January 24th, 2007
Proceso 1226

The Latin American left wing in El Salvador

In the context of the 15th Anniversary of the Peace Accords, the 13th Encounter of the Sao Paulo Forum took place in El Salvador. This is a very important event because it allows us to think about issues such as: how the Latin American left wing actually sees itself and what can be said about the Latin American left wing from the outside looking in.
            According to the Final Declaration of the Sao Paulo Forum, the Latin American left wing sees itself  as an active left wing favored by a process of “political accumulation” that has no precedents at all, and its most important source of strength is the massive rejection to the neoliberal ideas that prevail in the present world. “The towns keep confronting the problem of the concentration of wealth in the hands of just a few and the massive trend of social exclusion”. They justify the acceptance of the left wing in the continent with its recent electoral triumphs –the reelection of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela; the one of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Brazil; the election of Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua-, and all of these achievements can be added to the successful results obtained in Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. “Along with these new generations of Latin American Governments or with the progressive initiatives that were strengthened by the first time that Chavez was elected back in 1998, we are witnessing the 48th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, after years of struggle and resistance”.
            However, the electoral triumphs are not the ultimate objective they are just a step for what really matters: “the political and the ideological defeat of neoliberalism in our region”. The political left wing projects that manage to win an election must be conscious of that fact, and this means that they have to “behave according to the expectations of the people, strong enough to face the risk of sadly surviving for just a brief period of time after which the neoliberal domination could be reestablished”. The definitive defeat of neoliberalism, is not an unreachable goal; on the contrary, now more than ever this is a realistic objective because “we have now the possibility to set the foundations to finally defeat this paternalistic neoliberalism, and go further to work on the construction of an alternative system”.

            What kind of an alternative is this? How to get there? The final declaration of the forum indicates that there are “the basic premises for the construction of an alternative model, that in more than one place is defined with a socialist perspective, are: the conquest of the national and the regional independence, the political and the social democracy, the regional and the continental integration based on a mutual sense of cooperation, the international relations and the solidarity among the people, the defense and the development of our natural resources and the defense of biodiversity, and the abolishment of any form of discrimination against women and against the native inhabitants of a region”.
In reference to the way of reaching that alternative model, they insist that this requires “an articulated action and a respectful relation among the parties, the movements and the political coalitions of the left wing and the different organizations of popular  and social movements. This will allow us to build political and social alliances, in order to take a step forward in each country and create an important unity able to integrate all of the popular and the democratic sectors affected by the policies of the prevailing models”. The left wing has an optimistic perspective about itself. It sees itself as a successful organization and ready to defeat neoliberalism, ready to become an alternative.
What is the public image that the left wing has? How do people see it from the outside? Is it an optimistic perspective? Is the left wing actually convinced about its strong features? Is it really an alternative model?
The fact that the Forum of Sao Paulo was a very optimistic event does not necessarily mean that the left wing has all it takes to defeat neoliberalism. There is not even a solid neoliberalism in the world, so to speak. What we have are neoliberal experiences that vary from country to country. One thing is an immense political power necessary to overcome some of the most harmful effects of this model, and another thing is to be actually able to replace neoliberalism with an alternative model. Even if all of the Latin American nations have similar characteristics, in the end they are all different from one another. These differences run the risk of getting lost in expressions such as  “the Latin American left wing”, “independence” or “neoliberalism”, among other examples.
What we do have in Latin America is a diversity of left wings, there are different options, and each one of them is connected with is own context, its own economy, its own society, and its own culture. There is not just one left wing. The style of Hugo Chavez is his own, it is not everybody’s style, even if they all wanted to be like that. Not all of the Latin American countries have petroleum in its land. And that’s what has allowed the Chavez administration to promote a project that actually challenges the basic neoliberal formulas.
To become an alternative model different from neoliberalism is a very difficult task. In fact, the premises of the alternative model proposed in the Forum of Sao Paulo, described in their Final Declaration, are nothing but aspirations that the revolutionary nationalism thought about back in the first decades of the 20th Century. There is nothing wrong with finding inspiration in these elements that reflect the Latin American political tradition, the problem is that many of these elements already proved that they cannot be easily implemented. If the intention is to design an alternative model, it is necessary to at least analyze the ideological and the political ideas that will hold it together.

The Latin American left wing attended to the 13th Forum of Sao Paulo in San Salvador, El Salvador, with the intention to examine the present situation of the region and the possibilities to make political transformations.
The objective was to look for a Latin American and a Caribbean integration mechanism in order to free themselves from the intervention of the United States in the area. Those who were present came from many parts of the world, including Europe and Asia, they discussed and exchange ideas in a document they call the Final Declaration. This is an analysis of the social,  the economic and the political situation that Latin America is going through, and they propose several ideas to transform these societies in the near future.
They basically discussed four perspectives: the search for alternative answers to end with neoliberalism, the fight against the intervention of the United States in Latin America, the implication of the hemispheric security measures, and the links between the social movements and the political parties of the left wing.

An evaluation of the Forum

The Forum did not play a very important role in the agenda of the media or in the public opinion of El Salvador. Many sectors of the right wing even discredited the event. However, the Forum did obtain several favorable results.
            In the last 15 years, the Forum of Sao Paulo has become an important space for the debate of the political ideas and for the analysis of the national reality. The left win has somehow managed to show that it has the ability to organize itself and create networks in order to exchange their experiences.
            The left wings seem now more mature and more tolerant than ever before. They have evolved without undermining its values or its ideals. Now they are able to stay away from the dogmatic lines of thought that prevailed in the eighties, and now they rather analyze the political context of the present conditions and possibilities. To acknowledge the diversity of ideological perspectives inside the very different types of left wings is already an accomplishment. That is why even if some sectors insist to talk about just one kind of left wing, no one can deny the existence of different ideologies in the region. This is the political pluralism that allows them to improve the quality of their debates about the development of the left wing in the continent.
            The Forum, however, still has to prove that the proposals discussed during the event are not only speeches. It has to prove how all of these analysis and ideas will become specific actions, viable actions. It is necessary to see if these proposals can become an actual alternative to replace neoliberalism, and that is the main challenge that the left wing has to face. Years of experience are not enough if they lack a clear strategy.
            On the other hand, the integration of the countries of the region requires a permanent discussion of the situation in Latin America, and not only sporadic meetings. It is necessary to permanently analyze the commercial relations of the region, the cooperation efforts, and the security strategies. The unity of the region will only be possible if certain differences are resolved among the countries, especially those who are geographically close to each other, and those countries where the right wing governments have kept weak and tense relations.
            One of the other challenges of the Forum is to give an important role to the population and the civil society’s organizations. Their participation is a key factor for the support of this kind of events. This is the only way to talk about a democratic spirit.

The left wings in El Salvador

The Forum is an opportunity to analyze the situation of Latin America in reference to the development of the proposals presented by the left wing. The common element here is to keep searching for better social conditions for the population with an autonomous nature, free from the intervention of the United States.
            The left wings are different from each other because their contexts vary from country to country, that is why it is necessary to come up with custom made projects. In El Salvador, for instance, no one can reduce the identity of the left wing to the identity of the party they represent. However, the left wing in El Salvador seems to be confined to a set of political terms and to the image of a party without considering the strategic aspect of a left wing.
            It seems that the FMLN considers itself as the only legitimate left wing in the country, as the main opposition. Even if the FMLN has played a key role in the Salvadoran political history, no one can ignore the different social movements and civil organizations that have had a fairer and a more democratic perspective of the situation, and that attitude has turned these movements and organizations into the spokespeople of the transformations that the country needs.
            Even if the FMLN has to continue with its work inside the formal political system, the action of the social movements and other organizations should also play a key role in the search for the necessary transformations.
            The different opinions that live among the society should no be stereotyped as political façades. This diversity is what makes it possible for the left wing to reinvent itself and keep exchanging ideas in order to come up with the adequate proposals. The country needs an environment that allows it to design a realistic national strategy.
            The left wing should be understood as a force that goes beyond the conception of a political party. The role of a political party, in this case, is to support a left wing that includes civilian movements and organizations. The objective should be to play key roles, not starring roles that only interfere with the good relations between those who identify themselves with the left wing.

The implications for the FMLN

In the case of El Salvador, the popularity of the left wing in South America and in Nicaragua favors the enthusiasm and the motivation to look for an electoral victory. However, when it comes to think about a different possibility for the future of the country, good intentions are not enough. What they need to come up with is projects, specific and realistic projects connected with the actual needs of the population and with the possibilities of the regional context.
            The Forum of Sao Paulo should allow the FMLN to think about its own performance as a political institution. In order to do this, the FMLN has to strengthen its internal relations, and show their skills and their capacity to administrate the municipalities: reveal an ethical, a transparent and an efficient administration of the public resources. They have to improve their capacity to negotiate with the rest of the Salvadoran political class.

• The reflections about the 13th Encounter at the Forum of Sao Paulo
• The legacy of 1992 and the challenges for the left wing
• Unfinished agreements
• The military men, the builders of peace?
• The Final Declaration at the 13th Encounter at the Forum of Sao Paulo