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<font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">Weekend Edition<br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>May 10 / 11, 2008<br>
</font><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/kozloff05102008.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/kozloff05102008.html<br><br>
</a></font><h1><font size=4><b>Yet Another Feather in the Cap of Hugo
Chavez? <br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">El
Salvador 2009
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By NIKOLAS
KOZLOFF <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">A</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>n image flashes across the screen of pretty
young women. They’re dressed in red T-shirts, wave a red flag, and
run towards the camera. A voice intones, “Let us all participate in
the great party of hope! Change is coming!” The image then
shifts to a dapper young man with glasses who is thronged by enthusiastic
crowds.<br><br>
Meet Mauricio Funes, bane of the U.S. foreign policy establishment and
the likely next President of El Salvador as of March, 2009. Funes’
party, the FMLN (or Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front), is
running television ads such as these in an effort to appeal to the young
generation and roll back the political right which has dominated the
country’s politics for decades.<br><br>
Funes is a former commentator for CNN International and for years had a
popular daily show called <i>The Interview with Mauricio Funes </i>which
wasbroadcast on national television. Well known amongst his
compatriots, he is arguably El Salvador’s most respected journalist. A
frequent critic of government abuses, Funes quickly developed a
reputation as a political crusader. <br><br>
As the so-called “Pink Tide” sweeps through South America 2009 is fast
sizing up as a momentous political year for El Salvador, a Massachusetts
sized nation of some six 6 million people. Like Barack Obama, Funes
is poised, youthful and inspiring. He even has a similar campaign
slogan: “Cambio” or “Change.” Like the presumptive nominee of the
Democratic Party, Funes is already drawing large crowds. He is
currently leading in public opinion surveys against his main political
rivals. <br><br>
The U.S. left doesn’t know much about Funes, but that’s hardly surprising
given the political trends of the past fifteen years. During the
1980s, in the midst of the country’s civil war, the FMLN was a cause
célèbre for the U.S. left. But once the U.S.-backed
counter-<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0230600573/counterpunchmaga">
<img src="http://www.counterpunch.org/../kozrevol.jpg" width=240 height=240 alt="[]">
</a>insurgency war ended and FMLN guerrillas demobilized and formed their
own political party, radicals focused their attention elsewhere. El
Salvador dropped off the media horizon. <br><br>
The small Central American nation is about to leap back into the
headlines, however. <br><br>
A victory for the FMLN would further embolden Hugo Chávez of Venezuela
and continue Central America’s drift towards the center left, already
underway with the return of Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista Party in
Nicaragua and the election of Álvaro Colom Caballeros in Guatemala.
If a solid pro-Chávez column of smaller nations emerges in the region
this could prove to be a difficult pill for Washington to
swallow.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>ARENA: “The Reds
Will Die”<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>When you consider just how
entrenched the right wing has become in El Salvador, Funes’ political
rise is even more remarkable. <br><br>
Ever since 1992, the year El Salvador’s horrific civil war ended, ARENA
(or Nationalist Republican Alliance) has reigned supreme in election
after election. The party was founded by right wing death squad
leader Roberto D’Aubuisson, held to be one of the intellectual authors
behind the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980. Many
see ARENA, whose party colors are red, white and blue, as modeled on the
U.S. Republican party but with even stronger nationalist overtones.
<br><br>
The hymn of the party touts El Salvador as the tomb where “the Reds will
die.”<br><br>
By the early 1990s, with the international left now ignoring the
political story in El Salvador, ARENA consolidated its control through
the ballot box. <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>Remaking the
Party<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Fearing relatiation from
Washington, Funes has bent over backwards to placate the U.S. He
has, for example, met with State Department officials as well as members
of Congress and reassured them that he is no radical. <br><br>
Meanwhile, Funes has declared that El Salvador should not scrap use of
the dollar by returning to its previous currency, the colón. Funes
says that "dollarization" and the adoption of the Central
American Free Trade Agreement in 2006 have had negative effects, such as
inflation and unfavorable competition for small-scale farmers, but that
it is too late to scrap these policies.<br><br>
The former media commentator seeks to remake the FMLN into a pragmatic
political party. At rallies, he doesn't sing the party's anthem or
wear the traditional red colours, preferring to campaign in a crisp white
guayabera shirt. It’s a symbolic move designed to contrast himself
with many in the party who still wear fatigues and brandish pictures of
Che Guevara and Soviet flags at campaign rallies.<br><br>
ARENA President Antonio Saca, whose term ends next year, has questioned
the FMLN's supposed moderation. "If it flies like a duck, swims like
a duck and eats like a duck, it's a duck. The FMLN is a communist party.
Its ideas haven't changed," he has remarked.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>Demonizing Funes by
Linking Him to Chávez<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Despite such dismissive rhetoric,
ARENA is fearful that Funes may not go down to electoral defeat like his
FMLN predecessors. Facing a possible debacle in March, the
Salvadoran right and Washington have gone into overdrive, trying to
tarnish Funes by linking him to Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. ARENA in
fact has accused Funes of being a “little Chávez.”<br><br>
Earlier this year, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Michael
McConnell warned Congress that he expected Chávez to provide
"generous campaign funding" to Funes. Similar U.S.
national security reports, later exposed as false and comprised of
politically-manipulated intelligence, were used by the Bush White House
to justify its preemptive war against Iraq in 2003. <br><br>
Nevertheless, ARENA President Antonio Saca pounced on the report,
remarking that this act of “interference” would be “unacceptable.” He
even ordered an investigation into the matter and, in another high
profile move, recalled El Salvador's diplomatic envoy from Caracas.
<br><br>
On the other hand, Saca apparently views electoral intervention by the
United States government as not only acceptable, but welcomed. In a
November 2007 press conference with President Bush, Saca stated that the
U.S. "can help out a lot in preventing citizen support for certain
proposals in the upcoming elections."<br><br>
Funes has denied any links to the Venezuelan government, and Chávez has
scoffed at McConnell’s accusations. The Venezuelan leader said the
FMLN needed no extra financial support as it was a "solid" and
"well-organized" party with popular backing. Chávez described
the “gringo” allegations as just another U.S. attempt to discredit him
and cause divisions in the region. "It's a lie,” Chávez
said. “We don’t need to do that, and they don’t need it.”
<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>History Repeating
Itself<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>It’s not the first time that Bush
and the Salvadoran right have played the Chávez card.<br><br>
During the 2004 presidential election in El Salvador, the Bush
administration was nervous the left might win as Schafik Handal, the FMLN
candidate, opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and
was threatening to withdraw El Salvador's troops from Iraq. As
payback for U.S. support for the counter-insurgency war of the 1980s,
ARENA sent 381 soldiers to Iraq in the early stages of the war.
Salvadoran troops generally refrained from front-line fighting and were
instead delegated to humanitarian and reconstruction efforts.
<br><br>
In March, 2003 Special White House Assistant Otto Reich, an implacable
Chávez foe who met with Dictator-For-a-Day Pedro Carmona in the run-up to
the 2002 coup in Venezuela, declared that the United States would
reevaluate its relationship with "an El Salvador led by a person who
is an admirer of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez." The
red-baiting tactics instilled fear in the Salvadoran electorate, which no
doubt worried about a return to combative relations with the United
States. Handal went down to crushing defeat, winning just 38% of
the vote to ARENA candidate Saca’s 58%.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>Entrenched Trade
Relationship<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>With a more charismatic,
media-savvy candidate at the helm, 2009 could be different for the
FMLN. But if Funes were to actually win, what might be the future
of Salvadoran-U.S. relations?<br><br>
The FMLN leader would find it difficult, if not impossible, to take an
antagonistic position towards the United States. The young
politician would enter office with El Salvador’s trade relations with the
United States already well established: in 2006 the two countries signed
a free trade agreement providing El Salvador with preferential access to
U.S. markets. <br><br>
El Salvador exports everything from textiles to apparel to shoes and
processed foods to the United States, and Funes certainly wouldn’t want
to jeopardize such a vital trade relationship. Indeed, right now the U.S.
is El Salvador’s most important market, purchasing 57.1% of the Central
American nation’s goods. El Salvador in turn receives more than 40%
of its imports from the U.S. <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>The Iraq-El
Salvador Connection<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Nevertheless, Funes may take some
punitive measures against Washington. He has stated for example
that one of his first decisions as President would be to withdraw
Salvadoran troops from Iraq. ARENA is now paying a high political
price for its loyalty to Washington: polls have shown that a majority of
the Salvadoran people oppose their country’s troop presence in the Middle
East. <br><br>
While other Central American countries such as Nicaragua and Honduras
have long since withdrawn their forces, El Salvador is holding firm and
is currently the only Latin American country with forces still deployed
in Iraq. ARENA’s position is that Salvadoran forces will continue
their service in Iraq until they “finish what [they have]
started.”<br><br>
Were the Salvadoran troops to leave, such a development would prove
insignificant from a military point of view. However, Funes would
succeed in making a symbolic and political point: that El Salvador is no
longer Washington’s lackey in Central America.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>Chávez and FMLN:
Furthering Ties through Oil<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>In another worrying development
for Washington, Funes has said that he would seek friendly ties to
Venezuela. For the two Latin American nations, oil might prove to
be highly instrumental in solidifying ties. Recently, Chávez has
undertaken an alliance with Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega by agreeing
to supply the Central American nation with discounted oil. El
Salvador is not an oil producer and a Funes administration would no doubt
welcome any Venezuelan assistance to meet its energy needs.<br><br>
Indeed, the FMLN has been steadily building up its relationship with the
Chávez government over the last several years. At the local level
FMLN mayors set up ENEPASA, a joint venture energy company which signed
an energy deal with Venezuela in 2006. The initiative is
designed to provide less expensive fuel to El Salvador’s drivers.
<br><br>
Clearly there was more to the deal than just providing cheap
gas.<br><br>
The FMLN seeks to rebuff ARENA President Saca and his neo-liberal
economic approach by laying the groundwork for closer integration through
ALBA, the Bolivarian Alternative to the Americas. The plan,
initiated by Chávez several years ago, seeks to counteract the
corporately driven U.S. Free Trade Area of the Americas and promote
barter trade and solidarity amongst left wing Latin American
countries. <br><br>
When FMLN mayors signed the agreement in Caracas, Chávez suggested that
money the Salvadoran municipalities saved on energy could be used to
subsidize public transport and food prices. Under the terms of the
agreement, cities pay 60% of their fuel bill within 90 days. The
rest may be paid in barter for agricultural and other locally made
products or in cash over a 25-year period. <br><br>
Chávez used the moment to criticize U.S. trade deals like the Central
America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). "They're making deals
with the devil, the devil himself," Chávez said, in one of his
typical rhetorical flourishes.<br><br>
Over the past two years, Venezuela has exported thousands of barrels of
diesel to El Salvador under the new deal. The oil is sold by gas
stations bearing a special non-corporate, “white flag” emblem.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>The Legacy of
Neo-Liberalism: Organized Crime and <i>Maquiladoras<br><br>
</i></b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>There is little doubt that
under a Funes administration, much of the energy integration with
Venezuela would continue. But how likely is a Pink Tide sweep in
Central America in the first place and a decisive FMLN win in 2009?
<br><br>
Judging from recent political trends, ARENA’s political monopoly is
jeopardized. The Salvadoran people are tired of the right’s
relentless charge towards neo-liberal policies including privatization
and shredding of labor protections for public sector workers. In
particular, ARENA’s recent attempt to privatize the health care system
proved deeply unpopular and was beaten back by the likes of doctors and
nurses supported by the FMLN. <br><br>
Poverty is soaring and organized crime has reached epidemic proportions
in the country. In response, the police and military have allegedly
organized vigilante groups that orchestrate “social cleansing” of
criminals. In a move to further emulate the Republican Party in the
U.S., ARENA instituted draconian anti-terror legislation based on the USA
Patriot Act in 2006. ARENA uses the anti-terror legislation to pick
up and jail political activists who protest unpopular government moves
such as the privatization of water resources.<br><br>
The agricultural sector meanwhile has been flooded by cheap goods
from the U.S. and hasn’t been able to compete; in desperation cooperative
farmers have been selling off the land and sending their children to the
U.S. to look for work. Remittances from Salvadorans working in the
United States are an important source of income for many families and
total almost $4 billion a year. According to the United Nations
Development Agency, an estimated 22.3% of families receive such
remittances. <br><br>
For those who don’t receive money from their loved ones abroad in the
U.S., one of the few options left is to seek work in the <i>maquiladora
</i>sweat shops. These dismal sewing factories employ hundreds of
thousands of workers and pay laborers a scant 80 cents an hour.
Employees have been exposed to horrible conditions such as unhealthy air
and water, large amounts of forced overtime and frequent dismissals for
those who get the wrong idea and support labor unions. <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000"><b>The Road to
2009<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Because of ARENA’s pursuit of such
unpopular policies, the stage seems set for a big left win in
March. <br><br>
What might we expect from a Funes administration? Though Funes has
distanced himself somewhat from the party rank and file, there is a great
ideological affinity between Venezuela and the FMLN. Funes would
probably seek to put a break on the neo-liberal policies of the past, and
has said that he supports the notion of government-funded social programs
like those backed by Chávez and his allies. <br><br>
"Up until now, I haven't been the hunter being hunted,"
political novice Funes has said. "But if I myself say that public
figures need to be scrutinized, how can I reject that same
scrutiny?"<br><br>
Expect more than mere scrutiny in the following months. <br><br>
Having fought for twelve long years to defeat the FMLN militarily,
Washington is not about to give up now. Count on ARENA and its U.S.
patrons in the White House to launch an all out red-baiting assault to
prevent the FMLN from coming to power through the ballot box and thereby
halting the further spread of the Pink Tide which is sweeping through
Central America. <br><br>
<b>Nikolas Kozloff</b> is the author of<i>
</i>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403984093/counterpunchmaga">
Hugo Chávez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S.</a> (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2006), and<i>
</i>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0230600573/counterpunchmaga">
Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left </a>(Palgrave
Macmillan, April 2008).<br><br>
<br><br>
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