Political Violence Increases in El Salvador
As student groups prepare to commemorate the anniversary of an infamous massacre of students by government forces on July 30, 1975, political violence continues in El Salvador 33 years later. In the last two years, social organizations, human rights monitors, community groups and the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) political party have publically denounced the alarming increase in politically-motivated assassinations of their members and leadership.2008 has been particularly violent for organized sectors of the population.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than a half dozen murders that, though unresolved, seem to be political in nature. The Salvadoran population in general continues to be affected by the assassinations of community leaders, including the recent murder of Holman Riva. According to police reports, Riva, an employee of the FMLNs municipal government in the municipality of Ilopango, was killed on July 2, along with his nephew. The victims were taken from their home in the middle of the night and shot with nine bullets each.
These recent assassinations come in the wake of a series of murders of activists and opposition politicians earlier this year. Héctor Ventura, who had been cleared of terrorism charges in February after participating in a protest against water privatization last summer, was killed in his home on May 2. In January, the mayor of Alegría, Wilber Funes, was killed alongside municipal employee Zulma Rivera. The young, popular mayor had planned to run for reelection as a member of the FMLN party in 2009. Referring to these assassinations, FMLN deputy Benito Lara recently stated that here we have various cases that remain unresolved, unclear, and it is difficult for us to accept the theory that these are merely cases of common crime.
In spite of national and international outcry, Salvadoran authorities have yet to respond to calls for serious investigations into each one of these cases. To this date, each of the cases remains in impunity.
Right-wing parties refuse to audit comptrollers office
Faced with the fact the El Salvadors Corte de Cuentas (comptrollers office; in charge of government accountability and oversight) has not been audited since 1995, and in response to a series of solicitations made the FMLN seeking an explanation of anomalies in the governments handling of five international loan agreements, the Legislative Assembly recently ordered an audit of the entity.
However, the president of the Corte de Cuentas, Hernan Contreras, has publicly refused to cooperate with such an audit. Contreras is a leader of the right-wing National Conciliation Party (PCN). Constitutionally, [the audit] should not be done, declared Contreras, whose consecutive appointments as leader of the comptrollers office has been vociferously challenged by opposition parties. Roberto Lorenzana, a legislative deputy representing the FMLN, countered that all of the institutions of the state should be audited.
According to the legal organization FESPAD, various social organizations have also called for an audit of the Corte de Cuentas. Following FESPADs analysis of the situation, the Cortes failure to fulfill its oversight functions has resulted in widespread distrust of the institution among the Salvadoran population.
ARENAs Grad Crusade deemed absurd
On July 6, the governing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party held a campaign event titled the Grand Nationalist Crusade in San Salvadors Cuscatlan Stadium. Facing next years elections with a presidential candidate, Rodrigo Ávila, who still does not have a running mate and who has not been able to consolidate the partys supporters, ARENAs event sought to duplicate the leftist FMLNs national convention, which took place in the same stadium last November, and at which that partys presidential ticket was officially introduced to a capacity crowd of 70,000. According to media reports in the online newspaper El Faro, as well as personal testimonies of workers, many government employees were forced to attend the event in an effort to fill the stadium.
ARENAs Grand Crusade has been strongly criticized by ARENAs traditional right-wing allies in the PCN party, whose General Coordinator, Ciro Cruz Cepeda, judged the activity to be an absurd thing. Cruz Cepeda added that, when a political institution forces its employees to attend its campaign rallies, it could generate weakness within the party.
Several days before the event, employees of various public institutions began speaking out against pressures they were facing from high-level government officials to attend the partisan event. Among the government entities that pressured employees to take part in the Grand Crusade were the Social Security Institute, the public water administration, and the ministries of education and governance. On the day of the event, the ARENA party transported attendees to the stadium using government vehicles.
In his speech at the event, presidential candidate Ávila urged the audience to work to defeat the FMLN at the polls, calling on ARENAs supporters to be unified to defend liberty in the face of the threat of communism.
According to Juan Pablo Durán, legislative deputy from the Democratic Change (CD) party, ARENAs event sought to demonstrate unity in a moment of weakness. Many analysts also pointed to signs of continued internal divisions within ARENA as evidenced by the conspicuous absence of ARENAs three ex-presidents, Christiani, Calderon Sol, and Flores.
