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Proceso 1144
May 11, 2005
ISSN 0259-9864

 

 

Índice


 

Editorial: The level of intervention increases in the country

Politics: The capricious nationalism of Saca

Economy: The economic conjunction of the U.S.A. and its impact on the Salvadoran economy

 

 

Editorial


The level of intervention increases in the country

 

President Saca sees in the visit of the Foreign Affairs’ Official of the United States a definitive ratification of the friendship with Washington. However, the visit was short and almost on a technical scale in the long trip of the public official, from Chile to Washington; the private meeting with the President was brief, and the subjects discussed in it followed a previously written script. The official did not even spend the night in San Salvador, but she left the country that same night. The visit, in itself, did not bring anything new. In a few words, it was good because it was short and brief.

The Free Trade Agreement is a priority for the White House, but this one cannot guarantee its approval, because the agreement is going through an anxious debate in the Congress. There is a promise to reform the immigration law, something that would favor, in theory, the Salvadoran emigrants; however, there will not be an amnesty, and there is not a word about the temporary permit to work, which is due on September, 2006. There is another promise to continue working on the issue connected with the gangs. And, finally, a recognition to the Salvadoran troops for their presence in Iraq, whose humanitarian mission of reconstruction remains unclear. Yet, the visit left some results for the Saca administration, because the American official acknowledged the Salvadoran experience in the fight for democracy and freedom, a couple of extremely important subjects for the United States, because with them it justifies its interventions in the world. She also “realized” that the government of ARENA has brought prosperity to the country. And there were compliments for the Salvadoran chancellor, who would have allegedly contributed with the construction of a consensus in the Organization of American States.

The simple and the optimistic perspectives assure that this visit shows how interested the United States are in the continent, to the south of Rio Grande. The Salvadoran right wing feels honored by the fact that the Foreign Affairs’ Official of the imperial power has actually noticed this small country to pay a visit. It looks as if it were at the height of the great ones of the Latin American continent, but the substance of the visit and the time granted to El Salvador show the opposite. It was such an irrelevant visit that, on the following day, it vanished from the most important news media as if it had never occurred. Nevertheless, the presence of advisers, American officers and soldiers has increased in the country.

Several agents of the FBI added themselves to the actions of the advisers of the police and the soldiers of the military base of Comalapa. Officially, this is a coordination between both governments to control the gangs. Therefore, it is a direct and an open interference in the internal affairs and none of the governments has the scruples to admit it. The plan of the FBI goes beyond the Salvadoran borders, because it also intends to intervene in the Guatemalan and the Honduran territory. It is a higher level of coordination to organize legal investigations, operations, intelligence actions and proceedings. Washington has chosen El Salvador over the other Central American countries by the good disposition of the Salvadoran police to accept this kind of intervention. The presence of the American advisers goes back to the first days of the National Civilian Police. Back in those days, there were European and American advisers, but the latter did not seem to like the European profile that the institution was acquiring: it was too independent, too involved with the duties of the police, in the professional sense. Washington removed the European advisors and took control of the organization, of the training, and the operations of the Salvadoran police. It should not seem odd, then, if it now finds a good level of disposition to “collaborate”, which is something ironic, because the Americans, in fact, will control those police areas that they might find convenient.

Although they might acknowledge the level of organization, sophistication, and will to work that the Salvadoran police have, they know very well that their level of intervention will increase, in other words, this is a public statement about their incapacity to guarantee an acceptable level of security to the citizenry. This failure is shared by the Guatemalan and the Honduran police as well. The “iron fist” and the “friendly” hand security projects have not brought the expected results. For that reason, Washington has decided to take a direct control. In the same way, when they saw that they could not rely on the local police to neutralize the drug trafficking, it intervened in these affairs and placed a military base in El Salvador. Once in the country, nobody will be able to prevent that the American agents go from the drug trafficking and the gangs to investigate and to even organize operations to follow their interests, which, in a strict sense, are not the duties of a foreign government. This is, therefore, one more step towards the intervention of the United States in El Salvador and in the region.

The national press, so susceptible to the participation of foreigners in the national policy, mainly when they belong to the opposition, has swallowed this new imperialistic step like a friendly and a promising gesture. It is almost certain that the FBI will control the important police and intelligence actions, it will train the Salvadoran officers in those special areas that are considered necessary to carry out their plans, and will vanish from this territory when the country loses its present appeal. Perhaps, when they go away, the Salvadoran police will have acquired some knowledge and new abilities that might increase their effectiveness. Perhaps it will be more capable to contain delinquency, to investigate crime and to face the juvenile rebelliousness. Nevertheless, it is not necessary to forget that nothing of this is a high-priority for the FBI. Its priority is to guarantee the internal security of the United States and not the one of El Salvador; if the situation of the latter somehow improves, as the result of this intervention, they might expect the country to thank them.

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Politics


The capricious nationalism of Saca

 

As early as October 30th 2002, in an article published in this weekly magazine, the attention was on the case of doctor Pedro Enrique Banchón Rivera, the Ecuadorian that the Saca administration recently expelled from the country. At the time, the editorialist was horrified by the fact that the mass media and its staff became informers of the government, under the pretext that the mentioned doctor had participated in internal political activities. In addition to the behavior of the journalist-someone called Bernardo Valiente, according to the note of La Prensa Grafica of October 26th, 2002- who became the eyes and the ears of the government, they also placed their eyes on something even more simple: to criticize the public opinion of a person just because he is a foreign citizen. "To be foreign -the text in question indicated- is not an obstacle to be interested in the problems of the country which a person visits or the country where he permanently lives in. On the contrary, it is a sign of decency that we all would have to notice. That it [ such manifestation of decency ] might be forbidden by the law is nothing but a sample of the obsolescence of the legal systems founded on an archaic nationalism ".

Over two years later, after those declarations, the Saca administration fulfilled the dreams of the defenders of the Salvadoran internal policy. In the line of what the journalist of La Prensa Grafica denounced, the Minister of Internal Affairs –with an authoritarian attitude and an insulting arrogance- stated that the Ecuadorian doctor violated the laws of the Republic, and he expelled him from the country. The contents of the day, without lifting one finger before the terrible news, seemed pleased with a decision that everyone saw coming. As it usually happens between the opinion directors, there was no time to stop and notice the authoritarian vocation of Saca, the capricious nationalism of the right wing and the selective xenophobia of some ministers of the government.

The President, who is part of a minority that is still mistreated in the Salvadoran language, could be a witness of the samples of xenophobia that characterize some of the members of this society. Saca cannot say that he has not been offended in more than one occasion because of the connotation of the word “Turkish” , through which some Salvadorans usually show their scorn towards the descendants of the Palestinian people, who started coming to the country in the beginning of the last century. The President, as the son of immigrants, must perfectly know what means to be stigmatized, and to stand contemptuous expressions about his ethnic roots, and suffer a certain kind of discrimination in the country.

There was more than one reason for the President to act in a moderate fashion during his intervention the day after Banchón was expelled from the country, he should have prevented the media from exuding such arrogance, just like the one shown by the police of the frontiers’ brigade and by both the ministers of Security and Internal Affairs. Nothing of the kind happened. Saca declared without hesitating that he had issued the order to expel the Ecuadorian doctor. It was clear, of course, that he did not seem to care that this doctor has a family in El Salvador, and that now these people do not have the right to be near him.

In this context, the expulsion of doctor Banchón fundamentally recalls all the ingredients of an authoritarian and a xenophobic State . The arrogance of the authorities has arrived at such levels that the public officials of the official party do not even hesitate to repress the actions of the delegates of the Office for the Defense of the Human Rights (PDDH, in Spanish). Cynicism has reached such high levels between the congressmen of ARENA, that some of them threaten to dismiss Beatrice de Carrillo, the director of the formerly mentioned institution, because of the behavior of her employees.

This is one more element to measure the authoritarian behavior of the right wing that yearns to govern El Salvador without any kind of opposition. It is not possible to understand that the controversy about the performance of the public officials of the PDDH continues, when a judge already has closed the case. In any serious country, where democracy reigns, the public officials who promoted the measure would have to hide before the requests of explanation made by the citizenry’s opinion. However, opposite to what happens in the civilized countries, in El Salvador, those that in trouble are indeed the defenders of the individual liberties.

Considerably, the lack of sensibility of the public opinion about the circumstances and the meaning of the expulsion of the Ecuadorian doctor is due, on the one hand, to the fact that the government manipulates the sense of nationalism; and, on the other hand, to the inconsistent idea of identity of this country. It is surprising to see that in this subject the fact that El Salvador is a country of immigrants does not mean anything, a place where, through history, the citizens have moved to other places trying to improve their situation. In addition, a certain feeling of schizophrenia has reached such a level of cynicism, that some people forget that also the Salvadorans who live abroad have essential and basic rights to protect.

The governmental decision about the alleged political activities of doctor Banchón and his later expulsion, took place in a period close to the visit of several Salvadoran public officials to the border line between Mexico and the United States. As it usually happens, the members of the committee represented by ARENA, according to the press, affected before the inhospitable environment of the obstacles that the compatriots must leave behind to make their "American dream" come true, did not establish any relations with the reality of the foreigners who live in the Salvadoran ground. At the same time that some people demand respect for the rights of the Salvadorans who live abroad, it would be necessary to start respecting those of the foreign residents in our country.

However, for the political authorities of the right wing, nationalism does not have much to do with the rights of the foreign people. They negatively and viciously followed the words of the retrograde Foreign Law, that commands to expel from the country all foreigners who a minister might consider as people involved in the internal politics. However, for a sense of decency or for some sense of justice, it would be possible to think that they have to interpret the laws and involve the justice courts in these cases, as indeed indicates the Constitution, and not make decisions based on the opinion of a handful of allergic politicians to any kind of opposite thoughts, especially if they are sustained by a foreign person.

The superficial nationalism that the public officials from ARENA rave about is not very realistic. They are the same people that, just to make a few more dollars, usually become the allies of the international bourgeoisie. They have not skimped on efforts either to look for external support whenever they have thought that their political hegemony is in danger, as they have made it evident with the clamorous interventions of American public officials in the last electoral campaign or in the case of the accounts that came from Taiwan.


The facts connected with the expulsion of doctor Banchón Rivera cannot be analyzed but as a capricious nationalism and a sample of selective xenophobia. But the most serious aspect of the subject it is the lack of conscience of most of the citizens and the continuous harassment against the PDDH, because of the employee’s performance on the subject. The unconsciousness of the Salvadorans prevents them from digging deeper into the subject, and to demand an explanation from the public officials who, obviously, went too far with the help of their duties. In addition, the harassment against the PDDH shows that the culture of human rights, the observation, and the control of the public authorities has still not reached the conscience of the right wing public officials.

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Economy


The economic conjunction of the U.S.A. and its impact on the Salvadoran economy

 

The last news about the performance of the American economy are not very encouraging for the country. Recently, The Wall Street Journal announced that inflation appears as a threat, worse than a possible economic deceleration in the U.S.A. According to several economists, the signals of a low level of growth in the North American country tend to disappear. In the last months, especially in April, the absorption of the labor force has increased, surpassing the expectations of the specialists.

For some people, a higher level of dynamism in the North American economy is the good news for the local companies, because an increase of the North American level of importation might mean a higher level of sales for the country. Nevertheless, this is moderately certain, because El Salvador does not depend exclusively on the behavior of the North American real economy, but also of the changes that the U.S.A. make in their monetary policy.

According to the American newspaper, an increase of the number of people who work in the United States could generate an increase in the prices. In fact, for some experts, the increase on the prices of petroleum, combined with a certain increase in the volume of the labor force, can make pressure towards an inflation process. Specifically, it is usually mentioned that "as the labor market expands itself and the workers start having more power to negotiate salaries and benefits, it is possible that the labor costs increase. That, at the same time, would give to the employers a higher level of incentives to elevate the prices and to protect the level of profits".

In most of the cases, the United States searches for stable prices, and that is why it constantly increases the interest rates to control the monetary flow. Some economists consider that, although inflation is not a reality yet, a feeling of inflationary pressure is present in the economy. In this context, the Secretary of the American Treasure, Alan Greenspan, decided to get ahead and take a step beyond these pressures increasing by several points the rate of federal funds, and it is probable that this kind of tendency continues.

How does this affect the Salvadoran economy? Its behavior depends on the monetary variables in the U.S.A.. Due to the dollarization process and to the foreign trade with the United States, the behavior of the index of prices and the types of interest would tend to be similar. In a context of economic stagnation of the country a certain increase on the prices of the products that come from the U.S.A., and an increase on the interest rates can intensify the negative aspects of the country’s economic situation.

In this sense, it is possible to notice how the dollarization of the economy becomes a negative aspect when two countries with the same currency go through different situations. It is evident that the U.S.A. tries to adjust its monetary policy to the behavior of real variables; however, El Salvador, by yielding the control of the monetary supply to the American Federal Reserve, has no choice but to accept these dispositions.

Although the U.S.A. has not totally closed the cycle of economic deceleration, everything seems to indicate that the country might be about to take off. A growing level of labor force inside the American industry can sustain this possibility. But in El Salvador nothing of the sort is happening. The economy is still in a phase of economic stagnation and, even worse, the demand does not seem to be reaching a reactivation process in the labor market. In other words, we are before two different economic conjunctions.

Given the national economic conjunction, it is ironic to see how dollarization becomes an obstacle, and not a benefit, because it is a mechanism that transmits to El Salvador the monetary adjustments that the U.S.A. adopts. It is evident that a different monetary policy is expected, in order to respond to equally different economic conjunctions. However, everything seems to indicate that this factor was not been seriously considered by those who decided to dollarize the country.

Monetary regimes are not some sort of "shield" offering economic stability for a country. This was one of the most defended theses by those who implemented this measure. In the context of dollarizaton, the country is characterized by increasing prices, by the lack of private investments, a high unemployment level, and, in general, a low economic performance.

According to the Salvadoran Foundation for the Social and the Economic Development (FUSADES, in Spanish), one of the expectations for this year is the increase of the investments. Nevertheless, if the transmission of the increase of the interest rates in the U.S.A. to the country can take place immediately, it is probable that many of the investments do not take shape. Several months ago, the Salvadoran banking system realized that it had been absorbing a portion of the increase in the costs of the credits, but that in the future they would no longer do that because they run the risk of having a loss. That is why it is probable that the national market of credit will be able to respond faster to the variations of the North American interest rates, and this might not be favorable for many of the private investment projects for this year.

This is a sample of what happens when the leaders of a country, instead of designing a strategy of economic development based on a consensus between diverse national sectors, they tend to impose economic measures that obey, mainly, to particular interests. In the last presidential periods of ARENA, two economic measures have been presented as solutions to the crisis: dollarization and the negotiation of the Free Trade Agreement. The first measure, as it has been mentioned before, shows how inefficient it has been as a strategy to reactivate the country’s economy. And the second one seems to be the quintessential weapon of the present government. It is not possible to deny that a commercial connection with the U.S.A. can give a certain dynamic feeling to the local economy, but some are obviously against focusing all of the attention and all of the efforts in a measure of that nature.

Recently, the Salvadoran President, in a visit to the U.S.A., said that "It is urgent. The region can no longer wait for its approval, because there are no specific and no viable alternatives to the CAFTA ". That means, according to the President, that the country does not have any opportunities to reach a higher level of development without the commercial agreement. But the President also mentioned that the other choice "would be the industrialization of the country, and the creation of incentives to attract the investments".

The conversion and reactivation of the national productive apparatus is what ARENA has not been able to do in the last 15 years. For that reason, now it thinks that the Free Trade Agreement between Central America, the Dominican Republic and the U.S.A. (CAFTA-RD) will be the key for development. Once again, the governmental responsibility to increase the development level is put on hold in order to pay attention to measures that probably will not bring benefits to all the Salvadorans. It is important to count with a program of economic development, with a certain level of autonomy and stop promoting the "dependent economy" that characterizes the country.

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