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Proceso 1136
March 9, 2005
ISSN 0259-9864
Editorial: An ambitious plan
Politics: A social plan with the intervention of the State
Economy: The Social Plan proposed by Saca: economic considerations
An ambitious plan
The Saca administration launched an ambitious plan to
reduce the extreme poverty levels to half. The intervention starts with 15
counties and 20,000 families, identified as people that do not have the capacity
to purchase the Basic Food Basket. Next year, another 16 counties will be added
to this project along with another 20,000 families. In the future, this project
will involve 68 counties. The purpose of the plan is to concentrate the
resources and services of different public institutions in the poorest areas of
the country. The plan includes a direct economic assistance and the condition is
to send the children to school and place them under medical control in the local
health centers, it intends to support the small farmers with a micro-credit plan
during three years, and to establish schools and health centers with basic
services (the existing ones will be improved as well) –infrastructure,
electricity, potable water, and sanitation-. To this it is possible to add the
improvement of the housing projects and the rural traffic areas. The schools and
health centers should be equipped in order to take care of the children and
their mothers. This is how the government intends to have a direct influence on
the education and the health of the children and their mothers, at the same time
that it grants them credits to increase their income in order to purchase the
basic food basket. The development of the plan will be closely followed by the
government through census and records of the basic indicators.
It was about time. The time to implement systematic actions to reduce the levels
of extreme poverty of the country. This plan does not include everything that
has to be done; however, it is a good start and an effort that deserves to be
supported if it is a serious project that intends to improve the situation of
the poorest families of the country. The improvement of the basic services
should also promptly reach the concentrations of inhabitants. The micro-credit
initiative will not be enough if it does not go hand in hand with an adequate
technical assistance plan. Therefore, many things have to be accomplished, but
this is a good start. It is important to notice that this intervention of the
government in the society is an action that admits the failure of the market as
the principle that regulates the national life.
That is why the plan should not be rejected because of the suspicion that this
kind of governmental interventions always create. There are enough reasons not
to trust in this plan; however, it is not healthy to adopt an intransigent
posture without testing the actual intentions of the government. It is true that
the plan does not cover all of the families that live in poverty (or those who
live in a situation of extreme poverty), but no one can overlook the fact that
it will get started with a considerable number of families. In part, this is due
to the lack of financial resources; but it is not a bad idea to concentrate the
small amount of available resources in those abandoned sectors that do have more
needs than the rest of the society. On the other hand, it is practical to begin
with a reasonable amount of sectors before the plan is launched in a national
scale. This is a new experience and, therefore, prudence advises to accomplish
the expected achievements in a gradual manner. Extremes and perfectionism are
the enemies of what can be made possible. At least it deserves the benefit of
the doubt. This does not mean that we have to overlook the existence of risks.
A government from ARENA is not prepared to administrate the national reality in
a coordinated manner. Each ministry has decided to administrate, in an
independent fashion, its resources and its activities. To coordinate the efforts
of the diverse governmental branches in order to positively affect the situation
of the selected counties will be a titanic task that will require an enormous
political will and, ultimately, pressure and control. If the direction of the
plan does not have the power to impose itself and not become a disperse
mechanism, the effort will vanish in a series of irrelevant actions. The most
important public officials will not only have to change their minds, but they
will also need a shower of extreme poverty. They do not know what it is like to
live in misery; and they are not interested in knowing what is it all about
either. Therefore, it would be convenient to let them know how is the life of
most people in order to create a sense of guilt in their conscience.
The success of the plan depends on the acceptation and the collaboration of the
involved communities and its leaders. The ARENA administrations have
underestimated the organization of the communities and its values. Where there
has not been an external support to a community, a community does not exist. The
local leaders usually do not trust on the external interventions, especially
when these interventions come from the hands of the politicians or the
government. People will not reject what it is offered to them, they have needs;
however, they will not feel committed to the plan right away. Experience has
taught people that these interventions are filled with propaganda, that they are
not always real, and that they do not count with them in the long term. It would
be convenient then that the Presidential House starts to care less about the
propaganda, and concentrates all of its efforts on the fact that it has to
convince the local leaders of the communities (not just the political or the
religious leaders) about the positive aspects of this offer. The identification
and the cooperation with the project will not be easily achieved if the
government does not think in terms of local development and in terms of the
decentralization of the services and resources. An intervention conceived in a
punctual manner and which is planned for the short term will not go that far.
Although the plan might improve the socioeconomic situation of several families
that live in extreme poverty, it still is a palliative effort for the
devastating impact of the neo-liberal policy of ARENA and the private business
companies. The idea is not to increase the benefits of the model for these
families, but to make their lives more bearable. None of these families will
dramatically improve their situation with this plan. They will just leave the
extreme poverty sector to become part of the poverty levels. Nevertheless, this
is an important initiative, especially for those who survive in misery and
abandonment. And that is because the plan intends to improve the human
development index, and not to redistribute the income. This is a smart way of
turning the social expenses into efficient mechanisms, and a way to acknowledge
the subsidiary role of the State, against a market conceived as an absolute norm
of the social life.
The fundamental contradiction is evident. The present administration admits that
ARENA has not managed to improve the actions to eradicate poverty. According to
President Saca, the reasons are the small economic growth in more than a decade,
the considerable inequality in the redistribution of the income, and the
contrast between the city and the country. To correct this journey means to
reevaluate the economic model and not only to look after the families that live
in extreme poverty. It is important not to get confused here. No one should
expect more or less than the plan can actually deliver. It will not increase the
economic growth, it will not redistribute the income, but it will contribute
with the elements that can close the gap between the urban and the rural life.
The social aspects will only be as important as the economic aspects when the
income is redistributed through the taxation system.
A social plan with the intervention of the State
These news have to be underlined. At last, the Salvadoran
Executive power announces an intervention plan to help the poorest families that
live in the most critical counties of the country. This event is part of a
different logic, very different from the one that had characterized the
discourse of the right wing so far. Not too long ago it was usually said that it
was necessary to encourage, without any exceptions, the laissez faire et laissez
passer. It was sustained that problems were to be resolved by the invisible hand
of the market and its magnanimous character. This was allegedly the only way to
correct the problem of the distribution of the resources of the national
production. This was the ideology defended by the three former presidents from
ARENA, who adopted and defended the most extremist thesis of the economic
neo-liberalism.
Right now, Antonio Saca, in a flashy turn of the screw, decides to change the
course of the events without undertaking an evident contradiction with the
orthodox attitude of his party, the President declares that it is time to end
with the discourse of the inevitability of the overflowing resources. To speak
with the truth, since his inauguration speech, Saca had already announced this
change of perspective about how to help the less fortunate. On June 24th of
2004, the President said: “No Salvadoran citizen can give away the hope of
leaving a life of poverty. We, the ones that have the duty to conduct the
destiny of the country have to fight against poverty(…). Fifteen years ago, the
priorities responded to a difficult context that we have already left behind.
The world’s economic debate now redefines a formula that gives more importance
to the social matters without abandoning the economic stability and the
sustainable growth. Eventually, it seems clear that the economic modernization
is not sustainable without human development. In countries such as ours the need
to pay more attention to the social affairs is an urgent matter. I will put the
social agenda in the front line of the country’s projects”.
The Supportive Net of the government foresees some sort of a subsidy of
subsistence for some 20,000 families that live in the rural areas in 15 of the
poorest counties of the country. The intention is “to reduce the level of
extreme poverty to half, and fulfill some of the objectives of the millennium,
such as improving in the short term the indicators of malnutrition and health of
the children and their mothers”. As a counterpart of the $15 that the government
will give to the poorest families, they have to commit themselves with the
project and guarantee that their children will receive a periodical medical
control and that they will go to school everyday . The President indicated that
“when parents stop bringing their children to school, they will lose their right
to receive the governmental transference”.
From this perspective, the governmental team can keep repeating that they have a
faithful loving relationship with the Salvadoran population. Somehow, with this
social plan of national intervention against poverty, Saca can say to his
detractors that ARENA does not only dedicate itself to repression, as it has
been experimenting in these last few months with the laws against the gangs. In
addition, for the up-coming elections, the new plan can bring favorable
arguments to the party of the President. In other words, the Social Plan
announced by the government presents the new vision that the right wing has
about the social problems, and it offers good political opportunities for its
promoters.
To a great extent, it seems logical to see that ARENA has designed this
operation to seduce the less fortunate Salvadorans. On the one hand, they are
the main electoral target of the official party. As it has been constantly
revealed by the studies on the electoral behavior, the poorest counties are the
places where the right wing party has become stronger. According to the
different analysis about poverty in El Salvador, the specialists have sustained
that one of the ways to palliate the effects of poverty has to do with some sort
of a direct assistance to the most vulnerable families. In this sense, Saca’s
Social Plan has partially readopted one of the most widely advertised
recommendations about the way to address the fight against social exclusion.
On the other hand, not to face misery at all, the misery in which the people of
these counties live in, the strategists of the official party know it very well,
means not to pay attention to a problem that is, without a doubt, a time bomb,
and its explosion could be critical for the interests of the dominant financial
oligarchy. During the last elections, the sectors that share the interests of
the right wing lived endless moments of anguish thinking about the possibility
of seeing the FMLN as the winner of the presidential elections. At this point,
most of the leaders of ARENA assume that their presence in the Executive depends
more on the political clumsiness of the leaders from the FMLN than on their own
merits. At the time, however, the message sent by the opinion polls was that the
Salvadoran population was willing to punish ARENA for the mistakes made by this
party during the last 15 years.
Therefore, to announce a Social Plan is like a breath of fresh air for the
aspirations of the right wing, because it expects to take advantage of its
initiative during the next legislative and municipal elections. On the other
hand, this initiative means more pressure for the leaders of the FMLN and its
intentions of getting the attention of the Salvadoran electorate. Somehow, the
Social Plan of Saca is a challenge for an opposition accustomed to a line of
propaganda based on the social insensibility of the politicians from the right
wing.
That is why it is only natural that the most important leader of the left wing
criticizes the governmental plan. For Schafik Handal, according to the media,
“this is only propaganda to get the votes of these families, to get the votes of
a considerable number of people that believe that the government is resolving
the problem of poverty”. Even if Saca’s widely advertised supportive net has the
usual ingredients for political propaganda, it would not be a smart plan for the
leaders of the FMLN to discredit this project. The leaders of the left wing
would actually help the population if they launched specific and credible
proposals in order to improve the situation of the Salvadorans that have more
needs.
In any case, those that receive the benefits of the governmental aid will know
how to evaluate the results when it comes to examine the effectiveness of the
governmental plan. In case there were any doubts, it is highly improbable that
the 20,000 families that Saca will allegedly assist with the plan –ARENA dreams
about having them on its side during the next elections-, consider the analysis
of the leaders from the left wing when they choose who to vote for. In other
words, politically speaking, Saca does have his advantages in reference to this
issue if compared with the situation of his main contenders.
That is why the left wing should be more creative when it comes to evaluate and
criticize the Social Plan of the government. In the first place, this would be a
good moment to demand a process of decentralization. That is, now that the
government has realized that it is necessary to support the most vulnerable
sector of the population, the institutions can demand the transference of
substantial resources, in the case of the City Halls, for instance, in order
that they are able to assist those vulnerable sectors more efficiently. On the
other hand, more than noticing the alleged equitable distribution announced by
the President–they say that the Plan will democratically assist the counties
administrated by the right wing as well as those administrated by the left
wing-, the most important aspect of this context is that the local authorities
will be the ones that will administrate the funds. This seems to be the most
reasonable alternative if they do not want to see the creation of another
parallel bureaucracy to take care of the most vulnerable sectors, put an end to
corruption, or, simply, put an end to the political manipulation against the
poorest sector of the population.
The Social Plan proposed by Saca: economic considerations
The Saca administration seems to show a clear initiative in
regard to the necessary social policies that the country has to adopt. The
anti-poverty plan was revealed last week, and it intends to assist the poorest
15 counties of the country during the first year. These counties count with a
low level of schooling, a high level of malnutrition, a limited access to
potable water, and, in addition, they are not able to purchase the basic food
basket (corn, rice, meat, fats, eggs, milk, fruits, beans, and sugar). This
condition is defined as extreme poverty, that is, families that live with less
than a dollar per day.
It is important to indicate what is this new project all about. The anti-poverty
plan contemplates five basic components to resolve several of the needs that
have not been fulfilled and which have become the nucleus of diseases,
illiteracy, and malnutrition. These components are: FOSALUD, Conéctate (get
involved), Jóvenes (young people), Red Solidaria (supportive net), and
Microcrédito (micro-credit).
The first component is aimed to improve the assistance provided by several of
the country’s health clinics, its funds will come from a new tax applied to
alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and munitions. The funds collected by the FOSALUD
are expected to raise $20 million for the first year, which is equivalent to an
average of $1.6 million per month.
The second component, called Get Involved is about repairing 90,000 computers
and investing $20 million on educational technology. In order to finance this
project, they will need loans from the Ministry of Education and multilateral
institutions.
The third project called Young People has to do with the fact that the
government will create a National Plan for Young People aiming to the year 2015,
which will open a space for the youth to participate and will create development
opportunities, In order to complete this project, a portion of the funds will be
assigned by the General Budget of the Nation, and the rest by multi-lateral
institutions that will coordinate its actions and its cooperation process at a
national level.
The fourth component, the Supportive Net, aims to a social policy focused on a
systematic and a permanent assistance of poverty under the territorial dimension
–measured by a map of poverty- and an integral local development. This component
revolves around three axis: the supportive net for the families, the net of
basic services, and the sustainability net for the family. There are three
phases for this project:
1. To change the conditions in which the poorest families of the rural areas
live.
2. To increase the level of access to the basic services (electric energy,
water, and health).
3. To find a way to provide these families with a sustainable income.
According to the Secretariat of Communications of the Presidency, the financing
of this plan will count with funds that will come from the ministries involved,
with the international cooperation system, and with a certificate of the General
Budget of the Nation to assist 100,000 families with $200,000 million during a
total of four years. For the first year, the average budget is $6.1 million, out
of which $2.5 million will be destined to the formerly mentioned nets, which is
equivalent to $60 per family, while the other $3.6 million will be invested in
the creation of 160 new school sections, and other structural needs. This will
be achieved by giving to the mothers of the poorest families a transference
between $15 and $20, as long as their children are taken to school and are able
to keep a control of their health and their nutrition.
The governmental plan presents a fifth and a last element with the purpose that
these families find a way to improve their income, and this element is
specifically about granting loans for the creation of micro-business companies,
making available 500,000 credits a year, which will go between $100 and $300,
according to the needs of each family. Its is expected to grant $200 million in
credits by the end of the 2004-2009 period.
In spite of the initiative of the Government of El Salvador, the plan has
already revealed certain limitations. In the scheme of the FOSALUD, the money
collected last year was not enough, it was the lowest amount projected by the
government. On the other hand, the package of fiscal reforms that were
implemented by the beginning of this year have not reflected the expected
results either. And even if during January of this year the revenue went beyond
the revenue of 2004, we still are $5 million under the established goal. That is
why the government should not be too optimistic in these projections, because
before a project of such magnitude there will always be factors that go beyond
the governmental control. Not to count in a specific moment with enough
resources to take care of the anti-poverty plan is one of the most critical
shortcomings of this project, because it can affect the goals that they intend
to achieve.
Giving some “oxygen” to the economic model
One of the most critical analysis about the last administrations of ARENA was
about how this party neglected the “social” aspects. President Saca intends not
to make the same mistakes of his predecessors, and has decided to implement the
anti-poverty plan to assist the Salvadoran families that live in a situation of
extreme poverty.
The criticism of the ARENA administrations is based on the fact that the
economic reforms promoted by the Cristiani administration and consolidated
during the governmental periods of Calderon Sol and Francisco Flores had a
neo-liberal nature, and that was the reason why they did not help to resolve the
social problems of the population. In other words, the privatization of the
Salvadoran banking system and several companies of the State, and the
accelerated process of commercial openness interacted to divide the economy into
three sectors, something that would only be positive for those groups that had a
considerable amount of investments in some of those sectors.
This analytical perspective can be accepted, because in 15 years, with the
economic model implemented by these administrations, a considerable portion of
the population has not been able to improve their life standards. In addition,
the social sectors that once lived in “decent” conditions saw their situation
turn worse with the eventual implementation of the neo-liberal model. Following
that direction, the plan formulated by Saca is aimed to the first group, while,
for the second one –the middle class- there is no plan of social and economic
welfare.
One of the most important ideas formulated by President Saca in the presentation
of the new plan of the government was that “in order to fight against poverty
and raise the standards of life we do not have to change the economic model: we
have to change the circumstances in which people live”. This idea reflects that
at least a couple of crucial aspects have not been considered. In the first
place, that the material conditions of life in which the population is now are
strongly affected by the country’s economic model. Even if it is urgent to adopt
measures that will favor the population in the short term, it is also important
to aim at several changes in the country’s economic structure.
In the second place, it is evident that the present administration ignores that
it is the very same performance of the economic model the one connected with the
poverty and the marginality in which many Salvadorans live. In that sense, the
plan of governmental aid can have a strong impact in the areas where it has been
implemented; however, it will create a short-term impact.
It is clear that the plan is destined to improve the conditions in which people
live, especially the situation of those who live in extreme poverty. This will
become and effective governmental policy as long as it is able to adopt a wider
perspective of what a nation is, a vision that considers the rest of the
critical problems that affect other sectors. The middle class is one of those
sectors, a stagnated middle class. For a considerable amount of professionals,
the country is not offering the desirable conditions to either live or stay here
now or in the following years. Many of those that have a similar perception
practically own all of the “necessary conditions to succeed” that the government
is trying to create in the poorest areas of the country: they have a college or
an university degree, they speak English, they know how to use a computer, they
own small business companies. But, for them, that is not much if there are not
enough jobs available or if those jobs they get end up frustrating their
expectations.
The tools of the trade
The implementation of the anti-poverty plan will be determined by how successful
the fiscal reform and the FOSALUD turn out to be. This is connected with the
administration of the State’s fiscal policy. The condition of the indebtedness
of the Salvadoran government, and the conditions to apply for loans established
by the World’s Bank in the years to come are a couple of aspects that we have to
keep in mind.
According to the President, it is not necessary to change the economic model.
However, one of the most important elements of the economic model of a country
is the taxation structure. Certainly the fiscal reform has not adopted
substantial changes. This reform tends to strengthen its historical regressive
character, which affects the conditions in which most of the members of the
working class live. There are those who consider that sooner or later it will be
necessary to change the taxation structure of the country in order that the
wealthy people contribute with what the country needs to improve its social
development. These voices admit that the fiscal reform and the FOSALUD are not
enough to raise the revenue level and promote the effectiveness of the
anti-poverty plan. It might be ironic, but the financing of the anti-poverty
plan through a fiscal reform that promotes a regressive taxation logic will
ultimately keep intensifying the critical conditions that the country now wants
to overcome.
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