From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: El Salvador: PROCESO 529: Celebrating while the people go hungry
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 22:57:16 GMT

/** reg.elsalvador: 166.0 **/
** Topic: Proceso 529: Editorial **
** Written  8:58 am  Sep 14, 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 529: Editorial

Center for Information, Documentation and Research Support (CIDAI)
Central American University (UCA)
San Salvador, El Salvador
 
PROCESO 529
September 9, 1992
 
EDITORIAL:
Celebrating independence while the people go hungry
 
     The ARENA government has inaugurated the celebrations marking
the traditional patriotic month by considerably increasing the
people's share of the tax burden. In effect, on September 1 the
Value-Added Tax (VAT) went into effect, as well as a 30% hike in
electricity rates, increases of up to 50% in public transportation
fares, and higher gasoline and diesel rates.
     The first timid protests by the opposition and grassroots
organizations sparked patriotic calls by the Vice-President, the
president of the Legislative Assembly and the mayor of San
Salvador, urging the people to make sacrifices and resign
themselves to helping the State collect more funds. All in the name
of love for the fatherland.
     These patriotic urgings to sacrifice are entirely cynical,
because not all Salvadorans are sacrificing in equal measure. Those
who say that all of us are tightening our belts are fully aware
that waists come in different sizes, and that the belt is drawing
tighter around those with smaller waists. The burden of the new
taxes falls more directly on the already-impoverished majority. If
it is a matter of patriotism and sacrifice, the new indirect taxes
ought to be offset by an overall tax reform which would force the
rich to pay more; in other words, direct taxes should be raised.
     But President Cristiani has done just the opposite: he has
lowered taxes for those who have more, and has forced the entire
population to pay high taxes to cover the budget deficit. Thus we
all pay, but in fact, since we do not all earn the same, the
increasingly impoverished poor pay more and the increasingly
wealthy pay less. There is no doubt that the small proportion of
those who were already rich before 1989 have become even more
wealthy under ARENA's economic policies.
     If it is a matter of patriotism and sacrifice, the first
drastic cut in public expenditures must be the armed forces, whose
vocation it is to serve the fatherland and make sacrifices for its
welfare. The fatherland and constitutional duty oblige President
Cristiani and his government to combat corruption and correct the
financial situation and the public sector. It's fine to persecute
the corrupt Christian Democrats from the previous government, but
it is much more important to put a stop to current government
corruption and bring those responsible to justice. Before asking
for sacrifices from the Salvadoran people, who are already
overwhelmed by the burden of ever-spreading poverty, the Armed
Forces and the ARENA government ought to provide the example.
     There is nothing patriotic about the Cristiani government's
decision to begin the yearly independence celebrations by imposing
a heavy new tax burden on the Salvadoran people while at the same
time exalting the events of 1821. Those tired old speeches full of
patriotic fervor, to which so many ARENA functionaries and
politicos are partial, will have less meaning this year. In public
plazas they speak of our forefathers and freedom-loving people,
while at the same time governing for the welfare of a minority of
privileged rich. They exalt independence while subjecting El
Salvador to the dictates of multilateral lending agencies. In this
patriotic month, it is ironic to speak of independence when ARENA's
economic policies are at the service of the orders given by the
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and AID.
     The FMLN, on the other hand, must not forget that, according
to the latest UCA/IUDOP survey, the majority of Salvadorans
consider the economy to be the nation's most pressing problem, and
show little hope that it will improve. This means that complying
with the peace accords is not the most important issue for the
Salvadoran people.
     The FMLN has placed excessive emphasis on complying with the
peace accords and overcoming the obstacles in its path. And this is
as it should be, given that the future of peace is at stake. But at
the same time, the FMLN must not lose sight of national reality,
whose tendencies are not intersecting with the problem of the
accords. The new September taxes are one example of this. While the
FMLN places all its efforts on negotiating with the government
around ways to comply with the new peace schedule, the government
is raising taxes in a disproportionate fashion.
     If the FMLN does not consider that the struggle for life on
the part of the immense majority of the people is more important
than its consolidation as a political party, and if it is unable to
debate with the people, in a lucid fashion, about the links between
demilitarizing the country and improving the chances of winning the
struggle for life, the great majority will probably ignore FMLN
pressures to demand full compliance with the accords, and they will
easily feel defrauded by the FMLN's inability to defend their
interests directly.
     The tendency for top leaders to be exclusively involved in the
negotiations and compliance with the accords is leading the FMLN
political leadership dangerously close to forgetting about the most
deeply-felt needs of the Salvadoran people.
     One cannot celebrate the fatherland while impoverishing its
people. One cannot speak of liberty while the majority of the
people are prisoners of poverty. One cannot speak of independence
while the destiny of the country is being handed over to foreign
agencies. In order to celebrate independence properly, we need new
leaders who safeguard the material and spiritual well-being of the
Salvadoran people.
 

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

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