URBANIZATION, MIGRATION, AND THE SALVADORAN FAMILIES

THE CONTINUITY IN SACA’S FOREIGN POLICY

It is still early to judge exactly where Saca’s foreign policy is heading at. However, there are several elements that suggest the fact that there will not be too many changes, among them, to accept the position of the United States. This article will try to analyze the first political decisions of the Salvadoran President in matters of international policies.

His first movements indicate that Saca will follow the steps of Flores because he will keep Rene León as his representative in Washington. León was a public official sent to Washington by Flores. It is true that León “earned” that position once more during the electoral campaign. During that time, León kept saying that whoever wanted to listen to the candidate of the FMLN was a danger for the remittances and the migratory situation of the Salvadorans who live illegally in the United States. This ambassador was openly willing to promote the campaign of Saca, and this attitude goes against his diplomatic status, and therefore, against his position as the representative of the Salvadoran population that lives abroad. That is why it is possible to think that he remains in Washington because he has been rewarded for the services he rendered during the campaign.

However, to keep León in the most important diplomatic institution that the country has abroad is an unmistakable sign that Saca will follow the same political line that Flores did. The importance that The United States has for El Salvador can be summed-up in a series of transcendental events for the country. For instance, over 65% of the national exportations go to that nation, where one third of the Salvadoran population lives. In that sense, it could be said that Saca chose to keep the country’s relationship with The United States under the same terms in this delicate moment.

Since the September 11th attacks, the fight against terrorism has occupied the minds of those responsible for Washington’s politics. In this sense, León is an important individual because he knows the mechanism of the system at Washington.

This resolution has had an effect in the first decisions that Saca has made in matters of international policies. The President said that he would send another contingent of troops to Iraq. In addition, he keeps betting for the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, and he keeps doing everything he can to support the approval of the TPS in favor of the Salvadorans that live in the United States. The fact that he considers these issues as his priorities only goes to show that the United States is the most important aspect there is for Saca at the moment.

Nevertheless, in addition to the insistence on the approval of the TPS, it is necessary to notice that the rest of the issues on which the government tries to focus the attention of the United States do not seem to be interesting for most Salvadorans. Despite the fact that there is not much of a debate about this issue in the country, a considerable number of Salvadorans do not support the decision of sending troops to Iraq. Most people know that this resolution basically obeys to the fact that Saca intends to please George W. Bush in the same way that Flores used to do.

Some Salvadorans do not believe in the alleged benefits that the free trade agreement with the United States could bring. It is mostly the business elite of the country, and because Saca used to work for them as the president of the ANEP, the one that is anxious to see the approval of this commercial agreement. Saca thinks that the best way to follow the wishes of the President of The United States and the best way to see that the Free Trade Agreement is ratified is to send troops to Iraq.

In other words, the presence of the Salvadoran troops in Iraq is being used as a currency exchange in order to get both the TPS and the Free Trade Agreement approved. These are the economic strategies of the present administration. In the best of the cases, it is expected that the 200 or 300 soldiers from El Salvador who will replace the Americans in the line of fire will be rewarded with the extension of the TPS, and that several businessmen are able to increase their profits by sending merchandise to The United States.

The attitude of the President should be placed in the line of a political realism. The countries, when it comes to their international relations with other nations, should defend their interests with the best weapons available. In this line, since El Salvador is at disadvantage here (because it has to negotiate with a giant that has a different number of interests), it has to make the required sacrifices in order to make the negotiations favorable. This would be the only way to get the TPS and the Free Trade Agreement, both mechanisms represent at the moment the most important priorities of the Salvadoran government.

From this perspective of the international policies, it is difficult not no approve of Saca’s position. In fact, the observer would be tempted to wonder if there is another way to get the support of Bush on the approval of the TPS and the Free Trade Agreement without this rather painful concession. In any case, the defenders of the governmental policy might say, Presidents cannot be guided by sentimental reasons when it comes to defend the interests of their nation. The sacrifice of some members of the army would be the price that has to be paid in order to defend the interests of El Salvador. In any case, some people might say that the members of the army are paid precisely to do this kind of sacrifice. In addition, the belief according to which the presence of the Salvadoran army in Iraq favors the national interests is very fashionable nowadays inside the military ranks.

Some idealistic positions could believe that Saca should defend the interests of the country with a different strategy for his foreign affairs. In this sense, this thought usually indicates that the country needs to defend some specific principles when it comes to other nations. From this perspective, some people talk about the defense of international laws, the democratic values, and the strengthening of the multilateral organizations. This vision does not legitimate the presence of the troops in Iraq because, on the one hand, this Arabian nation has not made a specific demand to El Salvador, and, on the other hand, this is an international transgression and the country should not be involved in it.

In addition, in reference to both the defense of the interest of the immigrants and the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement, it is necessary to say that El Salvador has other options to be heard in Washington. An alliance with several countries of the region, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala (that have the same problems with the people who live illegally in The United States, and with their common need to establish a Free Trade Agreement) could join forces to speak through one voice before the presence of the American politicians. Such attitude would save the country form the shameful situation of adopting in an unreasonable manner the international political stance of Bush.

There are many perspectives that could brandish arguments to support any of the formerly mentioned thesis. However, it would be convenient to notice that Saca went to Washington and that in spite of his multiple negotiations, he has not gained any specific support for the TPS or for the Free Trade Agreement. Those responsible for the North American administration spoke about discussing the subjects only after the elections. Momentarily, the realistic perspective has not achieved many goals.

THE ECONOMY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

We are witnessing the proliferation of large construction projects in the main cities of the country: malls, housing projects, roads, and developments, just to mention a few. The birth and the growth of these considerable investments on infrastructure become, from the perspective of the present economic model, fundamental symbols to say that El Salvador has gone into a new phase of expansion and development. This “progressive” vision tries to say that in spite of the war and the economic problems and situations, the country is now better than it was a decade ago and that the Salvadorans should keep working hard in order to be part of this improvement.

This speech seems to be extremely optimistic since it forgets one of the essential aspects for the development of a nation in the long-term: the environment. Now, more than ever, the present economic model is causing a serious damage to nature. Strangely enough, the damages caused to the environment are not perceived by the population because the citizens think that development is something connected with the economy. For instance, for a considerable part of the population the indiscriminate felling of trees is not a problem due to the need to build new houses for more families. In the same way, the pollution created by the industry is justified because companies create jobs and the jobs provide the income of the workers.

The perverse effect in the environment of the economic decisions about production and consumption are seen, in the best of the cases, as “necessary negative aspects” that people have to accept in search of our own good. From this neoliberal perspective, this kind of welfare is connected to the concept of consumption, which finds its quintessential expression in the construction of the shopping malls that do not generate an added value for the economy. The construction of these cathedrals of consumption is the result of the depredation of several forests in this country.

In El Salvador, the hacienda “El Espino” is one of the most important areas from an environmental perspective. In spite of this, it has not escaped from the destructive logic of the present economic model since right now is being transformed in a commercial area of enormous dimensions. The construction of the Hyper Mall Las Cascadas was finished last year, a project mainly financed with Guatemalan investments. Presently, one of the most important shopping malls of Central America is being built. In addition, between the space occupied by the Hyper Mall Las Cascadas and the Universtity José Matías Delgado, another edifice is being built, and no one knows what it is for. According to those that promote the present economic model, this is a positive thing because it tells us that the country is managing to find a “development strategy”, since shopping malls are essential to create new job opportunities for the Salvadoran population.

The Development Program of The United Nations (PNUD, in Spanish) explained in its report of the Human Development in El Salvador 2003 that, from 1993 to 2001, the green areas of the country have increased its arboreal density. However, in the most important cities of the country, this environmental variable has been considerably reduced. This damage to the quality of the environment could be due to the growing number of families that gather around the periphery of the most important cities of the country because they do not find an economic alternative in the rural areas. The present economic model has created a series of changes that bring along an environmental destruction. It is necessary to develop an efficient mechanism to reduce the impact that these concentrations of people have over the environment, and, in the best of the cases, neutralize the events that create these concentrations.

A different vision of development is the “sustainable development” perspective, something that can be defined as “a development that satisfies the needs of the present without putting in danger the capacity of the future generations in order to fulfill their own needs”. In other words, to create a sustainable development for a country is to support all of those economic activities that satisfy the present needs without destroying the natural resources, in order that the future generations are able to use such resources. If these generations cannot fulfill their needs, this is an obstacle for a true development. It could be a short-term development, and even if a nation counts with a considerable amount of natural resources it can only be considered a medium-term development. However, that particular way of development cannot last for the long-term, because it undermines one of the most important resources: nature.

In order to achieve higher goals, the State should play an important role in society. The law of the Environment was created many years ago. There is also a Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources. However, this Ministry leaves a lot to be desired in the way it administrates the law. The country does not have a coherent environmental policy able to meet the needs of the territory. It is true that it is necessary to make a bet for the economic growth, but there should also be a certain balance between this economic development and the importance of preserving the natural resources. It is necessary to create a higher level of added value, new jobs, and new business opportunities that, in the end, do not become part of a chain of destruction for the future generations.

All of these ideas lead us to re-consider if the proliferation of the shopping malls is an adequate parameter to observe the development of El Salvador. The economic development of a country should not be seen exclusively through an economic perspective, but though a multidimensional point of view. This is one way to satisfy the material and the spiritual needs of the people, as long as the environment is respected.

Everything seems to indicate that it is necessary to make some adjustments to the economic model. The solution to this problem is not to “profit” from the elements of nature, as many Neoclassical economists intend to believe. In other words, the solution is not to give a specific price to all the elements of nature. Some people believe that if they put a price to nature, whoever produces or buys this kind of resources should pay for them. Therefore, they will not be encouraged to take advantage of those elements from nature. That is not the solution, because the hunger of the business companies will always end up purchasing those resources to use them for production. The solution is to protect the available resources, renew them, and think of new ways of production that can be compatible with the environment.

The Ministry of the Environment has a very serious commitment, that is, to work hard for the preservation of nature. That is why it is necessary to readjust the logic of the present economic model. It is clear that nature is not important for this model. Nature has become just a way to obtain profits, and some people tend to forget that our surroundings and that the place where we live in is our home, and that the essential aspects of life depend on the environment.