Salvadoran Social Movement Organizes Major Protests against CAFTA Implementation

With municipal and legislative elections approaching in El Salvador, ARENA looked to Washington last week for a last-minute back-patting photo opportunity that ARENA could use for its lagging campaign. With less than 2 weeks to go before the March 12 elections, most polls still show the FMLN leading in the all-important race for San Salvador, and with the likelihood of picking up a handful of seats in the National Assembly. The Bush administration, wary of another leftist victory in Latin America, pulled out the red carpet for President Saca.

Saca came to Washington at the end of last week for a meeting with President Bush during which they announced that the U.S. and El Salvador would move ahead alone in beginning CAFTA on March 1st (the other countries that ratified the agreement will join CAFTA in the following months once they bring their laws in line with U.S. recommendations.) They also announced that Bush would again support extending TPS, the temporary residency permits that allow more than 200,000 Salvadorans to work and live in the U.S. legally Furthermore, Saca bragged to the Salvadoran press that he was given extra-special treatment by being allowed to stay in the White House's guest residence, usually reserved for close allies of the U.S.. Finally, Bush and Saca announced at the end of the meeting that Bush would push to get El Salvador classified as a strategic ally in NATO, supposedly to bring El Salvador even to the U.S. in fighting organized crime

While the meeting got little media attention in the U.S., Saca and ARENA have been playing up the visit in the Salvadoran press and in their electoral campaigning. Saca talked about the special guest house as proof that his government is a close ally to Washington. "It is a place where only Bush's dearest, most esteemed friends stay,