Certain specifications about the civic month

The examination of the verdict

To watch for the integrity of the national territory is an obligation of the Salvadoran authorities. It is stated by the Political Constitution, and nobody in his or her right mind imagines that it can be any different. In this sense, the fact that the present government insists on using all the legal resources available (recognized by the International Community) to assert the national interests in the border dispute with Honduras should not raise too many suspicions. In this context, it cannot be considered something extraordinary if the Salvadoran government requests to examine the verdict of La Haya. This is far from an act of heroism, as some journalistic interpretations try to make it seem. In addition, El Salvador has the right to ask for the examination of the La Haya verdict, reached by the International Court of Justice; even the Honduran authorities are aware of that right.

However, it would be wise to pay attention to the way the country’s right-wing circles have discussed the subject, as well as to the speech that circulates among the highest spheres of the government. It is also interesting to focus on the series of news articles about the problems of the Salvadorans who reside at the former “bolsones” (the number of territories geographically located inside Honduras that were once considered to be a part of El Salvador). In this context, a series of considerations and doubts arose about the request to revise the decision of the international court. Not all the arguments about this problem seem to be innocent.

New facts?
The Article 61 of the Status of the International Court of Justice stipulates that “an examination of the verdict can only be requested when the petition is based on the discovery of a fact of such nature that it can be considered as a decisive factor that the court did not know about by the time the verdict was pronounced, if and only if the ignorance of its existence is not the result of a negligent procedure”. The Salvadoran authorities claim they fulfill this requirement. The President, in his message to the nation on Tuesday September 10th, said that he was willing to request an examination of the report made by the International Court of Justice, in defense of the legitimate rights of the country, but without too much conviction about the possible results. For that reason, he requested to avoid false expectations concerning the possibility of recovering the seventy square kilometers of land in dispute. The average news reports show that the government’s strategy will revolve around a map that dates from the colonial time –the rumors are that it is an original map, unlikely the ones presented by Honduras in 1992-, and that it would allow to refute the Honduran thesis about the direction of the Goascorán river.

Nevertheless, what the analysts do not reveal about this “new fact” is the importance that the allegedly adulterated document would have had in the decision of the judges who took part in the verdict, in 1992. Without this information, it will not be easy to predict the possible decision of the court. Also, it is interesting to notice that the Salvadoran authorities did not have high hopes for a positive verdict. At the moment, some questions remain unanswered. It is not clear why the government waited until the last moment to present his request, or why this matter has been handled with such “discretion”. In addition, many observers keep asking themselves if the analysis about the territories that were in dispute has been carefully considered. All these questions make you wonder about the specific objectives that the request had.

Suspicious nationalism
Before the governmental petition took effect, the news media issued a series of feature articles about the request. On the one hand, the situation of the Salvadorans who lived in the Honduran territory has been the main subject of debate. On the other hand, an inappropriate language has been used when they describe the Hondurans as a group of people who are eager to possess a piece of land. It seems as if the verdict of the International Court of 1992 exclusively favored the aspirations of Honduras. However, this is not what happened. Although it is certain that Honduras was the most favored country, there were also several Hondurans left in Salvadoran territory. But nobody wonders how they live, and what are their complaints about the attitude of the Salvadoran authorities.

It is not possible to deny the right of the Salvadorans to defend their territory, but it is not possible either to overlook the pernicious aspects of the spectacular news-coverage around that topic. Farmers and settlers are supposedly worried about the performance of the Honduran members of the army, their idea is to gain followers who sympathize with the government’s decision: to request an examination of the verdict made by the International Court. This is a questionable procedure to favor the region’s integration cause.

This confusion shows the presence of an exaggerated and a pathological nationalism. To manipulate the alleged problems of certain settlers to promote the performance of the government -regardless of how legitimate it could be- is not a very responsible action, and does not favor the Central American integration. Independently from the feeling of abandonment that the settlers of these areas suffer –for which, without a doubt, there has to be a solution- the most important thing to do is to follow the legal procedures, without generating a nationalistic environment against Honduras. The news media have concentrated its actions on this task during the last week by covering the presence of the Honduran army in the “Conejo” island, and the declarations of the settlers allegedly mistreated by the authorities of the neighboring country.

In this context, it is not difficult to associate this “republican” and “nationalist” campaign with the proximity of the next elections. It is a subject that could raise the masses’ spontaneous adhesion. And the authorities of ARENA seem to trust this method. In a subtle way, but with a wide news coverage, they sing anthems to its patriotism and its commitment to defend the territorial interests of the country. Some journalists even speak about the commitment of the government with history.

They do not realize that the most important thing, independently from the decision of the International Court’s judges, must be to end the chapter of the border disputes in Central America. In addition, it is necessary to concentrate on improving the life at the towns of both countries, especially on those who live in the former “bolsones”. In order achieve this goal it is necessary to commit and work for the future, and not to arise absurd nationalistic feelings. It is not possible to keep undermining the foundations of regional integration, while they make these actions seem as the only solution for Central America.

The intensification of the agricultural crisis

It is no secret that the situation of the farming sector becomes more and more critical, not just because of the hot seasons or “El Niño”, but also because of the different external public and dynamic policies that determine the behavior of this sector. Thus, it can be said that the policies of the commercial openness have affected the farming sector’s loss of profitability. The state’s adjustment and the modernization policies have reduced the institutional capacity of this sector to generate an agricultural development process. On the other hand, the fall in the international prices of the farming products has caused a noticeable tendency to affect the reduction of the production and the consumption; the same has happened with the traditional exports.

In such context, the low level of economic activity is not surprising, because it affects the sector and turns it susceptible to the smallest changes, during the rainy season for instance. With the gestation of “El Niño”, in the middle of the year, the farming sector faces another critical situation that threatens to affect the laboring sector, which already is in a difficult situation because of the drastic reduction of the seasonal jobs at the coffee harvest.

Under such circumstances, it is necessary to reflect about the recent evolution of the agricultural sector; how is the Salvadoran state approaching the mitigation of the sector’s generalized crisis; and the enormous challenges that the increase of the productivity, the production, and the employment bring to the farming sector.

Everyone knows that from the nineties to the present the farming sector has incessantly reduced its participation within the structure of the GNP. It went from a level higher than 17%, by the early nineties, to 13% in 1999. From this point, the situation has deteriorated itself at an overwhelming speed. It has reached a point in which the participation of the agricultural sector, as far as the GNP is concerned, went down to 12.3% in 2000, and reached only 11.8% during the following year, the lowest level observed throughout history.

At the foundations of this step backwards taken by the farming activity, there is one decade marked by low growth rates. The production of the land has decayed in 1998, 2000 and 2001, backing down its absolute value to constant prices at levels similar to those that prevailed during1997. The phenomenon is the result of the coffee fiasco and to the highs and lows of the basic grain production that, during the 1997-2001 period, caused a stagnation of the production (it went from 1,297 to 1,291 million of Colones, of 1990).

Three aspects affect such behavior:

1. The confluence of the natural events (there were droughts in 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2002) affect a deteriorated environment, and a debilitated rural population, incapable to resist and to recover from the minimum alteration of a normal rain cycle.
2. The public policies that have created an unfavorable context for the growth of the sector (the commercial openness, the reduction of the already meager technical assistance services, and the difficulties to obtain credits).
3. An unfavorable international context for the basic products.

“El Niño” appeared in 1997 and had a severe impact on the cultivation in practically all of the Central American countries. In El Salvador, it caused a loss in a rate from 1 to 1.5% of the GNP. Consequentially, the basic grains’ production descended in 1998, it increased during the following year, and went down again because of the droughts (some of these droughts were connected with “El Niño”, or the hot seasons, that affected the cultivation in 2000 and 2001).

This year, “El Niño” came back and it is connected with the possibility of a drought
–in the basin of the Central American Pacific-. According to the National Service of Territorial Studies (SNET, in Spanish), these climatic alterations had already caused a hot season for the first days of July, which had an impact on the productivity of the cultivation, especially on the basic grains.

Since the last year, the government has articulated reactive plans; however, the agricultural sector has been consecutively affected for over three years by the formerly described problems. The reality reflects that the government’s plans are not effective enough to reduce the vulnerability of the rural population when it comes to face the natural events. Certain activities, such as the reduction of both the personnel and the financial resources (assigned to the organizations in charge of the promotion of agriculture and the technological transference), go against any plan to reduce the impact of the disasters caused by the droughts.

While by the middle of the year 2001 some reactive initiatives such as the “Barn Plan” and the “Sower Plan” were disclosed, a reduction in the number of laborers also took place. By the fist quarter of 2002, and relying on the data that the law of wages provided (prepared by the Ministry of Hacienda –Internal Revenue Service-), the amount of agricultural workers scattered through the four regions of the country had been reduced to half, in relation to the last year. In fact, the recently mentioned plans are just one palliative to take care of the emergency –the distribution of grains and seeds, for example-, that does not contribute to reduce the possible future impacts.

On the other hand, the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cattle-Raising Activities had been reduced throughout the Nineties. It went from receiving 5,33% of the total budget in 1991, to receive only 1,62% in 2002. Without a doubt, this reflects what the activities to promote the agricultural development actually represent for the Salvadoran government: a small priority.

The news about the coffee-growing sector, still one of the main agricultural pillars, are not positive news. The prices keep dropping, and it can be predicted by now that the activity at the haciendas will be reduced and it will bring a loss of 80.000 jobs along the three periods of the harvests. It is necessary to mention that this is a problem of regional dimensions, and that it is severely affecting the farmers and the producers of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

This situation intensifies the loss of strength of the rural societies, which confront a gradual reduction of its resources and its income. As much as the drought reduces the productivity of the cultivation, constricting the food availability and the income, the reduction of the job opportunities in the coffee-growing sector also reduces the income level and the possibility to buy the basic food basket.

This is how the natural events and the economic policies make the rural population extremely vulnerable. Little by little, this situation reveals the first cases of starvation and a severe malnutrition problem in Guatemala and Nicaragua.