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Proceso 1145
May 18, 2005
ISSN 0259-9864
Editorial: The average sectors, betrayed
Politics: The repressive face of the government
Economy: Tension in the U.S.A. Congress for the approval of the CAFTA
The average sectors, betrayed
Since the first ARENA administration (1989-1994), the
average sectors of El Salvador have been the victim of a continuous
deterioration. Under the administration of Francisco Flores (1999-2004), things
got worse for those who had believed that, with the consolidation of the
Neo-liberal economic model, their life would improve in terms of employment,
wages, access to quality goods, and well-being. When Flores left the presidency,
the breach between the wealthy and the poor had grown further apart, the poverty
level was increasing, the privatization process had not favored most of the
Salvadorans, the amount of available jobs was more precarious than ever, the
dollarization had increased the prices, and the dependency of the remittances
had become a structural necessity of the economic apparatus. Among the most
affected social sectors by an economic conduction that favored the financial
interests and the transnational companies were the average classes, whose
expectations about having a better life, about improving their social status,
and about having access to quality products were not able to find a way to
easily reach their goals.
By the end of the Flores administration, ARENA had a serious problem in its
hands: the potential rejection of the middle class sectors, that were a key
factor not just to win the elections, but to obtain the necessary level of
legitimacy to govern with relative stability. Perhaps then, the general
situation of poverty was a problem for ARENA; perhaps its advisers and
ideologists feared that the popular sectors, overwhelmed by an increasing level
of misery, would adopt a rebellious attitude towards the elections and vote for
the FMLN. This presumption allows to explain a considerable portion of the
electoral campaign that catapulted Antonio Saca to the presidency of the
Republic.
Saca’s image was basically advertised as an average individual: with humble
beginnings –according to the propaganda-, but that with a constant amount of
effort and dedication, he defeated the obstacles and became a successful person,
economically and politically speaking. Saca made the traditional (and the
perhaps eternal) dreams of the average sectors come true: to go from less to
more, to go further in life, to reach a better social position, to have access
to high quality goods, to win... In this subject, those who skillfully designed
the image that Saca would be launched with knew how to work with symbols,
emblems and myths -the myth of social progress, for example- something that the
average sectors identify themselves with in an imaginary and in an emotional
sense. The peek of this emotional strategy occurred when a rumor started. This
rumor indicated that if the FMLN were to win the elections, those that had more
than a house or more than one automobile, would lose their possessions because
they would inevitably be taken away by a government of the left wing.
Seen with coldness and rationality, that threat -and others disseminated by the
right wing- was not credible. Nevertheless, a significant segment of the middle
class sectors -which included bank employees, public employees, retailers, and
professionals- could not just stop and watch with coldness or rationality such a
delicate and a vital subject. It did not matter if one of the two vehicles was
being paid through credit, or if one of the two houses had a mortgage, or if
their credit cards were overdrawn. The important thing was that cars, houses and
credit cards were a symbol of progress, well-being and success; therefore, the
defense of those goods and the lifestyle that came along with them (and that was
guaranteed by it) was more important than any other consideration. To vote for
ARENA was, for many, a guarantee that those goods and that their lifestyle would
be secure. Saca played with those ambitions and with those dreams; he encouraged
them and, in addition, he committed himself to protect that lifestyle.
When Saca was proclaimed as the winner of the elections, those that from the
average sectors gave their votes to him, breathed with relief: the communist
threat against their goods and properties had been neutralized, and, from now
on, the goal would be to continue improving –to pay their debts, to hope for an
income increase, to acquire more goods, and to keep their well-being-, just like
the candidate they had voted for promised it. The reality was different from
this. The promises made to the average sectors soon were revealed as what they
actually were: mere promises. Almost a year after the presidential inauguration,
Saca has not done much for the average sectors. Public and private employees,
small and medium retailers, professionals, retired people... All of them are
suffering the pressure of the frozen wages, the high taxes, the increasing
prices, the financial voracity of both the banks and the institutions, the
disadvantages of privatization, and the lack of employment opportunities. The
Salvadoran average sectors are going through what the middle-class in other
Latin American countries go through: its social mobility is frozen, there are no
hopes in the future, they are being struck by increasing levels of poverty and a
negative sensation predominates among the people.
Altogether, the poverty level keeps growing among the average sectors. It seems
peculiar, but ARENA, with Saca as a candidate, offered to save these sectors
from a threatening situation: the possibility that the FMLN would take their
belongings away from them. The problem is that now that Saca is the President,
it is the banking system and the financial institutions the ones that are
threatening people with taking away their car or the house that they cannot
afford to pay for. That is, many of those who voted for Saca run the risk of
losing their property because of the economically powerful groups that are the
allies of the President and his party.
Anyone will say that the average sectors –those who among them voted for Saca
and ARENA- are getting their deserved punishment, for allowing themselves to be
seduced and manipulate by the slogans that promised success, individualism and
consumption. Perhaps it might be true. Yet, what there is no doubt about is that
Saca and his party have betrayed those sectors, because they are doing with them
indeed the opposite of what they promised. Before such a critical situation, the
possibility to leave the country remains as a firm option. The other answer –and
more of a remote probability, however more promising for the society- is that
the average sectors are able to become the promoters of a social transformation
able to redefine the axes of the social, the economic, and the political
administration of El Salvador.
The repressive face of the government
In the present administration of Elías Antonio Saca, so to
speak, the tasks that can lead to deception are sort of distributed. On the one
hand, there are the ministers who appear before the journalists raving about
their administration “with a human sense”. The Ministers of Education, Economy,
the Commissioner for the Defense of the Consumers, and the First Lady do respond
to this description. In the best tradition of the Creole policy, as it can be
seen in this list of outstanding public officials, the women are associated with
feelings of compassion and tenderness. They are directly in charge, along with
the President, of materializing the motto of the fourth ARENA administration, "a
government with human sense".
The considerable level of acceptance that the government reflects in the opinion
polls is mostly due to this amiable face that the President and the public
officials show. That is why Saca can continue selling his image of a President
who worries about the needs of the Salvadorans, instead of getting involved in
sterile and interminable discussions with the opposition. This one, especially
the FMLN, is presented in the governmental speeches as the hideout of those who,
in an irrational manner, are against the good intentions of the Executive power.
On the other hand, there are the other ministers, the bloodhounds of the
government, the ones that take care of the repression against the opponents. In
this role, the Minister of Governance (Rene Figueroa) and the Minister of the
Public Security (Rodrigo Avila) stand out in a particular way. Both, with a
winding political trajectory, were devoted in this first year as the ones in
charge of the dirty laundry of the government. Avila has had an uneven amount of
luck in his incursion in the national politics. After he enjoyed having a
considerable amount of approval because of his performance at the head of the
National Civilian Police, he failed in his attempt to take control of the City
Hall of Santa Tecla. Thus, his role in the Saca administration remains behind
the scenes, under the shade of the Minister of Governance. The latter, however,
thanks to his political sense of opportunism, went from being a dark deputy,
whose presence in the Legislative Assembly was little less than a decorative
factor, to becoming the most outstanding character of the Saca administration.
Unlike some of his colleagues, who placed their bets on other competitors
aspired to become the presidential candidate of the official party, Figueroa did
place his bet for the one that turned out to be the winner of the internal
battle at the party of the businessmen.
Therefore, both ministers in charge of the security branch have outstood in a
peculiar manner in the last days. They were the ones that followed the
presidential orders -if the statements of the President are considered- to expel
the Ecuadorian doctor, Pedro Banchón, because of his alleged violation of the
laws of the Republic. The measure was performed with repression, before the
overwhelmed glance of the competing branch of the State’s public officials that
defend the human rights, people that were also the victims of police brutality.
Since his arrival to the Executive power, Saca has spoken in a peaceful tone,
while he made his popularity rest on the declared war against the juvenile
gangs. There is no doubt that the popularity of the President in the opinion
polls is due to this “skillful” way to handle repression and wordiness about his
alleged political moderation. In this context, the different polls reveal that
the Salvadorans believe that the most outstanding features of the President are
his dynamism and his evident will to operate changes in the political relations
between the different national actors.
Nevertheless, contrary to the announcements of good intentions, the Minister of
Governance can be noticed by the virulence and radicalism that he uses to treat
his opponents. René Figueroa is not frightened to repress the figure of the gang
members and the figure of the political opponents, two groups that he apparently
considers at the same level. Last week, a congressman of the FMLN participated
in the United States in a protest against the Free Trade Agreement (TLC, in
Spanish) of El Salvador with Central America, the Minister publicly reprimanded
the congressman and called him “traitor”. The only thing that Figueroa did not
do was to say that the congressman of the FMLN, Salvador Arias, deserved to be
shot in a crowded public place, for projecting a bad image of the country
abroad.
At the same time, there was an offensive promoted by both the government and the
news media with the intention to make the congressman in question return the
traveling expenses granted by the Legislative Assembly to participate in this
official mission. Apparently, even the Comptroller’s Office of the Republic
intervened in the affair to demand that the congressman of the FMLN would return
the money. It is important to pay attention to this subject because it perfectly
illustrates how the President and his Minister understand the rights of the
opposition. While he and his public officials make any amount of trips that they
judge necessary to defend their economic project before the American
congressmen, they deny to the members of the opposition their right to publicly
express their disagreement with a treaty that, in their opinion, will not solve
the economic and social problems of the country.
In the same line, the local street protests of the opposition are repressed with
brutality. The excuses that the dark Minister of Governance uses are that it is
a violent minority that does not see with good eyes the positive job that the
government is doing to resolve the most crucial problems of the Salvadorans. If
we consider the results of the different public opinion polls, it is possible to
say that Saca has the approval of most Salvadorans. Nevertheless, as anyone who
might haven taken any time to reflect about the mechanisms of democracy, this
concept does not mean to exclude the minorities, or, to say it in the words of
Geovani Sartori, majorities are never absolute. The minorities have the right to
speak their mind, to talk about their displeasures and frustrations,
understanding that those that today enjoy the support of the majorities can
become a minority in the future.
It is indeed this thought what the President and his Minister of Government do
not seem to appreciate very clearly. Actually, they deny the most basic rights
to the opposition, and it is over the heads of the opposition that a permanent
threat floats: the use of the State’s forces of security against them. By the
end of last year, with the opposition against the approval of the TLC, from the
particular perspective of this government of the public security, the State’s
Organism of Intelligence (OIE, in Spanish) published in the newspapers a list
with the photographs of the members of the opposition that participated in the
formerly mentioned event, who were accused for subversive activities.
In short, after the first year of the Saca administration, in spite of all the
pompous declarations, at a political level, it is possible to say that the
President is not that different from his predecessor. He continues handling an
extremely narrow conception of politics that stands out by a small level of
tolerance before the critics. In this sense, the President has not done much to
neutralize the environment of political irritation that left Francisco Flores.
However, unlike Flores, Saca has avoided direct confrontations with the
opposition, but the tasks assigned to the repressive bodies of the State are not
far from the traditional Salvadoran political conception, which does not admit
any kind of opposition to the decisions of the President.
Tension in the U.S.A. Congress for the approval of the CAFTA
Last week, the Central American presidents traveled to the
U.S.A. to promote the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between Central
America, the Dominican Republic and the North American country (CAFTA-RD). For
the presidents, the approval of the commercial agreement would represent the
opening of a "new footpath towards development" for the Central American
countries. George Bush is also very interested in the ratification of the
commercial agreement. For the North American President, the free trade between
the U.S.A. and Central America would help the inhabitants of the region to
improve their life standards and contribute to the consolidation of democracy.
In spite of the efforts of the presidents, in the Congress of the United States
the Democrat congressmen strongly oppose to this project, and they are not
willing to vote for the ratification of the agreement. The Democrats consider
that the CAFTA-RD may not be convenient for the North American workers. The
approval of the TLC between Central America and the U.S.A. could generate a
considerable reduction in the number of jobs available in the sector of sugar
and in the textile area. For that reason, several congressmen of the states that
have companies of this nature are not willing to give their vote, since this
could increase the unemployment rates in those states.
In this controversial situation between Republicans and Democrats it is
interesting to remember the words of the head of the North American foreign
trade, Robert Zoellick, who declared that "now, the towns of the region ask for
our help to consolidate their work with a narrower economic relation that could
be a new foundation to create opportunities". It seems that for this public
official the CAFTA has to be seen as a helping hand to the Central American
countries to improve its development level. That is why he indicates that it is
not advisable to support the particular interests of the producers and the
unions of the sector of sugar and the textile area. He uses a strategy that
indicates that the commercial agreement is sort of a "charity event" for the
countries of the Isthmus, and that it would be selfish to go against it. That
is, under the logic of a sentimental perspective, the objective is to support
the agreement.
The situation in the Congress of the United States is so closed that all the
presidents have approached themselves to the groups that are against the treaty.
Many of the presidents of the Isthmus have visited enterprise unions to invite
them to pressure their respective congressmen so that they vote for the approval
of the CAFTA. Others have personally visited the Democrat congressmen, who
refuse to vote in favor of it. In this context, one of the latest news is that
president Bush would be willing to leave the sugar union out of future
commercial agreements, in order that it accepts, for this time, to support the
CAFTA.
The case of El Salvador
On the other hand, the Salvadoran President has also promoted the CAFTA in the
U.S.A. Saca visited different enterprise unions to convince them that the treaty
will bring more investment opportunities for the country. From this perspective,
everything seems to indicate that the Government centers all of its hopes in the
economic results that can derive from the implementation of the TLC.
For the government, the CAFTA is not just one more instrument for the country’s
social development, but the only instrument of development that the country
counts with before the society’s economic stagnation. It seems peculiar to
notice how the governmental policy of the last ARENA administrations has only
promoted a “personal strangling procedure" of the country’s economic policy. In
the first place, with the dollarization, the control of the monetary policy was
lost and, therefore, one of the most important instruments to control the
interest rates. On the other hand, with the inadequate administration of the
Central Government’s debt, the capacity of the policy created to reactivate the
country through a better public investment was minimized. In this context, with
the hands tied -without a monetary policy and with the little capacity of the
fiscal policy-there is nothing left but to surrender to the last one of the
panaceas of the free trade after the TLC with Mexico: the CAFTA.
That is why, as Rafael Castellanos stated it, -an important representative of
the interests of the business sector- in the short term there is no other
solution but to ratify the TLC with the U.S.A. Given the economic conjunction of
the country, in his opinion there is no other choice. That is why he tells the
Salvadorans to promote the ratification of the agreement, because it will bring
good results for the future generations. In his declarations, Castellanos
forgets to mention that some economic policies implemented during the last ARENA
administrations, such as the privatization of the banking, the electrical
energy, the telecommunications, and the pensions’ systems were economic measures
agreed with the interests of the private sector which were sold to the citizenry
as measures that would improve the life standards of all Salvadorans. However,
this happened exclusively for a small group of the society. It is possible to
think that the same will happen with the CAFTA.
In this sense, it would be good to know what would happen in the country if the
Congress of the U.S.A. does not ratify the CAFTA. Is there another alternative
to improve the country’s development level? Last week, president Saca said that
another strategy "would be the industrialization of the country and the creation
of incentives to attract investments". This brings us to another equally
important question: why during the last 15 years of ARENA administrations they
never promoted a policy of conversion for the country’s business sector?
It must be clear that if now the CAFTA looks like the only strategy for the
economic and the social development of the country it is because the last
administrations "amputated" other possibilities of development for the country.
This does not mean that the CAFTA is bad in itself, but it would be very
different if El Salvador counted with productive system strong enough to
penetrate into the international free trade instead of doing it under the
adverse conditions of the present time.
As it is possible to notice, the negotiation of a Free Trade Agreement is a
subject that cannot be seen exclusively from an analytical perspective of costs
and benefits -as many economists that follow the prevailing economic theory
think-. It also involves a range of political and institutional factors such as
the interests of the different business unions, political unions, parties and
sectors of the civil society that intend not to lose or to obtain more benefits.
It is not possible to have a reduced vision of the problem that tries to
describe the situation as a struggle between good and evil -as the Salvadoran
government intends to make it look like-. It is evident that in a country that
hopes to reach a higher level of democracy any person who thinks that his or her
economic interests are threatened has the right to protest, and anyone that sees
the opportunity to obtain certain benefits has the right to fight for them, the
point is to do it within certain democratic procedures able to find a consensus
and, in the end, the best number of benefits for the majorities.
Tel: +503-210-6600 ext. 407, Fax: +503-210-6655 |