these agencies
towards El Salvador.
 
LAND:  During the month of July, a number of farmers have spoken
out against new land takeovers, which they claim have stepped up
over recent weeks. The two morning dailies wrote on July 22 that
the majority of these alleged takeovers were in the eastern part
of the country, especially in Chinameca (San Miguel) and in
Jucuapa, Berlin and Alegria (Usulutan). The plaintiffs accused
"organizations tied to the FMLN," adding that the takeover had
been violent. According to El Diario de Hoy, the farmers are not
receiving protection from the security forces, and therefore
"those who work the invaded lands have had to arm themselves with
machetes" in order to defend the properties themselves.
 
SITINPEP:  Leaders of the Union of Employees of the National
Public Employee Pension Institute (SITINPEP) said on July 15 that
there have still been no direct negotiations with the president
of that institution, Ricardo Alvarenga Valdivieso. The trade
unionists accuse him of arrogance and are demanding his removal,
as well as the removal of other top INPEP officials.
 
CONSENSUS FORUM:  Dr. Abelardo Torres, who was once a member of
the government's negotiating commission during the peace talks,
and is currently legal counsel for a number of private
businesses, wrote recently that ANEP should join the Forum for
Economic and Social Consensus-Building, since that would help
business disseminate and defend its views regarding economic
recovery. He added that ANEP's refusal to join the Forum until
certain conditions have been met is a strategic position, but
must not remain static. Torres also said that there is no danger
that decisions could be taken in the Forum which could damage
business interests, since everything is decided by consensus
(Prensa Grafica, 7/19).
 
DEMANDS:  The Union of Construction Workers (SUTC) complained on
July 21 that the building firm ARCO Ingenieros has refused to pay
its workers overtime, and denies their right to 10% annual
vacation pay as well as a year-end bonus. The trade unionists
also accuse ARCO of docking pay for June 24 and 25 when the union
went on strike. Construction industry workers belonging to SUTC
and SOICSCES have been on strike since July 6.
 
COST OF LIVING:  According to a NOTIMEX cable dated July 20,
during the first half of this year, the prices of basic products
rose steadily throughout Central America. Costa Rica was hardest
hit by the increase, with an accumulated level of inflation of
12.03% in June, especially for electricity, water, rent and meat.
In Panama, the country with the lowest inflation rate, the
Consumer Price Index reached 1.845 in May, which worsened the
situation of the one-half of all Panamanians who are considered
poor or extremely poor. In El Salvador, inflation rose 1.2% in
June and 11.3% over the past 12 months, on top of a high 30% rate
of unemployment. Honduras, a country with serious problems in
terms of income distribution, registered a 3% increase in the
cost of living during June. Nicaragua, despite managing to reduce
inflation over the past year, has yet to recover from the
hyperinflation of the year before, as well as a tight salary
policy which has caused real income to plummet; the minimum wage
no longer covers the "basic needs basket" [canasta basica].
Guatemala had the worst record of all, given that 74% of its
people cannot acquire the "basic needs basket," which is
calculated at $133 per month, compared with the minimum wage of
$69.60.
 

** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 109.0 **/
** Topic: Proceso 524: Labor **
** Written  9:45 pm  Jul 26, 1992 by cidai@huracan.cr in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
From: cidai@huracan.cr (Centro de Informacion Documentacion y Apoyo a la Invest. - UCAJSC)
Subject: Proceso 524: Labor

Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI)
Central American University (UCA)
San Salvador, El Salvador
 
PROCESO 524
July 22, 1992
 
LABOR:
The Forum for Consensus-Building following the national work
stoppage
 
     Following the national work stoppage of July 13 and 14, a
number of public statements of optimism were made with regard to
the Forum for Economic and Social Consensus-Building. The
National Union of Workers and Peasants (UNOC), for example,
declared that President Cristiani had agreed to "get big business
to the Forum by the second week in August."
     Nevertheless, the National Association of Private Enterprise
(ANEP) once again rejected the idea of joining the Forum.
According to its Executive Director, Hector Vidal, "just as we
were getting closer, things began to occur like the Intergremial
strike, which place us farther apart again." ANEP President
Camilo Bolanos added, "No pressure tactics at this time will make
us give in" (El Mundo, 7/16).
     Later on, Vidal expressed regret that the Labor Ministry had
announced that ANEP would join the Forum next month. According to
Vidal, this decision can only be made by ANEP. At the same time,
he acknowledged that the causes for their previous refusal to
join the Forum "have diminished," and announced that ANEP would
soon hold another general assembly in order to evaluate its
position (El Mundo, 7/20).
     On Thursday, July 16, a number of private citizens sent the
Legislative Assembly a petition to institute judicial proceedings
against Christian Democratic deputies (and labor leaders) Amanda
Villatoro and Felix Blanco, who supported the national work
stoppage, thereby "instigating civil disobedience." The petition
received the support of the ARENA bench in the Legislative
Assembly. The curious part of the incident is that the petition
only names two of the trade union members who currently occupy
Assembly seats.
     Amanda Villatoro declared that the action was clear evidence
that the general work stoppage had been a success. She recalled
that the first to violate the law in this regard were the ARENA
deputies who supported the business strike during the Duarte
administration (El Mundo, 7/17).
     While the government continues to refuse to negotiate with
the popular movement, a number of latent labor conflicts are
coming to the fore. For example, municipal workers in a number of
townships could go on strike in the near future, according to
statements made by a leader of the National Association of
Municipal Workers (ANTRAM) on July 18. According to the
statement, workers in at least 50 townships could support a
strike unless they receive pay hikes. On July 17, a work stoppage
at the Santa Tecla city hall ended after a week; the demands once
again revolved around wage issues.
     Another conflict which continues to simmer is the problem
between ANDES teachers and the Ministry of Education. ANDES
recently filed suit against the Minister with the Court of the
Teaching Profession, accusing her of having violated the law.
According to the teachers, the Minister cannot make the decision
alone to dock strikers' pay, as in fact occurred. They claimed
that all sanctions must have the support of the Court of the
Teaching Profession, which was not consulted in this case (Diario
Latino, 7/16).
     ANDES further holds that the Minister has systematically
refused to negotiate with its members, arguing that not even a
negotiating agenda has been discussed. The teachers claim that
they were not received as agreed last July 20, when the Minister
claimed reasons of health. On this basis, they once again
threatened to go on strike in the near future (Diario Latino,
7/21).
     The Minister replied that, in fact, there had been no
meetings on the agreed-upon dates. According to her, ANDES had
been busy supporting the Intergremial strike on the 13th, and on
the 20th she had indeed been suffering from medical problems, but
that she was perfectly willing to continue to negotiate
improvements in the educational system (Diario Latino, 7/21).
     The attitude adopted by ANDES in threatening to go on strike
again is somewhat surprising, especially if we recall that the
last strike was long and essentially fruitless. The effectiveness
of another such strike could have is somewhat doubtful.
     Today's situation requires concerted action to respond
positively and to produce benefits for the majority. This means
that appropriate strategies of struggle must be adopted. But it
also means that those sectors who are interested in national
reconstruction must marginalize, for once and for all, their
members who are still obsessed and bound by outworn ideological
postures. National reconstruction also requires that the
democratic sectors of private enterprise be in a position to take
this historical step.
 

** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 110.0 **/
** Topic: Proceso 524: Economy **
** Written  9:45 pm  Jul 26, 1992 by cidai@huracan.cr in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
From: cidai@huracan.cr (Centro de Informacion Documentacion y Apoyo a la Invest. - UCAJSC)
Subject: Proceso 524: Economy

Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI)
Central American University (UCA)
San Salvador, El Salvador
 
PROCESO 524
July 22, 1992
 
ECONOMY:
A questionable annual report
 
     The Ministry of Planning (MIPLAN) recently read its annual
report for 1991-92 before the Legislative Assembly. The Vice-
Minister, who read the report, asserted that the economic and
social gains of the current government have been "satisfactory."
However, the rising poverty and persistence of factors which
disturb economic stability raise doubts about the official
version.
     Economic stabilization -understood as the reduction of the
trade and budget deficits, as well as reduced inflation- have
only been partially achieved. Inflation is the only destabilizing
factor which appears to have been corrected, since the trade and
budget gaps have continued to widen.
     The counterweight to the modest gains of ARENA's economic
policies has been a more unequal distribution of income and
increased poverty. We have made these comments before, yet we do
not cease to be surprised at the government's persistent
trumpeting of its economic policies without acknowledging its
weaknesses, and without having yet defined appropriate policies
capable of responding seriously to the problem of macroeconomic
imbalances and poverty.
 
The foreign sector and stabilization
 
     The rate of inflation has dropped considerably over the past
three years, reaching 9.8% for 1991. Yet this achievement has
been the product of postponing the devaluation of the national
currency, a necessary step toward rectifying the imbalances in
the foreign sector.
     The balance of payments situation has improved over the last
several years, and this has produced an increase in net foreign
reserves. This has been fundamentally due to family remittances
and foreign aid, mostly in the form of loans. The abundance of
foreign reserves has thus allowed devaluation to be postponed,
and this has given the government greater room for maneuvering in
the task of reducing inflation.
     The failure to devaluate the national currency means that
the trade deficit cannot be reduced; this is the price of
reducing the rate of inflation. Correcting the trade deficit can
be postponed as long as the abundance of foreign reserves
continues, but depending on such a variable factor could, in the
medium term, be damaging to production, employment and living
conditions.
     A reduction in the inflow of foreign exchange could force
the government to devaluate the national currency, which would
accelerate inflation and thus ruin any gains made to date. We
recently stated that the country must capitalize on its
advantageous foreign reserves situation by correcting the foreign
sector imbalance, not through devaluation, but rather through a
selective industrial policy which would allow the country to
expand exports in order to reduce the trade deficit (Proceso
518). So far the government has shown passivity toward the
problem of opening up trade and promoting exports.
     With regard to the budget deficit, the current government
has allowed it to increase in comparison with the previous
administration. This is even more alarming if we recall that
several measures have already been taken to modernize the tax
system, which only lacks the ratification of the Value-Added Tax.
This law, which is still under discussion, hopes to finance the
budget deficit, which currently stands at almost $50 million.
     Correcting the budget deficit must be done by increasing
revenues instead of cutting expenditures, since a greater State
role in programs to fight poverty is a pressing need.
 
Social "gains"
 
     The government's social policies have been less generous
than official reports would have us believe. Income distribution
has worsened with regard to the poorest of the poor, and poverty
has spread. We should not be too surprised, however, since from
the very start, government social policies have shown themselves
to be far too modest to mitigate the effects of its economic
policies, and even less effective in combating the problem of
poverty.
     According to MIPLAN figures, the poorest 20% of the
population shared a slightly smaller proportion of total national
income in 1991 than in 1989 (6.41% compared to 6.58%). In
contrast, the richest 10% of Salvadorans increased their share of
total national income from 27.09% to 28.06% during the same
period.
     According to the same source, poverty grew between 1989 and
1991. Extreme poverty characterized 23.3% of all households in
1989, and 30% in 1991; the number of households living in
relative poverty increased from 32% to 34.1% during the same
period. This means that total poverty (absolute poverty +
relative poverty) increased from 55.3% in 1989 to 64.1% in 1991.
     In social matters, therefore, the government does not have
much to brag about. One of the chief goals of the government is
to reduce poverty, yet this has only increased under the ARENA
administration.
     There is an urgent need for economic and social policies
which stop ignoring the above problems: correcting the failings
of economic stabilization, modernizing the productive apparatus
and promoting social development.
     In the first place, the situation of the public sector and
the foreign sector require at least two measures: 1) the tax
structure must be revised in order to pass laws which in fact
increase fiscal revenues without affecting the income of the
poor; 2) the productive apparatus must begin to undergo a process
of modernization in order to expand exports, which will help
close the trade gap.
     In the second place, the State must undertake broader social
programs if it wants to begin to win the war on poverty. It is
vital to begin increasing fiscal revenues, since that will permit
the execution of social compensation programs and programs to
invest in the poorest sectors.
     Although the government's economic and social achievements
to date are not entirely negative, they can certainly not be
termed "satisfactory," as MIPLAN asserted. In reality, the
government's Development Plan has failed in its great goal of
reducing poverty, nor has it even been able to secure self-
sustaining economic stability.
 

** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **

/** reg.elsalvador: 111.0 **/
** Topic: Proceso 524: Human Rights **
** Written  9:45 pm  Jul 26, 1992 by cidai@huracan.cr in cdp:reg.elsalvador **
From: cidai@huracan.cr (Centro de Informacion Documentacion y Apoyo a la Invest. - UCAJSC)
Subject: Proceso 524: Human Rights

Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI)
Central American University (UCA)
San Salvador, El Salvador
 
PROCESO 524
July 22, 1992
 
IDHUCA REPORT:
Democratization and human rights
 
     At the end of his book "Philosophy of Historical Reality,"
Ignacio Ellacuria stated the following: "The truth of reality is
not what has been done; that is only part of reality. If we do
not turn to what is being done, and what is yet to be done, we
cannot grasp the truth of reality." At the present moment, as we
find ourselves overwhelmed by the search for the truth, we must
insist that all Salvadorans committed to national reality take
this reflection seriously. The time is right, and wasting the
moment, regardless of the reason, could mean mortgaging the
future of El Salvador.
     El Salvador's recent past is only part of national reality.
We would fall into the error of partiality if, in an attempt to
expose the truth, we only looked toward the past. It would be
equally dangerous to pretend to "forget" just like that, and only
turn our gaze to the future, wasting a chance to examine a past
which, in some form or another, has had an impact on us all.
Without taking either extreme, which would prevent us from
"grasping reality," we must locate ourselves in the present
moment, and with an attitude of active concern in the context of
a reality which is enormously dynamic.
     That having been said, we must take issue with the highly
unsatisfactory nature of certain remarks made by the Minister of
Defense, Gen. Rene Emilio Ponce, during his annual report read
before the Legislative Assembly on July 14. His expression of the
need for "public recognition" and "eternal gratitude" toward the
Armed Forces call into question Ponce's possible contribution to
the current period of transition to democracy.
     In his determination to stand on the past, from which the
military did not emerge with entirely clean hands, Gen. Ponce
recalled that each Defense Minister since 1980 has agreed to read
their reports before the Legislative Assembly. According to
Ponce, these reports have revealed "the enormous sacrifice of the
Armed Forces in terms of human lives and material and financial
resources. [The Armed Forces] has constituted the only bulwark
against Marxist-Leninist aggression which, with enormous foreign
support, had the goal of taking political power through force of
arms." These short lines undoubtedly provide interesting grounds
to conclude that, unfortunately, Gen. Ponce remains bound by a
language belonging to a situation to which the majority of
Salvadorans do not wish to return.
     No one can dispute the victims of the Armed Forces lost to
the war. A total of more than 8,000 soldiers killed in action is
nothing to sniff at. On the contrary, and even more so if we
consider that the majority of those victims were the same as the
campesinos, the poor Salvadorans, who fought in the insurgent
forces and who were also killed in action. But what concerns us
is that, at a time like this, there is not the slightest
expression of remorse or a change in attitude regarding the more
than 70,000 individuals cut down by members of the military, the
security forces, and those "death squads" which were coordinated,
supported, or at least tolerated by the military authorities.
Since the beginning of the 1980s, when Ponce was second in
command of the now-dissolved Treasury Police, this situation was
confirmed by the Organization of American States (OAS). Concerned
about the countless and alarming extrajudicial executions, the
Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH) of the OAS
maintained that, in the majority of instances, the killings "were
committed by the security forces which act with impunity, outside
the law, as well as by paramilitary forces which act with the
acquiescence or tacit consent of the governments" (CIDH Annual
Report, 1981). Over ten years have passed. Ponce, now a general,
served in that sinister force to which countless human rights
violations have been attributed, and attained the post of Defense
Minister in the current cabinet. Nevertheless, the accusing
finger of the CIDH continues to point at the same mark.
     It is also significant to note that the Defense Minister
blithely simplifies the causes which gave rise to the war. To be
precise, for the past 12 years the Salvadoran people have been
engulfed in a war whose root causes lie in the living conditions
of the majority of our compatriots. This situation of objective
social conflict continues to prevail, and we therefore find it
peculiar that, with an apparently distorted vision, the Armed
Forces continues to display attitudes which lead it to baptize a
peactime operation with the suggestive, but dangerously
provocative, name of "Conquerors I" [Vencedores I]. In the
context of this immoderately triumphalist attitude, and in
contrast with the spirit of the peace accords, the military
speaks of neutralizing, "in all its modalities," the "war effort
of the subversion." In other words, they are talking about the
defeat of the insurgency.
     The factors mentioned by Ponce in his speech before the
Assembly are not sufficient to explain the outbreak of armed
violence anywhere. The total truth of our national reality, in
its extreme dynamics, can be arrived at by immersing oneself
decisively in the present, with the goal of transforming it,
beginning with the recovery of the past the moving toward
projecting the future. Seeking the truth of reality requires both
a retrospective view of the past and a projective view of the
future.
     The present moment is characterized by the rapid and
decisive implementation of the peace accords. The speed at which
this is taking place must not become an impossible obstacle which
prevents a sedate view of reality. It is the duty of all to make
a constructive contribution to the consolidation of a society
based upon respect for one another. Some say that the search for
the truth in El Salvador is a collective task. In this context,
individual or institutional reflection becomes a simple
contribution toward collective reflection on the part of the
national community. It is not necessary for all opinions to
converge, nor should they all diverge. But, above all, the
opinions expressed must do honor to reality. And even more, they
must be committed to the truth.
     The search for the truth in a murky past, as a way to
project the future, is not a path filled with clairvoyants, and
setting off on that path must not be the result of an order given
by military organizations of any stripe. The truth is something
that one finds latent in reality. The search for the truth is
filled with false leads, and finding it is a discovery. It is
found through small steps, through stubborn, successive and
repeated efforts. In El Salvador today there is a process
unfolding which aims to give us the tools for democratic
coexistence. There is no room for confrontational discourse or
conquering attitudes which subject the conquered and demand
recognition. We must learn to be humble and to understand -by
looking backward- that El Salvador has been suffering a crisis of
the State over the last decade.
     Since 1789, Article 16 of the French "Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizens" bluntly decreed that "all society in
which there is no assurance for the guarantee of rights, nor is
the separation of powers defined, lacks a constitution." This
phrase should be engraved on the portico of all republics. It
means that a society which does not guarantee the human rights of
its people and where state powers do not enjoy due independence
in their actions, does not have any organization of the State,
even if there is a formal constitution drawn up to that end. In
such a case, the republic as a form of State is truly in crisis,
even if constitutional legality remains on paper. In order to
guarantee these fundamental rights, as stated in Article 2 of the
1776 Declaration of Independence of the United States, "[m]en
institute governments which derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed; whenever a form of government tends to
destroy those ends, the people have the right to reform or
abolish it, to institute a new government founded on said
principles, and to organize its powers in such a way that, in
their opinion, better guarantees their security and happiness."
The validity of both texts, the French and the American, is
undeniable for our national reality, at least during the last 12
years.
     The document signed in Geneva on April 4, 1990, by the
Salvadoran government and the FMLN, constitutes the commitment
which prefaces the Salvadoran peace accords. Bringing the
conflict to a rapid close included: "promoting the
democratization of the nation, guaranteeing unrestricted respect
for human rights, and reuniting Salvadoran society." There is no
more extremely respectful, and at the same time decidedly
radical, way to diagnose the crisis which the State was
undergoing at the time.
     If there was a need to reunite Salvadoran society, it was
because it had fallen apart, because it was torn in two by
polarized conflicts. The State did not constitute the backbone of
society. It was a decadent State, against which the insurgency
represented an alternative for change, and attempted to structure
society from another perspective. The insurgency was, therefore,
an attempt at a State, an emerging State. For this reason,
reuniting Salvadoran society meant proposing to overcome a
bipolar situation between a decadent State and an emerging State.
     If there was a need to "promote the democratization of the
nation," it was because there was no democracy, or at least
because society was not sufficiently democratized. Finally, if
there was a need to "guarantee unrestricted respect for human
rights," it was because those rights had been and were being
systematically violated. In that context, impunity -the mainstay
of the violations- was proof of the magnitude of the
decomposition of the State, of the seriousness of its crisis.
     Effective guarantees for the respect for human rights are
only possible in a true democracy, not a contrived one. True
democracy is impossible without an effective -not fictitious or
apparent- separation of powers. An effective separation of powers
cannot occur anywhere but in an authentic republic, not a
presumed one. Without this, there is no republic, no democracy,
no respect for human dignity. There is only a crisis of the State
or a State in a critical condition.
     So it is from this acute crisis of the State that we
Salvadorans hope to emerge in an entirely innovative fashion. The
fact that two warring sides have agreed upon a process of
transition which assumes the task of solving the crisis of the
State, the fundamental cause of the armed conflict, under the
auspices, and with the mediation, of the United Nations,
constitutes a true political innovation and a world first. This
goal must be achieved, and we currently find ourselves immersed
in the attempt to do so, as part of an historical phase which
will be impossible to repeat. This is not the time for
belligerent speeches or threats. This is the time for an
objective and serious analysis of the past, in order to discover
the errors that were committed, in order to design a society in
which the full respect for the human rights of all Salvadorans
prevails as a fundamental condition. That is the utopia for which
tends of thousands of Salvadorans, mostly campesinos, shed their
blood during all those years.
 

** End of text from cdp:reg.elsalvador **