Monthly Update

I. In Possible Race for OAS Secretary General, President Flores Faces Well Supported Competitors and Salvadoran Opposition
On November 5, 2003 United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, while stopping short of a formal endorsement, made clear that Salvadoran President Francisco Flores Perez is his government’s preferred candidate for Secretary General of the Organization of America States (OAS). Still not officially in the running, Flores says he will wait until March to decide whether he will declare candidacy. His potential competitors have already secured wide support within the region, and human rights organizations within El Salvador have declared their opposition to his possible candidacy.

II. Monument to Civilian Deaths Highlights Tension over Historical Memory
The inauguration of the Monument to Memory and Truth on December 6, 2003 marked an important contribution to the list of sites around San Salvador that publicly commemorate the brutality of El Salvador’s 12-year-long Civil War. While the monument's construction and inauguration mark an important healing process for many that lost loved ones during the war, it also stands as a reminder of the current struggle over how this period in Salvadoran history will be publicly remembered.

III. Civil Society Holds Forum to Mark 12th Anniversary of the Peace Accords
January, 16 2003 marked the 12-year anniversary of the signing of the peace accords that ended El Salvador’s civil war. A group of non-governmental organizations hosted a forum one day prior to promote reflection on the contents of the accords themselves, and the extent of their current implementation. The overarching consensus was that, while El Salvador is no longer at war, neither is it at peace.

IV. CIS Celebrates 10th Anniversary
On Friday, December 19 the Center for Exchange and Solidarity celebrated ten years of accompanying the Salvadoran people in their struggle for development with dignity and peace with justice. Beneficiaries of CIS programs as well as longtime friends and collaborators of the organization attended. Many shared their thoughts and feelings on the past, present and future of the CIS and its work.

V. New Well Meets Rural Community’s Water Needs
The community of El Caoba, in the Department of La Libertad, normally does not have sufficient water at this time of year. Thanks to a new well, from which water can be drawn with a solar powered pump, the roughly 130 community residents are now assured ample potable water throughout the year.

Full Text

I. In Possible Race for OAS Secretary General, President Flores Faces Well Supported Competitors and Salvadoran Opposition

On Tuesday, November 5, during a formal visit to Honduras, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell made clear his government's preference for the next Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS).

“We would be pleased if President Flores presented his candidacy for Secretary General of the OAS,” Powell responded when asked about possible United States Government support for the President of the Republic of El Salvador.[1]

President Francisco Flores Perez, recipient of the U.S. Secretary of State’s endorsement, has yet to officially announce his candidacy. It is unclear whether the nod from Washington has helped or hurt his possible bid for OAS Secretary General. Flores’ potential competitors have quickly garnered wide support in the region. In addition, Human Rights advocates within El Salvador have organized internal opposition to their president’s possible assumption of the highest post within the interamerican body.

Several OAS member states have supported the notion that it is Central America’s turn to assume the helm of the organization. The 14 nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have collectively endorsed the only Central American to have officially announced his candidacy, former Costa Rican President Miguel Ángel Rodriguez. Mexico is said to be in favor of a Central American Secretary General as well, but remains on the fence about who they will support.

“He is a distinguished leader in Central America, and we support the idea that it is Central America’s turn,” said Bahaman Minister of Foreign Relations Frederick Mitchell of Rodriguez in a January 14 interview with the La Prensa Grafica.[2]

In addition to CARICOM, Rodriguez has obtained the support of Belize, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay and Uruguay. This adds up to 21 out of 34 votes possible from OAS member states. Rodriguez is also seeking the support of Peru and Honduras.

Minister of the Interior of Chile, José Miguel Insulza is the only other person to date to have officially announced his candidacy. Insulza has garnered the support of Brazil and Argentina.

“No one has made clear what the schedule is for declaring oneself [a candidate],” says Lisette Campos, Coordinator of the Human Rights Department at the Foundation for the Application of the Study of the Law (FESPAD).

FESPAD is part of “The Coalition of NGOs for the Strengthening of the Inter-American Human Rights System,” who have made public their opposition to Flores’ possible candidacy for Secretary General of the OAS. The Coalition disseminated an open letter last October.

“Therefore we demonstrate our concern and open opposition to the mentioned candidacy of Mr. Flores, given his evident lack of suitability for such a high ranking position,” reads the letter. “His trajectory as president of El Salvador, plagued with acts that contradict the spirit and the letter of the Charter of the Organization of American States and other international instruments, speaks for itself…”

The letter elaborates five examples supporting the authors’ assertion that Flores is unworthy of the position. They cite his disregard for resolutions submitted by the Interamerican Human Rights Commission (including a recommendation that a special commission be formed to review the controversial Amnesty Law).[3] They also point to his support of the coup that unseated Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on April 11, 2002, and his promulgation of El Salvador’s Anti-Gang Law (which violates the Salvadoran Constitution, the American Convention on Human Rights, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child).

The elections to replace current OAS Secretary General César Gaviria of Colombia will occur in June 2004 in Quito, Ecuador. While initially expected to decline or declare candidacy sometime in January, Francisco Flores has now said that he will wait until March. Future action on the part of the Coalition is contingent on Flores’ decision.

Notes:
[1] José Luis Sanz, “Flores Con Aval de E.U.A. para la OEA,” La Prensa Grafica, 5 November 2003, 2.

[2] Frederick Mtichell, interview by La Prensa Grafica. “Solo hay para OEA un candidato deCentroamérica,” La Prensa Grafica, 14 January 2004, 4.

[3] El Salvador’s Amnesty Law was passed by the Legislative Assembly on March 20, 1993, absolving all those accused of human rights violations during the civil war. It was passed 5 days after the UN Sponsored Truth Commission publicized its report, naming specific government actors as responsible for violations.

Ana María Acevedo’s son disappeared on Wednesday, May 20, 1981 at about three o’clock in the afternoon. He was fifteen years old.

“From that moment on, I didn’t find out anything about him,” says Acevedo.

Acevedo was among the hundreds who gathered under the shady canopy of trees in central San Salvador’s Cuscatlan Park on Saturday, December 6 to inaugurate the Monument to Memory and Truth. Some, like her, were there to search the monument’s polished black granite wall for the names of loved ones murdered or disappeared during El Salvador’s 12-year-long civil war. All were there to celebrate the inauguration of a monument that will serve as a public reminder of the brutality of that war.

The names on the wall are organized according to year, and whether the individual named was murdered or, as was frequent, simply “disappeared.” Intended to commemorate the war’s civilian victims, the names of Guerrilla and Army combatants that died in battle are not listed.

“My uncle that appears on the wall was a student at the UES [University of El Salvador]. The National Guard killed him during a student protest,” explains current University of El Salvador student Ariana Bazzaglia Badia. “My other uncle disappeared in 1984. We wanted to include him in monument list, but they took his name off. He disappeared in the interior of the country. He was a member of the guerrillas.”

The funds for the monument’s construction were the product of extensive fundraising by a coalition of civil society groups. Formed in 1997, the Pro-Monument Committee is made up of ten different Human Rights organizations. Salvadorans who had lost loved ones during the war were asked to submit names for inclusion on the wall.

Despite the fact that the 1993 report released by El Salvador’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended that such a monument be built, none of the three Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) administrations that have held the presidency since the end of the Civil War moved forward with the project.

The ARENA government’s reluctance to participate in the Monument’s construction is no doubt related to its role as a public reminder of government culpability in civilian deaths. While ARENA was not in control of the Presidency until 1989 (the war formally ended in 1992 with the signing of the Peace Accords) Party founder Major Roberto D’Aubuisson was found by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to have been involved in death squad activity since at least 1980.[4]

Amnesty International eloquently stated in a December 12 press release their request that all the political parties “recognize the Monument to Memory and Truth as a national monument, so that the right of the victims of the armed conflict to dignity and honor becomes a reality. So that madness is definitively left in the past and hope grows into the future.”

At the inauguration, the crowd’s unresolved grief began to surface as the canvas curtains covering the wall were lifted one by one.

“For me it meant something magnificent,” says Acevedo, “because we thought we were being forgotten by the government and by everyone. We felt that that no one had paid any attention to our pain."

The construction of the Monument to Memory and Truth marks an important addition to the list of sites around San Salvador that similarly commemorate the Civil War. While this recent addition is distinct in its effort to assuage the pain of families, it mirrors other sites in its historical codification of the Civil War’s immense brutality. Other sites include: the Centro Monsegnior Romero at the Central American University “Jose Simeon Cañas,” which displays photos of the day following the brutal 1989 assassination of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter; the house of Archbishop Oscar Romero; the tomb of Archbishop Romero; and central San Salvador’s Plaza Civica, which contains a plaque to the six Jesuit priests.

“The truth is that there was nothing material by which to remember our loved ones,” says Acevedo. “They were just in our minds. I had felt awful because no one had taken us into account, but now I feel more comfortable because I know I have a place where I can leave a flower…and I have a place where I can cry.”

People were still streaming in the door of San Salvador’s Holiday Inn reception hall at 4:30 p.m. when the forum was scheduled to begin. A photo exhibit detailing 20^th Century Salvadoran history covered the entire length of the back wall. Courtesy of the popular education organization Equipo Maiz, the exhibit captured the attention of many, further delaying attendees’ assumption of their seats.

At 5:00, with all the speakers in attendance and most of seats full, the forum began. Entitled “The Peace Accords Twelve Years Later: Analysis and Perspectives,” the event was organized by the Museum of the Word and Image, the Pro-Monument Committee for Civilian Victims of Human Rights Violations, the Center for Peace (CEPAZ), and the Association of War Disabled of El Salvador. The forum was designed to promote reflection on the content of the Peace Accords and the extent of their implementation.

“With the distance and experience of twelve years, we can say with a great deal of security, what joy that there is not war, but also, what sadness that there is not peace,” opined Wilfredo Zepeda of CEPAZ.

In Zepeda’s view, the end the war is ample reason to be grateful. The persistence of delinquency and social violence, however, as well as economic conditions that force many to abandon the country, mean that peace has not been fully achieved.

“Twelve years after the Peace Accords, it is evident that the democratization of political life in the country has not achieved conditions for the improvement of the quality of the life of many Salvadorans,” says Zepeda.

Zepeda says that the country needs to work towards building a culture of peace, which would include broad democratic participation and political and social tolerance.

Frente Farabundo Marti para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) Party Coordinator Salvador Sanchez Ceren emphasized remembering the social and political polarization that gave rise to the civil war, and the extent to which that reality has has been mirrored in the present.

“Twelve years after the closing of the Peace Accords,” he said, “ the electoral processes of the country have polarized the struggle between previous actors of the civil war.”

Sanchez Ceren concluded by noting that FMLN Presidential Candidate Schafik Handal was one of the principal negotiators at the signing of the peace accords. He asserted that the election of Handal and his Vice-Presidential candidate Guillermo Mata will usher in a period of deepening democratic transformation.

Colonel David Munguia Payes, Coordinator of the National Unity Movement was also present to offer a military perspective on the twelve years since the signing of the Peace Accords. “As a consequence of the Peace Accords, there is no doubt that the country has changed,” he said. “The conflict ended, a political space opened, and democratic institutions have been strengthened. Nevertheless, there are causes of the conflict that still persist: poverty, social injustice, corruption, and others mentioned by Salvador Sanchez Ceren.”

Also present at the forum were Miguel Montenegro of the Pro-Monument Committee for the Civilian Victims of Human Rights Violations, Jesus Avalos from the Association of War Disabled of El Salvador, and David Ernesto Morales of the Human Rights Ombudswoman’s Office.

As small orange flames licked the bottoms of terra cotta serving platters, the alluring smell of comida tipica wafted past the noses of those lined up to partake. For the event, Ana Maria Acevedo had prepared casamiento (rice and beans mixed together and refried), tamales, and pasteles (fried corn turnovers filled with vegetables or meat), to name just a few.

The banquet was to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Center for Exchange and Solidarity (CIS). Founded shortly after the signing of the 1992 peace accords that ended the civil war in El Salvador, the CIS was created to maintain international solidarity with the Salvadoran people in the post-war period. Those assembled had come to acknowledge the CIS for its ten years of accompanying the Salvadoran people in their struggle for development with dignity and peace with justice.

With folkloric music provided by youth from the Asociación Cultural of San Francisco Chinameca, everyone made their way through the line to pile their plates high with the Salvadoran delicacies.

After giving the musicians time to eat as well, Director Leslie Schuld invited those assembled—some of whom had traveled for several hours from remote, rural communities—to come forward and share their thoughts and feelings about the CIS’s work over the past ten years.

“The CIS has done what any government institution in this country should have done, and more,” said Mayra Pilar Romero, CIS Grassroots organizer from the Municipality of Tamanique in the Department of La Libertad. The CIS’s financial support for Mayra has enabled her to work fulltime as a grassroots organizer in her community. Her efforts have resulted in the construction of over 150 new homes for community residents displaced by the 2001 earthquakes.

Other communities represented at the celebration included the town of Cinquera, in the Department of Cabañas; San Pedro Perulapan, in the Department Cuscatlan; Mercedes Umaña, in the Department of Usulután; Comasagua, in the Department of La Libertad; and Estanzuelas, in the Department of Usulatán.

A resident of Cinquera described how, through the CIS, international delegations began visiting the community, both to learn about the history of the war there and to visit the community’s innovative ecological park. Several delegations have developed relationships with community residents. As a result, representatives of St. Robert Bellarmine Church of Kansas City, Missouri—as well as members of other past delegations—have been providing scholarships so that youth from the community can continue their university studies.

Wilber Solano, from the community of Estanzuelas, described how relationships developed with CIS delegations have resulted in a scholarship program in that community as well. This year, he noted, in addition to scholarships for high school, money would be available for community youth to pursue university-level study.

“We are happy and proud about the achievements of our communities,” said CIS Grassroots Organizer and Comasagua resident Rafael Vasquez Martinez, known to most as Lito.

In Comasagua, Lito’s efforts as a grassroots organizer have helped many of his neighbors, left homeless after the 2001 earthquakes, obtain at least provisional housing.

Several women from Comasagua also stood up to acknowledge the CIS for its collaboration with the Comasagua Women’s Association. The CIS has helped to provide women in the municipality with training on how to make natural medicines and hygiene products. The resultant option of using natural instead of store-bought medicines frees up household income for other expenses. The sale of natural hygiene products further supplements that income.

Traditionally quite reticent, the women’s willingness to speak was an indication of the leadership skills that the project has fostered in its participants.

“I want to say that the CIS represents the synthesis of all the efforts that we have been realizing for a long time in this country,” said CIS Assembly member Damien Alegria.

Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS)
Director Leslie Schuld speaks at the inauguration
of the new well. (Photo: CIS)

Flor Maria Menedez Avelar, age 22, is Secretary of the Board of Directors of the canton El Caoba in the Municipality of Puerta la Libertad. She says that during this time of year there is normally a shortage of water in her community.

“There are two wells,” says Menedez Avilar, “but there is not enough water for all of the residents.”

The wells that the community uses are also shallow—about three meters deep—making them much more vulnerable to contamination by sewage or fertilizer runoff.

At the beginning of 2003 the community began discussing the possibility of installing a deeper well. They collaborated with Legislative Assembly Deputy Irma Amaya, the Salvadoran NGO Agua Viva, the Rainbow of Hope for Children Foundation of Canada, and the Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad (CIS). Two months ago, Agua Viva dug a 30-meter-deep well. The installation of a solar powered pump on January 14 and a cistern 2 days later means that the residents of El Caoba can now access their new source of water.

“We had worked with Irma and the CIS before,” says Menendez Avilar. “They helped us with school supplies for children, with corrugated tin roofs, and with wood for homes.” She estimates that nearly 130 people will benefit from the installation of the well.

CIS Director Leslie Schuld says that the project essentially began three years ago. In several cantones surrounding the town of Berlin in the Department of Usulutan, residents die every year from kidney related diseases because of a drinking water shortage. The Rainbow of Hope for Children Foundation and the Presbyterian Church of Iowa helped to finance extensive digging in the area, but found insufficient ground water for the creation of a well. “The people there are still suffering,” says Schuld.

After the failure in Berlin, Rainbow of Hope for Children remained very interested in funding a well project in a rural area. They contributed to the effort in El Caoba.

Community members drink from
the well for the first time (Photo: CIS)

Canadian Engineer John Jensen arrived in El Caoba on the morning of Tuesday, January 13 to help with the installation of the solar panels needed to run the well’s pump. Because no one in the country had the requisite knowledge, Jensen’s father agreed to send him to El Salvador.

While resident José Andaluz and Board of Directors President Manuel de Jesus Escalante, along with several youth, began digging holes for posts, Jensen prepared the solar panels to be mounted. It took four people to lift each of the panels and delicately secure them to the posts.

Wiring that was not finished on Tuesday was completed on Wednesday. When the pump had finally been lowered into the well, Jensen performed a test. There was a brief pause after the turning of the switch before a gush of water erupted from the mouth of well. Everyone took a sip.

The community held an inauguration on Saturday, January 17 at which Legislative Deputy Amaya, John Jensen, Leslie Schuld, CIS Board of Directors member Rosa Estrada, and CIS Human Rights Coordinator Ben Plimpton were present.

“I want to thank the CIS, the community, Leslie and Ben for helping me come to El Salvador,” said Jensen, “to use my education to help the community in this small way.”

Amaya was adamant about acknowledging the community for their part in bringing the project to fruition. “If communities like you did not organize yourselves,” she said, “there would not be projects like this.”

Community residents, for their part, acknowledged the CIS, Jensen and Amaya for making the project possible. “This is not a gift of one, two or even three thousand pesos,” said Board of Directors President Escalante. “This gift is huge.”

The inauguration ended with pastries and coffee prepared with the well water. Community members had set up a stereo, and small groups of people danced as darkness fell.

Schuld as well as the Rainbow of Hope for Children Foundation hope that the well in El Caoba will serve as a pilot project for similar undertakings in other rural communities.

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January 2004 Printer Friendly (PDF)

I. In Possible Race for OAS Secretary General, President Flores Faces Well Supported Competitors and Salvadoran Opposition

Full Text

I. In Possible Race for OAS Secretary General, President Flores Faces Well Supported Competitors and Salvadoran Opposition