Transcript El Salvador

El Salvador:
Politics, Policy, and Implications for Human Security
Roadmap
•
•
•
•
Introduction
A puzzle
History and political background
Post-conflict structures and analysis of today
Introduction to a microcosm
Introduction to a microcosm
• Mid-range GDP
• Size of MA
• “Successful” political
peace
• US/Latin America
ties
A Puzzle:
In January 2007, on the 15th anniversary of the peace accords ending12
years of civil war and grave human rights violations, UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon praised El Salvador as a model for other countries
emerging from conflict:
"The groundbreaking accords signed in Mexico City in January 1992 not
only set El Salvador on a new course. They also provided precedents and
experiences that continue to inspire others who are striving to rebuild their
societies following conflict. And they continue to be a point of reference for
the United Nations, as we assist others on their path to peace."
A Puzzle:
…and yet, in 2006, El Salvador had one of the highest per capita homicide
rates in the world:
• 63.8 per 100,000 people
• 94 per 100,000 youth
• (higher than during the war)
What are the factors (current and historical) that contribute both to
successful political peace and simultaneously to ongoing human
insecurity in the country?
SALVADOR HERNANDEZ
Community leader and
former political prisoner
There were many of us
catechists in my
community, but almost all
were killed in 1980 and
1981. Yes, the army killed
the majority of us. Out of
about thirty, I’d say maybe
only five catechists
survived. Only those of us
who came from far away
survived, but the ones
who lived in town and in
the villages nearby… No,
mamita, they all got it
bad.
SALVADOR HERNANDEZ
Community leader and
former political prisoner
Nowadays, we are
experiencing a physical
war again. It’s touching
lives. Gang members are
turning into killers. In
exchange for nothing,
they demand to be paid,
or you might be killed.
This situation has started
affecting my children…
A pre-war history
• Late 1800s
– Cash crops and concentration of wealth
• 1930s
– La Matanza
– (Elsewhere in the region – Mexico, Nicaragua)
• 1940-1960s
–
–
–
–
–
Era of “friendly dictators”
(1950s Guatemala)
Rise of popular organizing
Periodic elections with military officers usually winning
Economic elite in cabinet positions
Growing tensions in the 1970s
• Wealth distribution
– 5% control 38% of national income; 40% control 7.5%
• Land
– A few large farms control 1/3 of arable land
– Farms under 2.5 acres = half the farms but only 4% of land
– Landless rural population grows 40%  51.5% in 10 years
• Election fraud
– Duarte in 1972
• Repression
– Disappearances, assassinations, death squads
– Radicalization of social movements
– Oscar Romero assassinated March 24, 1980
• Nicaragua in 1979
El Salvador’s civil war in numbers,
style
If your 500 friends on Facebook lived in El Salvador…
El Salvador’s civil war in numbers,
style
El Salvador’s civil war in numbers,
style
Civil War
• Key players become today’s main political parties
– ARENA (on the right, military origins)
– FMLN (on the left, guerilla origins)
• 1980-1992
– Weak president, strong military, with right-wing control of
legislature
– Cold War context
– Peace efforts beginning in 1983
– Could the war have ended sooner?
• U.S support to government
– $1 million / day in aid ($5.5 billion)
– Counterinsurgency training for military officials
– Aid continues despite human rights concerns in Congress
Civil War
• Civilian toll
– 75,000 dead
– 6000+ disappearances
– 400,000 internally displaced
– 500,000 flee to the U.S.
• Human rights violations
– 95% of violations attributed to government or linked paramilitary
forces
– Detention without trial, torture
– “Scorched earth” tactics, continued death squad operations
ALICIA GARCIA
Human rights leader
Our organization has over
five thousand members
nationwide, and everyone
in this committee is a
victim – each has had
family members
disappeared or
assassinated, and on top
of that most have been
tortured personally.
Before my work on the
Committee, I was a nurse
for twenty-one years, but
the war obligated us all to
begin different kinds of
work.
Ending the conflict
• The changing political environment
– No prospect of decisive victory
– End of Cold War
– High profile assassinations by US-trained officers  PR problem
 US support shifts
• UN involvement
– Endorses peace efforts in 1989
– ONUSAL observer mission: a global first
• Human rights, military, and police integrated approach
– Truth Commission (1994)
What does it take to get an agreement?
• Land reform
– A moot point?
• Demilitarization
– National Guard and National Police disbanded  National
Civilian Police
– Reintegration of ex-combatants
• Fair elections
– ARENA wins presidency in 1989, 1994, etc. (through 2009)
• Judicial System
– New Supreme Court and hope for further reforms
• General amnesty
– 5 days after Truth Commission report released
– Both sides amenable, but longer-term implications
ALICIA GARCIA
Human rights leader
In 1993, my son Juan
Carlos was helping us by
driving lawyers to
different sites to
document cases for the
Truth Commission.
Already, he had received
threats – phone calls
saying that if he continued
with the work, he would
be killed.
Then, on February 13th,
my son and his cousin’s
car was stopped and the
two teenagers were
tortured and killed.
Challenges
• Rocky police transition
– Underfunded, killings continue
– Efforts to directly transfer military forces
• Land reform
– A moot point? (25% GDP  3% GDP)
• Human rights abuses: lack of closure
– Amnesty protections
– No investigations into continued death squad activity
• Washington Consensus: help or hindrance?
– IMF-lead economic reforms to promote growth
– Persisting inequality
– Privatization leads to concentrated control by elites (banks, etc.)
– Political implications?
20 years later:
What if you lived in El Salvador?
• Employment
– Gap between richest and poorest has grown
– Unemployment + underemployment = 42% (2005)
– 25% of Salvadorans depend on remittances
• Violence
– Proliferation of gangs (originally from Los Angeles)
– Homicides ~60 per 100,000 till March 2012
– Continued extra-judicial activity? (organizing, labor targeted)
• Laws “targeting youth”
– Mano Dura and Super Mano Dura
– 19,275 people detained (2003-2004) for gang affiliation, 84%
released
– Public security as political issue
El Salvador today in numbers,
style
If your 500 friends on Facebook lived in El Salvador…
El Salvador today in numbers,
style
El Salvador today in numbers,
style
El Salvador today in numbers,
style
GUADALUPE PEREZ
Law student
I’m really worried about
the future. Sometimes in
the morning you wake up
to hear rapid gunfire, and
that’s when you know
someone else has been
killed. Before, I don’t
think I thought about it
the same way – there was
an environment where
the violence was
downplayed in our
country. But now you
can’t ignore it; it feels like
these problems are
getting closer and closer
to our own backyards .
For the future…
• Politics
– FMLN in presidency
– ARENA narrow legislative majority
• Gangs and violence
– Truce?
– Spotlight on prisons / incarceration policy
• Immigration
– 500-600 per day still go North
• Economics
– CAFTA?
– Prices of basic food stuffs
Take-aways
• Poster-child for political peace
• Human security much more complex
– Rooted in a complex history
– Political, institutional, socio-economic factors
• Tension between addressing the past and moving on
• U.S. role in the region (past and present)
Questions?
ALICIA
Human rights leader
“This is what we dedicate
ourselves to: the life of
the human being.
There will come a
moment when there is a
space to achieve the
changes that the whole
world needs so much –
the first step simply is to
start. “
Our stories are the parts of our country’s history that aren’t written
down. This is the hidden history – others might look at us and think
the events were insignificant, but they never realize just how much we
are carrying inside.
– Alicia Garcia
SALVADOR
Community leader and
former political prisoner
“I, for one, cannot stay
silent in the face of
injustice“
PATRICIA
Human rights activist since
age 11
“We survivors are truly
grateful to the people of
the United States. Their
solidarity saved many
lives, mine being one of
them.“
AIDA
Community leader
“I did everything I could
for him, and it wasn’t
enough to protect him
from the world…”