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Proceso 1124
December 1, 2004
ISSN 0259-9864
Editorial: The ethical lesson of Chile
Politics: The foreign policy of El Salvador
Economy: The proposal of the World’s Bank to fight poverty
The ethical lesson of Chile
Chile has been, in many senses, a role model for El
Salvador. In the past, the Salvadoran members of the army did not hesitate to
copy the repressive methods and the intelligence system of the regime leaded by
Augusto Pinochet. Also the promoters of the Salvadoran Neoliberalism were
inspired by the Chilean economic model, overlooking the fact that –back in the
days of Pinochet- this model had been built on a pile of corpses. At the moment,
Chile offers to El Salvador another opportunity to emulate it, this time, not in
terms of political violence nor of economic prescriptions as in the past, but in
terms of dignifying the life of those whose fundamental rights were violated.
In fact, the Report of the National Commission on Political Prisons and Torture
has been recently published, and it approaches, with meticulousness and rigor,
the subject of the political violence that shook Chile from September of 1973 to
March of 1990. The Report is centered in the victims of that violence,
specifically in the cases of arrest and tortures. It approaches the context of
the torture methods, it examines the different periods of repression, identifies
the places were they arrested people, it makes a profile of the victims, it
determines the consequences for them and their relatives, and presents a series
of proposals. In short, the document is a complete examination of one of the
darkest periods of the Chilean history.
Yet, beyond the available information and the successfully obtained evidences,
the report has important implications in the human, the historical, the legal,
and the ethical-political fields that cannot be ignored. President Ricardo Lagos
-under whose administration the National Commission on Political Prison and
Torture was created-, in his prologue to the report, emphatically spoke about
those implications. First of all, president Lagos empathizes with the pain and
suffering of the victims. "The stories of the victims have moved me. These are
frightening experiences... I have felt very close to the magnitude of their
suffering, the nonsense of the extreme cruelty, the immensity of the pain...
Nobody that reads this report will be able to remain indifferent".
Being the pain and suffering of the victims the foundation of his reflections
about the report, the Chilean president takes a step further: he rescues its
meaning for the recovery of the historical memory. "Close to its bicentennial
history, Chile has lived a few intense and painful episodes as the one of 1973.
Nothing has been so crudely investigated as this period has been. This has
healed the body and the soul of our country, and it can be good to strengthen
the sense of property for a community able to learn from its mistakes and to
surpass divisions that at a certain period seemed irreparable... The recognition
of this sad chapter of our history allows all the Chileans to feel like a part
of the same community today, and part of the same destiny. This discovery allows
us to feel that our military institutions belong us, to all the Chileans ".
Thirdly, the Report has an ethical-political meaning, it enables the people to
judged not only the breaking points of the Chilean democracy, but the absolute
lack of legitimacy of those who used violence to destroy the presumed enemies of
the established order. President Lagos stated that "The fluctuations of the
democracy and the bases of our coexistence took place in the middle of political
and ideological storms that we could not control. The destruction of the
institutional identity and the implementation of the abuse and the terror were
the consequence of those collective and individual errors. The context of
political intransigence that prevailed before the coup d'état can be understood,
the erroneous transformation of an adversary into an enemy can be understood,
but there is no justification for the inclemency that came later... No, a
thousand times no. There will never be an ethical justification for the
atrocities that were committed, and that the report describes".
In the end, the Report advances towards the dimension of the solution for the
victims, being the same document the most important piece of that solution. "The
work of the Commission and the publication of the Report -President Lagos
indicated- constitute the most important action to put an end to the pain of the
victims. Silence was over, forgetfulness was exiled, their dignity was
vindicated". But, as he himself sustains, it takes a lot more than this. Because
if "the responsibility of the agents of the State is involved, it is necessary
that the State responds, this means that it has to adopt measures to mitigate
the effects of the pain that was caused". What kind of measures? In short,
institutional measures to create a National Institute of Human Rights; symbolic
and collective measures that "will have to express the moral recognition of both
the State and the society towards the victims"; and individual repair measures
with a legal and an economic character –to publicly reestablish the honor of the
victims- through the payment of a pension that can help the victims to lead a
decent life in the years that they have ahead.
The Chilean authorities, with President Lagos leading the way, have taken a
transcendental step to dignify the existence of the victims of the State’s
terrorism that shook Chile from 1973 to 1990. However, what happened in this
country goes beyond its borders; it is, in addition, an example, a challenge for
countries with a recent history that is also stained with the blood of the
innocent. As in the case of El Salvador, what happened in Chile is a lesson for
other countries.
In El Salvador, we would have to go back to the Report prepared by the
Commission of the Truth in order to speak openly about the responsibilities of
those that terrorized the country throughout the Eighties and the early
Nineties. An important part of those responsibilities falls on the State, which
must repair the economic, the moral and legal damages that the victims or their
relatives suffered. There are also institutions, individuals, or groups that,
for a reason, unfairly attacked defenseless people. An example of this is
Roberto d'Aubuisson, who taught others to hate innocent people and fomented an
ideological fanaticism that was translated into violent deaths. Perhaps he did
not shoot a weapon against anybody; perhaps he did not order anybody
specifically to do that either. However, his public accusations, his
anti-communist speech, his obsession with "saving" the country from the
communist threat, and the fact that he constantly repeated that the Communists
belonged in a grave had to do with the criminal actions of the death squads and
all those that, sharing the creed of the former Major, took the lives of others
and tortured people.
Being dead, d'Aubuisson cannot repair the damage that he caused, he cannot be
judged nor be taken to jail. In this context, it is necessary to look at ARENA,
which is the institution through which d'Aubuisson openly spoke about the
anti-communist beliefs, something that this institution keeps doing in the
present. It is ARENA –the anti-communist source of ideas and attitudes that were
translated into political crimes- the one that must respond to the surviving
victims and the relatives of those who died because of the actions of
d’Aubuisson.
Yet, beyond the necessary public exposure of the crimes and the responsibility
with the victims and their relatives, the goal is that the Salvadoran population
is able to reconcile with the past. This means that it is necessary to at least
accept the following:
1) That during the Seventies and the Eighties, hundreds of Salvadorans were
innocent and defenseless victims, because to sympathize with a certain
ideological creed did not make them guilty of anything. This violence can
unequivocally be described as terrorism.
2) Most of those crimes were the responsibility of the paramilitary groups of
the right wing (death squads) and of the Salvadoran State (with the assistance
of the already dissolved bodies of public security)
3) A significantly smaller number of those crimes were committed by the armed
groups of the left wing and by members of the FMLN.
4) It would be fair not only to remember those crimes and to properly establish
the identity of the attackers, but to repair materially and morally speaking the
damage that was caused to the victims and their relatives.
The foreign policy of El Salvador
The arrival of Saca to the presidency of the country has
not changed the international policy. Instead, the President has reaffirmed the
basic line drawn up by his predecessor. The President has kept the most
emblematic civil employee that participated in the creation of the former
administration’s foreign policy, the ambassador in Washington, René Leon, who is
well-known by his shameful militancy during the presidential campaign in favor
of the candidate, and his tacit adhesion to the thesis according to which the
remittances of the Salvadorans could be blocked by the American authorities in
case of a victory of the left wing.
Feeling clearly satisfied with his services, Saca has kept his faithful
ambassador in Washington and, basically, its international policy can be
summarized in terms of his unconditional support to the United States. Saca has
decided to walk blind folded next to the American President in the war against
Iraq, hoping that the country will be rewarded with the approval of the Free
Trade Agreement (TLC, in Spanish) and the regularization of the migratory status
of the illegal Salvadorans.
However, beyond the discussions and the critics that could come up as the result
of the specific decisions of Saca in matters of international policy, what has
not been approached with serenity is the subject of an international policy of
the Salvadoran State, a policy beyond the left or right wings. In a context of
globalization and constant negotiations between the different countries, it is
necessary that the nations learn to speak with a single voice, independently
from the political color of those who have the power.
In El Salvador there is no “vision” of the country itself, to call it somehow,
and there are a couple of reasons for this: the arrogance of the right wing,
that has usurped for its own benefits-economic and political ones- the right of
interpret the national interests. Its members understand that these are strictly
economic interests, and they do not think that the left wing can understand
those interests. The usual argument is that the left wing does not have good
relations with the United States, and that therefore it does not have the
capacity to defend to the country before our leading commercial partner. And
that the left wing could not provide a stable situation for the illegal
immigrants (because they are the main supports of the national economy), always
in need of some official pardon.
Until now, it has been useless to demonstrate the inconsistency of those
declarations to try to unmask the propaganda of the right wing. These sectors
know perfectly well that the commercial interests of the United States are
defended independently from the party that holds the Executive power. And that,
therefore, the discussion of the international treaties is not a generous
concession for the local sectors of the right wing. The strategy of a vast
continental commercial zone is a political answer of the United States because
they do not want to lose their territory in Latin America before the increasing
globalization process and before the possibility of being open to other powers.
In addition, the sporadic pardons to the immigrants do not have to do with the
friendship between the presidents. The favorable attitude towards the Latin
American immigration process, which some politicians in Washington usually have,
is the result of the demographic importance of the Latin American population and
their capacity to intervene in the internal policy of one party or another.
On the other hand, the lack of any serious discussion on the defense of the
country’s foreign interests is due to the fact that there the same party remains
at the highest circles of the State. ARENA has controlled the Executive since
the end of the war, and the right-wing sectors have not had the need to
negotiate an international policy with other forces. That is why they continue
to show that they are the only ones able to understand the feelings of the
population, and deny any possibility to the opposition or simply to those who
they do not share their interpretation about the interests of the country with.
However, in the present context, as a result of the international political
ambitions of former president Flores, that lack of a defined national political
line has been proved. This affirmation is based on two flagrant facts that have
been revealed in the last days in reference to his candidacy. On the one hand,
the opposition from the left wing and a considerable portion of those who
criticize the candidacy of Flores to the General Secretariat of the Organization
of the American States. On the other hand, as a corollary of this decision made
by Flores, it is important to see how the government has handled the case of a
couple of Venezuelan police men that have applied for asylum in the embassy of
El Salvador in Caracas. They are two obvious examples that demonstrate that the
country needs to harmonize the relation between its political answers and the
international world.
In reference to the first subject, the declaration of Flores’ candidacy, the
right wing is scandalized by the fact that none of the other national
politicians supports the Salvadoran candidacy. It is true that, as some of the
right -wing commentators have stated, it would be an honor for the country that
one of its citizens is named the Secretary General of one of the most important
international organizations. However, it is not appropriate to immediately
assume that this honor has to be achieved at any price and with any candidate.
Flores is not the most suitable candidate. The former president is indeed the
type of character who has demonstrated his incapacity to think about the
international and the national policy in integral terms. Flores did not know how
to deal with the opposition during administration. He did not stand out as a
virtuoso of the international policy either. No matter how much he tries to deny
this fact in these days, it was him who openly supported the coup d'état in
Venezuela.
Flores did not know how to be at the height of a situation of international
uncertainty, in which a group of businessmen and army members broke the
constitutional order in Venezuela. Such behavior questions, without a doubt, his
suitability to direct an institution as important as the O.A.S..
Nevertheless, the most serious aspect of the subject, is that there are many
indications that lead to think that the spontaneous support of the former
Salvadoran president to the coup d’état was not a conscious gesture towards the
Venezuelan business oligarchy, but an attempt to please the leaders of the
republican party at Washington, whose visceral hatred towards Chavez had been
declared in several occasions. The former chancellor of Mexico, Jorge Castañeda,
sustained recently that Francisco Flores did all he could to convince the rest
of the presidents of the region that it was necessary to support the new regime
(that could be implemented through a coup d’état) in Venezuela. In the end,
Flores demonstrated that in El Salvador, in matters of international policy,
inflexible principles do not exist. The State is used to defend the interests of
a person or a group, as long as it allows him to obtain notoriety.
The behavior of Saca in the subject of the Venezuelan police men who at the
moment are asking for asylum in the embassy of El Salvador in this country is a
forceful example of the hypocrisy whereupon the international policy is handled.
In the past, before an asylum request, made by a general who participated in a
coup d’état, the idea of an alleged political persecution was evoked. In
addition, once he arrived to the country, a political conference was offered to
the dissident so he could denigrate the international image of the Chavez
administration. However, in this case, before the need to obtain the Venezuelan
vote to support to the candidacy of Flores, the President said that he needs to
analyze the arguments of the police prepared in the embassy of Caracas.
All of these events have demonstrated that it is urgent that El Salvador
discusses a new conception of the international policy. Otherwise, we will
continue feeding a ridiculous situation, supporting coup d'états when somebody
believes that it is advisable to do so. Contrary to what the defenders of the
status quo have proclaimed, the children of the country will be considered for
the direction of the international organisms, when the public officials begin to
show a coherent and an independent thought.
The proposal of the World’s Bank to fight poverty
During the Nineties, El Salvador experienced an important
political, economic, and social transition. It is necessary to admit that, since
the Peace Accords were signed, the records of the economy registered a clear
improvement, since it grew up to an annual 6% in the period between 1990 and
1995.
In spite of the significant advances in socioeconomic matters, from the mid 90’s
to the beginning of the new century, the growth level has slowed down, because
it only increased to an annual rate average of 2.8%, which implies that the
income average per capita has not experienced a substantial growth, reducing in
this sense the advances to diminish the poverty level and the possibilities of
the socioeconomic progress since 2000. This situation worsens with the low
levels of social expense and the restrictive fiscal situation, two factors that
have limited the sphere of action in the short term. On the other hand, the
earthquakes of the year 2001 and the deceleration of the American economy, are
factors that have affected the efforts to revitalize the growth and the
socioeconomic progress.
In the Report of Human Development 2003, of the Development Program of the
United Nations (the PNUD, in Spanish), several indicators, particularly
socioeconomic ones, reveal the little development that the national economy has
had. The Index of Human Development (IDH, in Spanish) -that includes the basic
indicators of health, the life expectancy when being born, the rate of adult
literacy and the GNP per capita- showed that, for 2001, El Salvador is located
within the group of countries with an average human development of 0.72%, unlike
Costa Rica, Chile and Mexico, which have a high level of human development. The
Index of Human Poverty (IPH, in Spanish), which analyzes three dimensions of the
human life -education, access to potable water ,and a long and healthful life-,
reported for 2001 a value of 17.2%, which locates El Salvador in the 32nd
position in a total of 94 countries. If certain information is taken from the
IPH for each department of the country, it can be observed that San Salvador
(8.6), La Libertad (14.1) and Cuscatlán (15.5), present the smaller values;
whereas Usulután (22.3), Cabañas (25.0), Ahuachapán (25.7), La Union (27.3) and
Morazán (27.9), register the highest levels of poverty.
These numbers demonstrate that the high level of poverty demands answers. To
this situation, we can add the problem of the inequality of the income, that,
according to the World’s Bank (BM, in Spanish), has increased in the last
decade. For 1992, 20% of the wealthiest homes received 54.5% of the national
income, and 20% of the poorest homes received only 3.2%. Ten years later, 20% of
the wealthiest homes received 58.3%, whereas 20% of the poorest homes only
received 2.4%.
The proposals of the World’s Bank
The World’s Bank prepared two evaluations on the present socioeconomic
situation: the Study on Poverty in El Salvador and the Evaluation of the public
expenses. The strategies displayed in these documents have the same objective:
the creation of a social policy to fight the poverty level of the country.
According to the first study, the poverty level in El Salvador decreased from
64% (1991) to 37% (2002), whereas the percentage of people that lives in
conditions of extreme poverty -those that survive with less of a dollar per day-
was reduced by 50%. According to the study, there are positive changes that
reflect a significant improvement in the efficiency of the social programs of
the public sector and the increasing the allocations in this sector since the
mid Nineties. Nevertheless, the poorest sectors of the Salvadoran population
have not been able to take advantage of the fruits of the economic progress. "In
order for the economic growth to be more equitable and for it to benefit the
groups that have been left behind, the study recommends that the country has to
develop programs aimed to specific targets and a network of social protection
that supports the poorest and the most vulnerable groups". This is what David de
Ferranti, the Vice-president of the BM for Latin America and the Caribbean,
stated about this issue. The fact that the poorest sectors of the Salvadoran
population have not received the benefits of the socioeconomic progress of the
last decade emphasizes the need to apply precise measures that allow us to get
to the most vulnerable groups of the country. Since poverty is now more or less
generalized, the continuity of the social improvements will require more
specific measures to increase the education level, to improve the health
services, and to increase the quality of the access to the basic services.
In the second document, Evaluation of the Public Expense, there is an emphasis
on sectors such as general education, health, rural education, water, hygiene,
roads, and electricity, which at the moment represent 40% of the national
budget. The World’s Bank assures that the increase of the social cost is
insufficient. If some of the information between the last decade and present
time is compared, it turns out that the social expense in 1996 represented 4.7%
of the GNP, whereas in 2003, it reached 7.3%, that is, that it increased only by
2.6%. In reference to the expenses in education, in 1996 it was 2.2%,
increasing, in 2003, to 3.1%, which is equivalent to an increase of 0.9%. The
most alarming number corresponds to the expenses in health, during 1996, it was
1.4% of the GNP, and for year 2003 it was 1.5%, which means that the
improvements in the health of the Salvadorans in seven years has been only of
0.1%. In education and health, the income is insufficient, less than 20% of the
total population has a medical insurance, whether through the ISSS (The
Salvadoran Social Security Institute) or through the private institutions, and
24% do not have access to a health system.
According to the report of the World’s Bank, El Salvador has enough space to
continue increasing the revenue and the most promising scope in this sense are
the taxes aimed to specific products, an area in which the country presents a
low level if compared to the rest of the world. A tax increase, for example, in
products such as liquors and tobacco would be a suitable alternative, since El
Salvador has established a well structured Value Added Tax (IVA, in Spanish)
with an ample base and a single rate.
The multilateral institution at the moment designs a set of donations and
credits for the period 2005-2008. Nevertheless, it has demanded an increase of
the State’s income and it has formulated a series of recommendations to achieve
this goal. First, to increase the social expense, from 3.2% to 3.6%. In
education, the minimum increase will have to be by 1.8% of the GNP during the
next ten years, and increase the percentage of the GNP to extend the health
coverage process from 0.2% to 0.3%.
In reference to the fiscal reform, the World’s Bank suggests to increase the
taxes on tobacco and liquor, in order to increase the revenue level. The
proposal also suggests to reform the system of pensions, as well as to maintain
the credit qualification and not to increase the external debt. In case of
achieving these objectives, the World’s Bank offers to increase the credits
granted for the administration of the land and the social protection, as well as
to increase the donations. With this, it will manage to reduce the external
debt, from 40% to 35% of the GNP, so that the population obtains at least
minimum service package of social security and that, by 2015, the percentage of
the population that does not have access to potable water is reduced to half.
The proposals of the World’s Bank represent alternatives to encourage the fight
against poverty and to improve the social indicators for the next years. For
that reason, the country needs a social policy able to develop the human
resources at all levels. This policy will have to improve the basic access of
the population to markets and services; and to support and protect the less
fortunate families.
Tel: +503-210-6600 ext. 407, Fax: +503-210-6655 |