US Begins Interference in 2009 El Salvador Elections  

     In 2009, for the first time since the first post-war elections in 1994, El Salvador will hold elections for the President, the National Assembly and municipal governments in the same year. The presidential terms are five years, and the National Assembly and municipal government elections are every three years – 2009 is the 15th year. The Frente Faribundo Marti para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) and civil society have already united behind the popular television journalist Mauricio Funes as the presidential candidate. He will be a strong candidate for this social democrat party that already has built a relationship with Venezuela and the Bolivarian movement in Latin America. 

     There are ongoing projects between FMLN mayors and the ALBA Initiative of Venezuela, in which ALBA is providing diesel at about 30 cents a gallon cheaper than Exxon rates, and further financing the fuel on the basis of 60% down, the remaining 40% to be paid over 25 years at 1% interest. This arrangement enables the financing of public works projects such as drinking water and electrification. Since it is being done on the local government level, the politics of the arrangement very much favors the FMLN, as the mayors bring home some real benefits to the voters. On February 5, the United States interfered in the 2009 Salvadoran elections for the first time, at least publicly. The National Director of Intelligence, J. Michael McConnell, issued an intelligence report on threats to US national security that stated, in part, “We anticipate that Chavez will provide generous financing to the FMLN in El Salvador, in their attempt to secure the presidential elections of 2009.” 

     The rightwing of El Salvador leapt into action. Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA) President Tony Saca demanded an investigation and sent an envoy to Venezuela. On February 7, he went to Washington, DC, and, after a prayer breakfast with George and Laura Bush, met with Assistant Secretary of State John Negroponte, then with the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Senator John Rockefeller IV. Both briefed Saca and his Chancellor Marisol Argueta de Barillas on the intelligence regarding Venezuela’s presumptive interference in his nation’s upcoming elections. After the meeting, Saca stated, “We have learned additional details that for obvious reasons are not possible to reveal as they are part of the ongoing investigation. The early information we are observing concerns the relationship of the FMLN with some elements of Venezuela…” 

     The recent relationship between El Salvador and Venezuela has been very uneasy. The prior ARENA President, Francisco Flores, made El Salvador the only country to recognize the coup government of Carmona. El Salvador does not maintain an embassy in Venezuela. 

     The intelligence report has been front page news here in El Salvador, and the FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes has responded that the FMLN will not accept money from Chavez, that it is not needed. Sigfrido Reyes of the FMLN stated, “This supposed intelligence report has no measure of seriousness, no basis in truth, and therefore no credibility.” Chavez has dismissed the accusations. The Archbishop of San Salvador, Monsignor Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, jumped into the debate with, “We all have to be vigilant so that the electoral process would be truly clean, transparent and without external interference.” 

     The major contradiction in this controversy is that the parties of the right, which have a majority in the Assembly, have refused to accede to FMLN proposals to pass a law demanding that the political parties account for their funding. Alone among Latin American nations, El Salvador does not have a law demanding transparency of the funding of political campaigns. 

     The oligarchy that has controlled El Salvador throughout its history, and which is now represented by ARENA, is now turning to the intelligence agencies of the United States to influence internal politics. If only the ARENA government would act according to this thought of Chancellor de Barilla, quoted in La Prensa Grafica February 7, “Any type of interference in the internal affairs of the country is unacceptable. Salvadorans will not accept any type of interference.” 

     For ongoing information about the election process, check out www.cis-elsalvador.org 

     Quotes are translated from La Prensa Grafica and Diario Co-Latino articles.