Youth Arrested Under Anti-Terrorism Law Assassinated in Suchitoto

Friday, 09 May 2008

Hector Antonio Ventura, one of the 14 people originally captured during an anti-water privatization protest in the town of Suchitoto last year, was assassinated on May 3 in his home. The assailants apparently stabbed him to death, while another man was attacked but survived. Organizations such as the legal group FESPAD have called for a full investigation into the death of the 19-year old Ventura, while already expressing concern that Salvadoran authorities would not sufficiently address the likely political motivation for the murder.

Ventura was among 13 people charged under the controversial “Special Law Against Acts of Terrorism”, which was passed by the right-wing bloc in the Legislative Assembly in 2006. In February all charges against the activists were dropped, but the case demonstrated internationally the repressive nature of the current right-wing ARENA government. Meanwhile, other possible political murders – such as the slaying of FMLN mayor Wilber Funes in January – have yet to be resolved, raising the specter of increased political violence during the lead up to the 2009 Salvadoran elections.

Salvadoran social movement celebrates May Day

Denouncing the high cost of living, the ongoing food crisis, and the rising fuel prices that are paralyzing the country, a diverse group of social organizations marched through the main streets of San Salvador on May 1st, International Workers’ Day.

The participation of various sectors of the population, including peasants, students, women, professionals, unionists, and FMLN party members, made the march a historic one. Thousands of people peacefully walked through the streets until arriving in the Civic Plaza, where the march culminated with a political and cultural celebration featuring speeches by Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sánchez Cerén, the FMLN’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates, respectively.

The message of the assembled organizations, and of the FMLN’s candidates, focused on the high cost of living and the central government’s ineptitude in implementing any means of alleviating the economic crisis faced by the Salvadoran population. According to Benito Lara, an FMLN deputy to the Legislative Assembly, the march was “a rejection of the economic crisis, which is the product of the failure of the neoliberal model.”

At the same time, the social organizations – joined by the FMLN – rejected ineffective, facade-like measures taken by Salvadoran Presidenet Antonio Saca, including the creation of the Economic Commission, which is similar the failed Security Commission that was created last year. The Security Commission made numerous recommendations to the government which have yet to be acted upon.

“The government manipulates the discussion to the point that everything appears under control, but the working class continues being marginalized, with salaries hitting the floor and the cost of food on the rise,” said Rufino Quesada, march participant and Chancellor of the National University of El Salvador.

Social sectors criticize government’s ineffectiveness in face of economic crisis

On Monday, April 28, President Saca delivered a 9-page speech on the national networks outlining the government’s 8 measures to alleviate the economic crisis facing El Salvador. The majority of the announced policies have already been proposed as components of previous government initiatives, including the much criticized “Alliance for the Family” and “Solidarity Network.” In response, several international officials, as well as economists, judged Saca’s proposals to be sterile and ineffective. William Pleytez, representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in El Salvador concurred that, “the country definitely needs more aggressive measures” to alleviate the crisis faced by the vast majority of the population.

Joining the chorus of criticism, University of El Salvador economist Raúl Moreno highlighted Saca’s refusal to recognize the failure of the ruling ARENA party’s economic policies over the past 20 years. Instead, Saca contends that El Salvador’s economic crisis results only from a larger global problem. “It is time to stop attributing internal problems of this country to external phenomena,” Moreno stated.

Additionally, Human Rights Ombudsman Oscar Luna called upon President Saca to declare a national emergency in response to the high cost of certain staple food products. Luna emphasized that the government is doing little to nothing to fight the crisis, and insisted that Saca initiate “other types of progressive measures so that economic, social, and cultural rights can be guaranteed.”

ARENA and PCN propose alarming change to Electoral Code

After pushing reforms to the Electoral Code through the Legislative Assembly at the end of 2007, including the elimination of the requirement that all ballots be stamped and signed by poll workers, the right-wing PCN (National Conciliation Party) and ARENA parties recently proposed an additional amendment to the same law, which governs El Salvador’s electoral process. The proposal would affect Article 175, which deals with the ability of parties to field candidates in coalition. After dramatic public outcry, the PCN has withdrawn its support for the proposal at this time, though it could be brought up again at another time.

The proposed reform would permit the votes for one presidential candidate to be counted toward the total of another, more popular candidate if the two parties concerned have previously formed an official coalition. Such a reform would allow PCN and ARENA, the principal right wing parties, to combine their candidates’ votes in order to retain the presidency in the event of a strong showing by the FMLN.

Legislative deputy Elizardo González Lovo, in statements made to the Salvadoran news website El Faro, argued that the reform is not means of robbing the election. “If you will notice, this article [175] does not impede parties from competing separately in the presidential campaign. This affects what can happen after the end of the voting, when it is time to count votes. Imagine: the PCN’s candidate receives 600,000 votes and ARENA’s candidate received 800,000, totaling 1,400,000 votes. The right wins.”

According to Juan Carlos Sánchez, representative of the legal organization FESPAD and member of the Citizens’ Action initiative, the reform “destroys the direct vote, thus violating Article 78 of the Constitution, which deals with this subject.” In Sanchez’s analysis, the proposed amendment to the Electoral Code leaves open the possibility that the valid votes for lesser parties within a coalition would be negotiated away to benefit the party that received the most votes among those in the coalition. This paves the way for a deliberate, fraudulent manipulation of the El Salvador’s electoral process.

Delmy Valencia, representative of the Center for Exchange and Solidarity, denounced the proposed reform, stating that “these are the types of actions that led to the civil war. These are practices designed to keep one group in power.”

FMLN commemorates the birth of Farabundo Martí

El Salvador’s principal opposition political party, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) celebrated the 115th anniversary of it’s namesake’s birth on Monday, May 5. A public event honored the historic revolutionary leader at his graveside in San Salvador.

Farabundo Martí was born on May 5, 1893, in the municipality of Teotepeque, Departament of La Libertad. As a young man, Martí enrolled in the University of El Salvador, where he studied Jurisprudence and Social Sciences. However, academic pursuits turned out to be a low priority for the budding leader, who left the university to travel throughout the region, joining workers and peasants in their struggles wherever he found them.

After being elected Secretary of the Exterior of the Central American Communist Party in 1925, Martí returned to El Salvador to form part of the leadership of the Regional Federation of Salvadoran Workers. In 1928 he ventured to Nicaragua, where he fought under General Augusto Cesar Sandino against the invasion by United States military forces. In 1930 he again returned to El Salvador, this time as a representative of the International Red Cross. At the same time, Martí became involved in the Communist Party of El Salvador, and in little time was among is leaders.

At the end of the 1920s, the Salvadoran military dictatorship expelled Martí from his own country. However, he returned on February 20, 1931, to help the Communist Party lead the General Insurrectional Strike. Less than a year later, on February 1, 1932, Agustín Farabundo Martí and two of his compañeros in the struggle, Alfonso Luna and Mario Zapata, were shot and killed by operatives of dictator Maximiliano Martínez.