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CIS

Colonia Libertad,

Avenida Bolívar # 103

San Salvador, El Salvador

Centroamérica

Teléfonos:

(503) 2226-5362              

(503) 2235-1330

e-mail: cis_elsalvador@yahoo.com

January 2002

1. Ten Years after the Peace Accords

2. Results of Privatization in El Salvador

3. Remains Found in Old National Police Headquarters

10 Years after the Peace Accords

January 16, 2002 marked the ten-year anniversary of the signing of the Peace Accords, which ended the12 year civil war in El Salvador. Different sectors of the society have used the date to reflect on the past and project their views for the future. Given the current state of economic and social instability and democratic intolerance demonstrated by the governing party, a review of the analysis presented by the different sectors is particularly important to the solidarity movement in order to better understand the past, present and also future scenarios. It is extremely important for the social-justice movement, including international solidarity's role within that movement, to be aware of what the future could hold in order to construct a true alternative instead of simply reacting.

Arena's Position and Strategy

For President Francisco Flores and ARENA, the Peace Accords have been totally complied with and it is time to move on, not let these things of the past obstruct the future. The government has invited the UN Secretary General, Kofi Anan, to participate in a "closing ceremony." Kofi Anan is scheduled to be in the country on March 16. According to Oscar Santamaría, ex-negotiator from the government commission, "An environment of peace, harmony, tranquility and expectations for the future are the results (of the Peace Accords) we now enjoy."

The government commemorated the date in Perquín, Morazán, an FMLN stronghold during the war. The commemoration included: René Emilio Ponce, last Minister of Defense during the war; Oscar Santamaría; ex-presidents Alfredo Cristiani and Calderón Sol; U.S. Ambassador, Rose Likins; Francisco Jovel; Joaquín Villalobos; and Ana Guadalupe Martínez. The government chose Perquín as a public sign of willingness to meet with the FMLN, but secretly excluded the FMLN from the event in order to paint the FMLN as being ant-Peace Accords. The FMLN gave a press conference denouncing the fact that the government denied the FMLN to participate as speakers or organizers of the event and then only invited them at the last minute.

During the event, "Flores officially declared that the process of transition from war to peace had been completed." Alfredo Cristiani (president 1989-1994) stated "The agreement to fortify democracy in the country has been completed." Armando Calderón Sol (1994-1999) went even further, "The Peace Accords have been complied with and completion was even surpassed." Flores praised the ex-presidents as being the "the president of peace" and "the president of reconstruction", respectively. Particularly worrisome is Flores' intolerant position, in one of his speaches he stated that after finalizing the Peace Accords he didn't have anything else to discuss with the FMLN.

The government far from totally complying with the Peace Accords has been relentless in their attempts to role back some of the few gains established by the accords. The FMLN and "social movement" have been articulate in denouncing those areas that have not yet been complied with and they have equally denounced those established gains that have been incessantly attacked by the government.

The New National Civilian Police (PNC) Law

The Legislative Assembly recently created and passed a new PNC law to replace the old laws, which were born out of the Peace Accords. The new law eliminates many of the gains won out of the negotiations. The new laws include:

The development of the new laws was done in almost complete secrecy. The PNC was established by the Peace Accords. Such an undemocratic and exclusive process of changing the nature of the PNC is an arrogant attack on the process of peace. The new changes that give the General Director concentrated powers are dangerous in that a police institution which has so much power and responsibility requires internal and external mechanisms of control. The new law instead of fortifying control mechanisms undemocratically concentrates power in the hands of the President and the Directors.

Human Rights Procurator's Office

ARENA has taken a number of steps to weaken and break the Human Rights Procurator's Office. During last July and August ARENA blocked the election of a new Procurator forcing the office to endure a significant period without a Procurator. At one point, ARENA rejected all 26 proposals by the civil society. In the same period, the Right block in the Legislative Assembly passed a law calling for the "purging" of the office without any objective evaluation mechanisms. After ARENA finally allowed a procurator to be elected, the Flores government assigned a debilitating amount to the Human Rights Procurator's Office in the 2002 budget. From 2001 to 2002 the total percentage of the budget allocated to the Human Rights Procurator's Office fell from 0.73% of the budget to 0.63%. Not only did the percentage of the budget decrease, the raw amount also decreased and in 2002 the Procurator's Office will see US$676,311.00 less. In addition, as of this writing, the Procurator's Office is still without its own physical space. In the end of January, Flores made an offer to place the Procurator's office in a run-down building near the city center. The building does not have functioning elevators, electricity, bathrooms, etc. The Procurator, Beatrice de Carillo rejected the offer pointing out that there is no money allocated for the renovation of the building therefore accepting the space would be a virtual institutional suicide.

Other structural reforms established by the Peace Accords that have been under attack by the ARENA governments include: the case of the Intelligence Organism of the State (OIE) and the agreement on public security. In the case of the OIE, the Peace Accords established that the director of the OIE will be a civilian named by the President of El Salvador with a wide base of support. The presidents since the Peace Accords have yet to consult any of the opposition sectors of society regarding the position. In addition, the Accords established that "…the activity of the Intelligence Organism of the State will be supervised by the Legislative Assembly…" The Right block has never allowed for such a supervision. The agreement signed by the Salvadoran government and the U.S. government allowing for a U.S. military installation on Salvadoran territory infringed on the Peace Accords as well. The National Civilian Police was to be the only institution responsible for public security, not the military, or even worse, a foreign military.

Not only have the ARENA administrations attempted to deteriorate the institutions, and reforms to institutions, created by the Peace Accords, they have also refused to take initiative on carrying out several key accords, as the FMLN and the "social movement" have pointed out.

Position of the FMLN and social movement

Social and Economic Forum

The Peace Accords included an agreement to establish a civil society forum to allow for social and economic consensus building. For the FMLN this agreement was very strategic in that it was to allow for a space of participation in shaping the economic and social policies of the country. Oppressive economic policy, which created violent poverty, the lack of opportunities for democratic participation and extreme violations of human rights were the underlying reasons the population was forced to take up arms. In order for the ruling elite to maintain their wealth and control over the country it has been strategic for them to assure that such a forum does not get established in any meaningful way.

In particular, the FMLN and social movement have strongly criticized the government for not carrying out this fundamental accord. As a result of the lack of the social and economic forum, the government has been able to unleash harsh neo-liberal policies that have been devastating the country. These policies have included:

In the absence of the forum, the FMLN is planning to revitalize the popular movement, uniting the "civil society" of the social movement and the popular political movement. According to Schafik Handal, "...we as the FMLN know that there are many pending themes (of the Peace Accords) and we are going to retake to the social struggles and promote the organization among the civil society in order to revert neoliberalism." The official statement of the FMLN reads, "The FMLN will be at the side of the people in their struggles and we will support and accompany all the popular struggles. We will aid and encourage popular organizing and their legitimate struggle to completely defeat neo-liberalism and their owners."

Other agreements around which little or nothing has advanced in ten years include: the creation of a fund to benefit orphans and family members of people killed in the war, and the legalization of "human settlements".  Human settlements are re-populated communities of ex-refugees.  Families continue to exist without legal land titles or security that they can continue to live in (much less improve, or buy or sell) their own homes.  One such community is Hatos II, one of the five settlements that make up the Segundo Montes Community in northern Morazán. In addition, despite the broadening of the pension fund for war wounded in the 2002 budget, among ex-FMLN combatants alone, roughly 10,000 people continue to receive no benefits.

Various churches and human rights groups have warned that the country could return to experience the era of conflict due to the government's complete unwillingness to allow for opposition participation and their incessantly damaging economic policies. Without the completion of the Accords, such spaces for participation will never be given and the economic policies of the government will force the society to take drastic measures as the elite drives the country into more poverty, unemployment, suffering and more authoritarian rule. The next elections could prove to be vital in that the last two governments have accomplished much in the area of reverting the Peace Accords and returning to a time of authoritarianism and conflict breeding. At the same time, the social justice movement must be clear in their goal for a new government and unite as the superficial peace will probably be challenged. As Hector Dada Hirezi (President of the think-tank FLASCO) pointed out "…what would the right do if the left takes power…we had the example with the presidency of the Legislative Assembly, it was denied to the FMLN by the parties of the right…"

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Results of Privatizations in El Salvador

In the last month's CIS Bulletin, the current situation confronting public sector workers was detailed to the reader. As the government pushes the privatization wave on, we believe it is appropriate to take time to look at the results of previous privatization schemes in El Salvador. In order to successfully articulate an argument against neo-liberalism and privatization, an understanding of the results of privatization (in our case in El Salvador) is a fundamental must. What are the results of privatization in El Salvador? How does privatization fit into the larger picture of "neo-colonialism"? What are the real desired results of privatization? This article will try to address these three questions in relation to the experience of El Salvador. Due to limitations of space this article does not intend to be an exhaustive study on the matter but rather intends to give the reader some basic facts relating to the results of the privatization process in El Salvador and how that process fits into the larger global political-economic context.

The privatization process was initiated by the ARENA party when they took power in 1989. The process took off in the early 1990s when ARENA president, Alfredo Cristiani, began to reverse the nationalization process that occurred in the early 1980s due to the civil war. ARENA then began to privatize the best state-owned companies and the privatization process has continued through the 3 consecutive ARENA administrations. The "first round" of privatizations established the re-transferring of the finance system from public to private hands. The "second round" privatized state-owned companies that did not provide strictly public services. Such period lasted from 1990-1993. The "third round" refers to the privatization of state-owned companies that provide public services such as health care, electricity distribution, water, etc. The privatization process in El Salvador is part of the Economic Stabilization Program and Structural Adjustment Program (SAPs) of the World Bank, IDB, and the IMF. These global financial institutions hold privatizations as requisites for receiving loan money. The ARENA administrations and the global financial institutions act as partners in carrying out the neo-liberal recipe. The willingness of ARENA to carry out the policies dictated by the global institutions has earned El Salvador consistent good marks on the World Bank/IMF and US scales.

The following is a list of companies and services that have been privatized since 1989 in El Salvador (does not include the current privatization processes):

Immediate Impacts of Specific Privatizations

ANTEL

A consistency in privatization is mass firings and rising unemployment. In 1994, the State-owned telecommunications company, ANTEL, had around 7,000 workers and now under the private company France Telecom, the company has only 3,200 workers. Another result of privatization in this sector has been union busting. The International Labor Organization denounced and condemned the violation of union rights committed by CTE/Telecom. In addition, the State lost much needed money to fund social services, such as healthcare, education, sanitation, etc. In 1997, the administration announced that before being privatized, ANTEL brought the State an annual profit of ¢1.3 billion (US $149 million). In addition, prices have risen by around 900% and customer service has deteriorated. The Center for the Defense of the Consumer has reported that CTE-Telecom is one of the companies that receives the most complaints regarding violation of consumer rights.

Electricity

Privatization of this sector brought a sharp increase in prices, which created particular difficulties for the poor and working class. After the state-owned electricity distribution company was privatized in the 90s, the cost for the consumer has increased 7X since the 80s. The lowest consumers saw their bills increase almost two times as fast as those high consumers. As a result of the price hikes, people living in poor rural areas have been severely affected. Such price hikes have forced people in the rural areas to look for alternative energy sources such as wood burning. However, such a practice leads to deforestation and air pollution. In many cases such looking for alternative sources of energy has led to an increase of 20-30% in the domestic work hours of women. In addition, the quality of service has not increased nor has service coverage expanded. In a privatized reality, the company responds to the private interest of foreign capitalists, not local needs. Henceforth, it is not "profitable" to invest a significant amount of initial capital for infrastructure to install electricity in a tiny village where there is high unemployment and the people can't pay the bills.

Pensions

In 1996, the Legislative Assembly passed the "Savings System for Pensions Law" which laid the ground work for the privatization of the pension system. Since 1998, workers have experienced a 225% increase in their monthly quotas. Furthermore, the worker must now pay the bills of the administration, which equals about an additional 2.75% of their salary. In all, workers are now paying about 6% of their salary to the pension system, which is an increase of 500%. However, for the employer, the amount paid has decreased. In addition due to the result of these inefficient policies there are founded suspicions that the system will not be able to pay those who are coming of age.

ISSS (Social Security Institute)

Specialist health-care services was the first area of the ISSS to be privatized. According to the results of a SAPRI forum in 1998 (SAPRIN is a group of over 70 NGOs in El Salvador that is dedicated to the task of studying the effects of Structural Adjustment Programs) "In terms of the specialist health-care services provided by the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (ISSS), the first area of the health sector to be privatized, participants noted that substantial increases after privatization in price of services and medicines occurred no only with private providers but for public services as well, effectively restricting treatment to those who can afford to pay." Another effect of this privatization process has been the attack on democratic debate, union organizing and participation of varying sectors in decision making processes. After resistance and criticism of the privatization of the ISSS, the Inter-American Development Bank and the ARENA government further indebted Salvadoran citizens US$7.4 million dollars with a loan package who’s primary aim was to undermine the people's resistance to privatization and thwart democratic participation. In their own words, the three objectives of the loan are: “a) to assist the ISSS with the design, testing, and evaluation of the mechanisms of institutional change that are needed to spur reform of the sector, b) to lay the groundwork for building a consensus amongst the leading players on the institutional change at the ISSS, and c) to strengthen the ISSS' strategic capacity to promote organizational learning and to produce and disseminate information in support of its institutional transformation.”

The loan document goes on to say that their strategy "… is expected to reduce the type of political debate inherent in reforms of this kind and to minimize the risks posed to future operations in the sector."

Broad Impacts of Privatization on El Salvador - The Downward Cycle

At the end of the year, around 10,000 public sector employees lost their jobs due to privatizations and the "state-reducing" policies of the government. According to the International Labor Institute, unemployment has consistently been on the rise in Latin America during the past decade. In El Salvador, of the 2.3 million individuals of working age, only 1/3 has stable employment. 41% of the economically active population of the world does not have stable employment. Labor security has also suffered under privatization. In El Salvador, mass firings is more often than not accompanied with union busting. Usually, the first to go are union leaders and members. The state-owned company intends to create an "investment friendly environment" for the new private company. Union busting has accompanied privatization in the case of ANTEL/CTE-Telecom, Port privatizations, ISSS, CEL (electricity) etc. A strategic practice among the private companies is to re-hire a fraction of the fired employees, not as salaried workers, but rather upon temporal contracts, where the employer is not obligated to pay benefits or extra-hours. Usually, the "good" (non-union) employee that is hired back is required to work more hours, to make up for those fired, and for less money. As noted above, privatization brings significant increases in prices, which coupled with unemployment, triggers severe social and economic effects.

As a result of the national and international elite usurping profitable and strategic public enterprises, the state is pillaged and left without money to cover its expenses. According to the Centro Civico Democratico, the process of privatization of strategic assets has transferred over 50 billion colones from the public to private profit. The 2001 national budget amounted to around 19 billion colones. Because of such policies, the state finds itself with tremendous fiscal problems and increased dependency on external loans, as a result external debt continues to climb. According to the Central American University (UCA), the 2002 national budget is unbalanced by 27.8%. In other words, the government cannot produce enough money to cover almost 30% of its budget, which is a budget that continues to condemn the poor majority to poverty. According to the FMLN, the total public and private debt has now reached 54% of the GDP. In 1985, Latin America had an external debt of US $300 billion dollars and in the year 2000, the debt has reached US $750 billion dollars. Furthermore, just between 1992 and 1999, the region has turned over US $913 billion dollars in payments to this debt. Instead of "stabilizing" economies and reducing debt, neo-liberal polices have proven to do just the opposite. Privatization causes unemployment and fiscal problems, thus triggering less social spending and increased debt, all of which increases poverty, and the cycle goes round.

Privatiztion is the modern tool of robbery, privatization has successfully transferred wealth to the hand of a few. Such concentration of wealth creates increasing poverty, as the statistics reflect. Osvaldo Martínez, points out, "If in 1980, when neo-liberalism was just starting, 39% of Latin Americans were poor, now 44% are in poverty. Of course such statistics...are much below reality, but they are the statistics of the United Nations." In El Salvador, poverty, officially, has reached half the population. According to the World Food Program, 12,000 children die a year in El Salvador due to malnourishment. The 225 richest individuals in the world have over US $1 trillion dollars meanwhile 1.2 billion people have to live on less than one dollar a day. The three richest individuals have more riches than 48 countries combined.

We could say then that the real goals of privatization have nothing to do with "poverty eradication", "democracy", or even "economic stabilization" as the "experts" often claim. The real goals have to do with increasing private profit by transferring, then maintaining, wealth through a new unprecedented style of interventionism. According to the rules of the World Trade Organization, the most powerful corporations in the world can "take countries to court" if they "prohibit" their profit. With a swipe of the pen a countries main income source can be transferred to a private multinational. Through such consolidation of wealth and power, the global elite take strict measures in assuring the ever-more restless poor do not upset the "new world order". In 1998, the world spent US $780 billion dollars a year on militaries (whereas only 13 billion a year would be enough to guarantee enough food and basic health care for all the habitants of the planet earth). For 2003, the United States of America has allocated US $379 billion dollars. Far from decentralizing economies, privatization further concentrates them. First, as in El Salvador, the rules sell off the state goods, partly, to themselves. For example, ex-President Cristiani ended up being an important stock-holder in several of the companies that were privatized: Banco Cuscatlan, AFP Confia, and the Salvadoran Consortium. Those willing to do the dirty work for multinationals get some benefits as well. Let there be no mistake, the goal of largest multinationals is to continue to concentrate wealth and power, and they are doing a good job at it. For example, now, AES Corporation (U.S. based company) has a monopoly over electricity distribution in El Salvador and CTE-Telecom controls the traditional phone system.

The neo-liberal government's policies - the mass firings, increasing poverty, authoritarism and lack of democratic spaces for participation - have created a desperate social and economic situation. Because of these measures, the Human Rights Institute of the University of Central America has warned that the Executive government is "cooking a broth of violence". The powers of the country should take heed of such warning. According to the FMLN:  "…the implementation of the model and the neo-liberal policy of privatizations, a regressive tax system, unilateral opening up to foreign trade, a market without protective regulations and without free competition, a growing fiscal deficit, public debt (external and internal), firing thousands of state workers since 1995, increasing prices for the poor in order to receive public health and educational services, freezing salaries, dollarization of the economy and progressive suppression of the colon, continuous elevation of electric, water, and telephone rates, high active interest rates and insignificant passive interest rates…Now the ARENA government plans to privatize what is left: the port of Acajutla, the Comalapa Airport, water services, public education, principal highways, the mail service and even the zoo. This is the same path that Argentina went down during their crises!"

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Remains Found in Old National Police Headquarters

On Wednesday, December 26 2001, remains were found in the National Civilian Police plaza. The plaza, which has been completely remodeled, once belonged to the repressive National Police force before and during the civil war. Construction workers found bones and other remains while doing preparatory studies for future projects.

A team made up of the Institute of Legal Medicine, the Independent Human Rights Commission, CONCULTURA (National Council for Culture and Art) and hired archeologists subsequently carried out an excavation project.

The media coverage in El Salvador has been everything but clear. On Tuesday, January 15 the article entitled "Time Capsule in PNC Station", tells us that "...The director of the Institute of Legal Medicine, Mario Alfredo Hernández Gavidia, confirmed that the first bones found are human." Then on January 18, the Diario de Hoy ran an article quoting Police Chief, Mauricio Sandoval, "I have information from the anthropologists that the bones found on site are 100% animal bones." He also insinuated it was for that reason that the excavations had ceased and the findings are irrelevant. Then on Tuesday, January 22, La Prensa Grafica ran an article entitled "The Majority of Remains Belong to Animals". In the article, the director of Legal Medicine admitted that most of the remains "at first site" appear to belong to animals. However, the article assures that a bone piece of a right human forearm was found. The truth is that the final scientific examination of the bones has not been completed and that, as of now, there is no sure answer.

We can be quite sure about the National Police's revolting human right's track record. Tutela Legal, IDHUCA, and other human rights groups have thousands of cases on file regarding the disappearance of family members at the hands of the National Police. According to the Independent Human Rights Commission, at the very least, 2,700 Salvadorans disappeared after being arrested by the National Police during the civil war. That figure includes only known cases and does not take into account the number "disappeared" before the war.

It is possible that the exams do not provide sufficient evidence to bring to justice any of those involved in human rights abuses due to the fact that after the Peace Accords were signed in 1992, the National Police force was abolished and the site was totally remodeled to make way for the National Civilian Police. Some believe that the remodeling process could have been a way to "disappear" most of the incriminating evidence. However, many family members of those disappeared have been demanding justice and if the evidence is not sufficient, the question still remains: where are they?

The findings are another harsh reminder of how much truth still needs to be told. If those who dominate the country can never accept the truth, it means that such horrors could be repeated. In this context and given the current climate, the new PNC reform is particularly worrisome and should set off red flags for all those who struggle for a more just world.

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