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The
political legacy left by Flores
Francisco Flores is leaving. On
June 1st, Elias Antonio Saca will be inaugurated as President. The first
thing that can be said about this event is that it is a symbol of the
consolidation of the control that ARENA has over the country. The dream of
major Roberto D’Aubisson is still coming true. D’Aubisson was the founder of
the party and he was well-known, among other things, because of his
implication in several murder cases and violations against the human rights
during the civil war.
The hesitating beginnings of Flores
Back in 1998, when he became president of the Legislative Assembly,
Francisco Flores was only a person that nobody knew who was trying to become
an important part of the national political life. He was reelected as
congressman during the legislative elections of 1997, but Flores did not
have a successful professional background, especially not inside the former
Ministry of Planning, an institution that no longer exists and that was part
of the Cristiani administration. No one can remember an extraordinary
political initiative that the young Vice Minister of Planning might have
created. The political biography of Flores that the web page of the
country’s Presidency publishes explains that he “reformulated the
Governmental Plan after the Peace Accords were made”. At this point, no one
actually remembers that plan or that he had changed the social or the
economic situation of the Salvadoran population.
With this professional background, during his second period at the Congress
Flores managed to become president of the Legislative Assembly. During that
stage of his career, even if it could be said that he was a serene
politician who knew how to avoid unpleasant confrontations between his party
and the opposition, Flores’ image did not stand out. When he announced his
intention to run for the country’s presidency he took several leaders of his
party by surprise, who finally accepted his nomination (but were not too
happy about it) in order to avoid any controversies.
After his arrival to the Presidential House, Flores crowned his career as a
taciturn and a serene young politician, according to those who were close to
him at the time. Back then, many would say, Flores lived overshadowed by the
prestige of his father in law, an ideologist that had belonged to ARENA and
who was murdered by the insurgent movements during the civil war. His
profile as a second-hand public official seems to obey to this pattern. He
had occupied low-profile positions inside the ARENA administrations. When he
ran for President, in 1998, Flores changed his destiny as the protégé of the
Creole politics, who, until that moment, seemed to live thanks to the
political connections of his relatives.
From the time when he announced his wish to participate in the presidential
race until the day he was elected President, Flores took advantage of his
fame as a moderate young intellectual in order to launch himself inside the
political imagery of the Salvadoran population. At the time, the traditional
politicians did not have a clean public image –and this perception prevails-
and Flores introduced himself as the leader of a new generation willing to
change the generalized perception that the citizenry had about politics. The
slogan of his campaign spoke about a new alliance and about a new way to do
politics in the country. Flores said that his adversaries were not the
politicians that belonged to the opposition, but the problems of the
population. During his electoral campaign, he toured around the 262
municipal territories of the country, in order to, according to him, listen
to the Salvadoran population. In addition, he tried to sell the idea that he
was a highly intellectual professional who was willing to put his wide range
of academic talents at the service of the country.
The former ideas were widely advertised, and a columnist said in 1999, at
the time of the presidential inauguration, that he admired Flores because he
thought that he was a politician out of this world. “The speech that Flores
delivered this morning can do nothing but fill our minds with hope, because
he has gone beyond the traditional demagogy used by the politicians.
Mentioning many times that the individuals were the axis of his program only
goes to show that he has a clear philosophy behind his analysis. He
mentioned that this is not only about promoting the individual rights, but
about demanding the accomplishment of the basic obligations through a system
of shared responsibilities”.
The promises
In addition to the “futurist” vision that was used to introduce Flores,
there was also a communication campaign that was essentially promoted
through the media. Flores, the candidate, took advantage of his acting
abilities in order to get the attention of the Salvadorans. Back then, it
was usually said that he was a living example of simplicity and humbleness.
His “ability” to achieve consensus, order, and equity was used as an example
of his professional background at the Congress. He was willing to listen to
the Salvadoran population without having any confrontations with his
opponents. He became famous for using phrases that would be captivating for
the naïve; fallacious and vague words, that is. “A debate is a sterile
choice if it does not build. Critiques, if they do not propose and guarantee
a better plan, are useless. This day we shall engage ourselves and create a
better country, better than the one that our parents left to us. An this
will only be possible if we always act as the best political class, the one
that build a fair society. I give my word to you under this political ethics”.
For Flores, the political construction of the country should not be
considered under any perspective as the duty of just one political party or
just one actor. “To sustain and to take care of our already firm democracy
is a complex responsibility. The country that in this words we want for our
people cannot be the work of a party or a cabinet alone. It demands the
creative participation of all of the living forces of the nation: the
Congress, the Judicial Power, the Armed Forces, the Church, the University,
the Syndicates, the Unions of Workers, the Non Governmental Organizations,
and the International Communities. Let us give to our people what has
brought us together for their benefit. And let us discuss and disagree in
the best way possible. To our political opposition, one of the guarantees of
democracy, we make today a respectful request that for myself and my own
Cabinet I wish”.
Five years later, what is the legacy that Flores left?
To properly judge the Flores administration it is necessary to use a couple
of complementary criterion. The first one is connected with the parameters
that he established at the beginning of his administration period. The
second one is connected with the quality of his response to the specific
events that he had to deal with during his presidency. Flores, when
referring to his party during his inauguration speech, said that he wanted
the young people to find in ARENA a place to fulfill their political
aspirations, a place that would allow them to express themselves politically.
In other words, he wanted this party to remain as part of the leading
decision-making political institutions of the country.
From this perspective, Flores won his bet. And it will be necessary to grant
him a honorable place in the history of ARENA, next to the successful
politicians of that party. He did not have to give away the power to a
candidate from the opposition, just to image that the power could have been
held by the opposition was one of the worst nightmares of ARENA during the
Flores Administration. His party obtained the same number of elected
congressmen as the FMLN during the elections of 2000, and in 2003, ARENA was
left behind by the left wing. In summary, during the Flores administration,
ARENA went through the most difficult times of its short electoral existence.
Flores was publicly questioned by the most important leaders of ARENA. It
was said that the price to pay for the stubbornness of the President would
be the elections.
However, against the predictions of the prophets of disgrace, Flores knew
how to clean up his act. His party not only won the elections, which was a
relief for the party, but Flores had his personal revenge over his
detractors. He publicly scolded the leaders of his party that had questioned
his administration during a National Convention. That is why, from this
perspective, it could be said that Flores achieved his goal. In addition,
the name of El Salvador has been heard all over the world. At times because
the Flores administration was an unconditional ally of Bush all along in the
war against Iraq, and at times because of the support that the illegal
immigrants have received from the Government of the United States, since
some people have been offered the possibility of staying in that nation.
The political achievements of the Flores administration are temporary topics
that are far from the promises he made during his campaign. Flores promised
a new way of doing politics. However, for any observer that might had been
paying close attention to the national affairs during the last five years,
there have not been any understandings with the opposition, and we have not
taken a step further into the consolidation of the country’s young democracy.
On the contrary, the most emblematic institutions have been shaken by all
kinds of difficulties connected, precisely, with the arrogant attitude of
Francisco Flores.
Despite the fact that the results of the elections have been supported by
the international community, an important sector of the opposition contested
the political process and questioned the legitimacy of the Saca
administration. The posture taken by the leaders of the FMLN will not make
the electoral results vary or cast a shadow upon Saca’s image at an
international level. However, there is no doubt that this is a bad precedent
of the political conjunction created after the Peace Accords. In addition,
the confrontation that took place during the campaign is the result of five
years of disputes between the opposition and the Flores administration. The
worst mistake of this administration was his permanent attacks against the
rest of the institutions of the State. Out of all of those institutions, the
Judicial System took the worst part. In the context of his fight against
delinquency, Flores politically did lynch the judges and the prestige of the
judicial institution.
It has been five years of tension and hard work for the Flores
Administration. He won many political battles during this period. However,
he never measured up to the height of a statesman, the kind of statesman
that has a long-term perspective and the will to leave an everlasting
political legacy. The new political ethics that Flores promised to deliver
never came true. He never really considered the opposition as part of the
new society that the Salvadoran population longs for.
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