Mayo 16, 2007 El Salvador, a plundered country The logic of plundering is a perverse logic. For many years, the Salvadoran economic elites (along with several politicians that emulate the elites’ actions) managed to take advantage of every opportunity they had to become wealthier. This was not about working, investing or saving, but about taking advantage of the State –a State “captured” since 1989 by the right wing sector represented by ARENA- in order obtain money from whatever source they could. Legality, institutions, the environment, security, the citizens’ welfare… Everything had to work for these insane objectives in order to accumulate any amount of goods or money for the business sector, a sector that finally became the great winner of the postwar period: a group of bankers and financial executives. Their game began with the fortunes that left the country in the late seventies. Back then, a severe sociopolitical crisis shook the country, and there was the possibility of a drastic transformation in the economic and the political sectors. The private property –which the oligarchy of the 19th Century turned into a cult item- was being questioned by an ascending social movement and by an active and an efficient urban guerrilla. The administration of the General Humberto Romero, in spite of his repressive manners, was unable to control the actions of the organized popular movement. Inside the most powerful business circles, as always, first things were first. Therefore, its members had to save their assets because they were afraid that El Salvador could go through what Nicaragua had gone through after the victory of the Sandinistas in July of 1979. Right at this point the bankers began to show us their skills. They decided to take their money out of the country, and they had to change their Colones (the former national currency of El Salvador) into Dollars at an exchange rate of $2.50 Colones per dollar). In October of 1979, the fears of the bankers are confirmed –even if some of them are already feeling relieved- when a Revolutionary Governmental Board replaces Humberto Romero and establishes on October 15th the nationalization of the banking system and the external trade (along with the agrarian reform). This happens just when the banking system was about to become one of the sectors that would lead the way for the economic redefinition of the oligarchy that exported agricultural goods. The nationalized banking system was broke simply because the money was gone. The ideological discourse of the right wing has always insisted on blaming the State’s administration for the weakness of the nationalized financial system, and some people have forgotten about all the money that was taken out of the country. The governmental boards to follow, the provisional government of Alvaro Magaña, and the constitutional government of Napoleon Duarte would deal, hopelessly, with a banking system that had nothing. Ten years later, with the electoral victory of Alfredo Cristiani in 1989, there is a draft of an opportunity in the horizon for the bankers that took their money out of the country in the last decade. Cristinani privatizes once again the banking system, and this meant that the nationalized banks would belong again –with the previous measures to clean up the system and with the State taking over the debts- to their former owners or to anyone with enough money willing to take a portion of the cake. Those who have their money abroad, start to bring it back to the country. This is not a bad decision, because the currency exchange rate at this point was between 7.50 and 8.00 Colones per Dollar. In practical terms, their fortunes became three times larger than they were before. This is perhaps one of the key factors of the expansion of the Salvadoran financial system in the postwar period. A considerable amount of that mass of money was put into circulation through credit cards; the investments on shopping malls and the construction sector, insurance companies, and tourism, were made first in El Salvador and later in the rest of Central America. The profits were growing and the financial sector grew as well not only because of its capacity to devour the other sectors of the economy, but also to open the doors to either legal or illicit fortunes that were coming in from abroad. In addition to all this, another opportunity flashed before their eyes, this time with the abundant flow of remittances in dollars that began to feed the economy of the postwar. Dollars and dollars kept coming in –and they still are- and the bankers had in their power, as an accumulated fortune, many colones they thought it would be a good idea to “get rid” of by exchanging them for a strong currency, that is, dollars. No one has to be that subtle to realize that this is one of the ways to explain that this was how the new presidential administration thought about turning dollars into the national currency. The Calderon Sol administration (1994-1999) and his brand new team of economic advisors –including Manuel Hinds as the leading member of this team- planned dollarization ten years after the Cristiani administration. It was the Flores administration (1999-2004) the one that would turn dollarization into a reality for the financial system back in 2001. To dollarize the Salvadoran economy meant many things, and there are different explanations for it. However, something that cannot be forgotten is that the accumulated fortunes in colones inside the financial system throughout the nineties were turned into dollars. Although no one knows exactly how much money the heads of the financial system paid for the dollars they were getting in exchange for those colones, it would be impossible to think that they might have been willing to give eight or nine colones for each dollar just like they did 12 years before this, back when they accomplished this operation the other way around. They intended to exchange their colones and get dollars with smaller exchange rates in order to get as much profit as they could. And the government of Flores helped them to get away with it. In other words, they plundered the country one more time. And now they have found a new way to keep plundering the country: this time by selling the banks. Ironically during the time of the civil war they would just scream with their alleged patriotism for the sake of the national banking system.
Mr. President knows no boundaries With his desire to always play a starring role, once again President Antonio Saca has shown how much he disrespects the Salvadoran population, the Constitution, and the duties the has to fulfill. Just a few weeks away from the third year of his administration, Saca has undermined again the fragile institutional democracy implemented in the country after the Peace Accords were signed. Just like the electronic newspaper El Faro reported, during the commemoration of the Day of the Salvadoran Soldier, on May 7th, Saca used his intervention in this celebration as an electoral platform. During the event, he raved about the role of the Armed Forces during the civil war as he criticized the FMLN speaking about how problematic it would be for the Salvadoran society to see the FMLN arrive to the Executive power during the next presidential elections. The president conveniently forgot that his public position demands that he does not get involved in any sort of propaganda in favor of his political party. He also seemed to forget that since 1992, the Armed Forces are destined to serve the national interests, and not to work for one sector in particular, especially not for a specific political party. This might be a slight detail but it is an important factor, because it became a reality after the reform applied to these bodies and after redefining some of its duties inside the national life. In this sense, Saca seems to ignore the limits between what is allowed and what is not, or perhaps it is difficult for him to establish the difference between his presidential role –and his duties- and his role inside the political party he belongs to. Many have insisted on pointing at the violations committed by Saca every time that he takes advantage of his position as the president of the country to promote the actions of his party, improve the image of the less visible members of his team, and verbally attack the political opposition from an irrational perspective, a perspective that lacks common sense. In spite of the opinions of other political parties and lawyers with experience in the constitutional matters, Saca keeps using the presidency of the country in favor of ARENA. For the right wing, the line that divides the official party from the State does not seem to exist, for many years it has administrated the country taking advantage of the resources of the State, it has used public positions as propaganda instruments and as a platform for a political criticism. The Salvadoran population has to demand from the public officials that they actually work according to the State of Rights. It is unacceptable to see the president transgress the law by taking advantage of his position to wok on his party’s campaign without anyone doing much to stop him. An arrogant attitude The president is not only violating the law, but he also has an arrogant attitude about it when it comes to face criticism. The attitude of the president contradicts his spirit of negotiation –he as presented himself as a man willing to negotiate during his presidential campaign and he is doing the same now when it comes to advertise his governmental programs-, since he ignores the criticism and he seems convinced that he is not violating any laws. It seems that Saca believes that in spite of his questionable performance as president of the country, his party will have an influence on the decisions of the voters. Even if ARENA counts with the support of a considerable number of territories, and its massive campaigns are one of the strong main reasons that might explain the party’s presidential victories, the questionable actions of the Saca administration should become an evident reason for the voters to reconsider their electoral decisions. On the other hand, the president has left behind his sense of prudence in his appreciations and he has used his recalcitrant ideological perspective to discredit the actions of the opposition. In this case, the president should remember that he administrates the country for all the citizens, regardless of their political affiliation, and that therefore his ideological comments are unnecessary. His statements are already a part of his party’s new political campaign, and this goes against the Constitution. The president has to work designing and implementing public policies, and not get involved in the propaganda of his party. However, he is suggesting who to vote for, and he is recommending what to do to other political institutions and to the people. Saca is advising the possible candidates on what to do with their lives and their careers. The president is demanding an open statement from the FMLN and Mauricio Funes in order to know if he will actually become a presidential candidate. Even if the president, in his role as a citizen has the right to express himself and speak his mind, he cannot get involved, because of the importance of his public position, in the lives of other political parties. Instead of displaying such attitude he should be concerned about the country and work on true effective and fair measures aimed to the citizenry. However, in all these years, Saca has worked more on his communication skills than on his presidential duties. His political intolerance seems to be more important than his will to truly negotiate among his colleagues; his authoritarian and primitive attitude seems more important than his democratic vocation; his servile behavior towards the most powerful sectors seems to be more important than a spirit willing to serve the people. He has been one more instrument to work on the particular interests of a few people, and not really the mediator between the State and the society. The language of the president Words are just a resource of power for Saca, words at the service of certain political interests because his objectives have nothing to do with educational aspects. However, the people do not need this kind of words in the country. In this endless journey in search for democracy we and those who work in politics should use a different language. The media are working in vain with those campaigns aimed to build a new El Salvador, a place where peace should be not just a hope but a reality. Campaigns like this do not work under these circumstances –and this is a sample of the superficial moral standards of the local politicians- an eloquent discourse through the media able to spread the word about the need to change the attitude of the population is nothing if the leaders refuse to make certain transformations in the society, if they use an authoritarian language and a poor argumentative scheme. In this context, this does not seem as a serious attempt to build a pacific society if the maximum leader –the president of the country- is encouraging a sense of fear or if he is disrespecting the different political options, if he disregards the valid opinions about his performance. That is why it would be better if the president does not appear in public just to talk about his passionate opinions with a hint of propaganda. No matter how many statements he makes, it seems that he will never be able to speak with the truth, a truth that only leaders such as Monsignor Romero were able to make their own in the name of justice and human dignity. Other articles featured in this issue of Proceso:
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