Real Change News | Change comes to El Salvador, too

March 25, 2009
Vol: 16 No: 13

Feature

Change comes to El Salvador, too

by: Will Voinot-Baron , Contributing Writer

Election observers, immigrants bear witness

Benjamin Dunlap, Ángela Ortez, Cecilia Martínez Vásquez, Heriberto, Jackie Martínez Vásquez and Heriberto’s brother, José, embraced the results of the March 15 election in El Salvador.

Photo by: Will Voinot-Baron , Contributing Writer

Printer-Friendly Version

Like it? Share it!

In the first presidential election in the Americas since the U.S. election last November, the promise of change has again prevailed, this time in El Salvador. On March 15, Salvadorans elected Mauricio Funes of the left-wing, ex-guerilla Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), effectively ending two decades of political rule by the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA).

It was “an emotionally charged experience,” says Cecilia Martínez Vásquez. Martínez Vásquez, who witnessed the elections from her hometown of Apopa, El Salvador, grew up during the 12-year civil war between the military and guerilla movement. She vividly remembers sleeping under her bed for several weeks during outbreaks of violence. In 1990, eight months after Apopa was invaded by the military, Martínez Vásquez and her family left El Salvador for the United States.

With memories of strife and fear still lucid, Martínez Vásquez remarks that “to see a country fulfill its potential and to move in a direction where change will happen — there is a lot of hope.”

Heriberto, who requested his surname be omitted for political reasons, shares in this sentiment. Heriberto fought with the FMLN during the civil war and reflects that “[the election] was an emotional experience because of the struggle of so many years.” Having moved to the U.S. a year ago, he watched the election intently from his home near Seattle. Heriberto expressed confidence that Funes will work for El Salvador’s poor and salvage the country’s flailing economy. His faith lies also in knowing that Funes, a television journalist, was not involved in the FMLN guerilla effort. “For the first time, Salvadorans were able to support an ordinary citizen — someone who was not tied to the civil war,” he says.

Martínez Vásquez and Heriberto speak of “esperanza,” of hope. Yet until recently, this hope has been tempered by fear.

Though right-sponsored military ruthlessness ceased through a U.N.-negotiated peace agreement in 1992, control by the right continued through political intimidation and coercion, says Cameron Herrington, Seattle coordinator of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). In 1996, Martínez Vásquez was part of a delegation of observers to the municipal elections. She remembers that “there was a lot of fear in peoples’ eyes. People were hesitant to express their political views. They were intimated.”

During the recent presidential election, Martínez Vásquez’s impressions contrasted strikingly. “This time there was more pride. People felt safe to wear party colors. They felt the eyes of the international community,” she says. “There was greater accountability.”

Accountability was evident in the massive efforts of Salvadorans and international observers to prevent voting-day fraud. “The FMLN had representatives monitoring border towns to help ensure that foreigners were not crossing to commit voter fraud,” says Jackie Martínez Vásquez, Cecilia’s sister.

Though fear tactics by ARENA were stifled, attempts at electoral fraud were still rampant. CISPES delegate and observer Benjamin Dunlap describes an instance where buses of Hondurans were observed arriving at ARENA headquarters in San Salvador the day before the election. It is widely speculated by international observers that ARENA officials intended to issue the Hondurans fraudulent voter identification cards.

“This is not difficult to do,” says Ángela Ortez, a CISPES delegate and observer, commenting on voter fraud. “The voter registry is very outdated. There are thousands of people [on the registry] who have either moved away or are deceased. Given that the group in charge of overseeing elections is controlled by the ruling party, the process possesses little transparency,” she says.

In this vein, Dunlap emphasizes that “while there are irregularities on voting-day, there are institutional structures that are fraudulent at their very base. The spectacle of voting-day fraud is pretty impressive, but it pales in comparison to the institutional structures that affect the system far more.”

As international observers from the U.S., Ortez and Dunlap say they were well received. But Dunlap acknowledges that his intentions were questioned intensely by the right.

“We [went to El Salvador] wanting to be neutral, especially since there is emphasis on neutrality from the U.S.,” he says. “But simply the act of observing is not neutral. By observing the election you are essentially saying, ‘I am for free and fair elections,’ which in El Salvador is a political statement.”

While the U.S currently maintains neutrality toward El Salvador, this stance has been historically controversial. According to Herrington, before the 2004 El Salvador election, the Bush Administration stated that if the FMLN took power, Salvadorans given temporary asylum from hardships in El Salvador would lose their protected status in the U.S. and remittances sent home to relatives would be blocked.

Regardless of the legitimacy of these statements, they were effective in frightening left-voting Salvadorans, says Herrington. Five days before the recent election, five Republican members of Congress again warned that a FMLN victory would jeopardize asylum and ensure the blockage of remittances. Three days later, these threats were firmly repudiated by Congressman Howard L. Berman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, who ensured neutrality, stating that the “election belongs to the people of El Salvador.”

As one among millions of Salvadorans to whom this election belongs, Heriberto sees the Funes victory as an opportunity for Salvadorans in the U.S and at home to work together to resolve the challenges facing their country. He envisions an El Salvador no longer beset by fear. “But,” he stresses, “there is much to be done.”

----