On this blog, we have covered the high drug-related murder rate in Mexico multiple times, yet a much smaller Central American country is currently faced with a higher murder rate than Mexico, with no slowing in sight.

In the first eleven days of October, El Salvador, with a population of 7 million, counted 178 murders - almost 16 murders per day. From January to September 27, 2009, there were 3,177 murders, just two shy of the 2008 total. This alarmingly high murder rate has created a debate in El Salvador on how to address the security problem, which largely stems from increasing urban gang violence and an overwhelmed police force. One estimate
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The proposal on the table currently is to allow almost half of the Armed Forces to carry out public security duties in an effort to reinforce the overextended National Police. The Catholic Church has backed this proposal, calling for the Armed Forces to take part in the fight against the violence that is taking over El Salvador. The Armed Forces have readied 6,500 soldiers to reinforce combat against delinquency and violence, however, they can not be deployed until President Mauricio Funes accepts a proposal that will be presented to him at the beginning of next week.

Under the Salvadoran Constitution, the Armed Forces cannot carry out the duties of the National Police. However, Article 168, number 12 of the Constitution indicates that "the President can make exceptional use of the Armed Forces if all ordinary measures to maintain internal peace, tranquility and public security have been exhausted." President Mauricio Funes, whose FMLN political party was a guerrilla insurgency that fought El Salvador's armed forces in the 1980s, appears to support reinforcing the police with army troops. In reference to a Central American University proposal suggesting the need to deploy half of the Armed Forces to the police force, Funes responded that, "We would have to try it, or at least some module of it."

If President Funes does decide to deploy the Armed Forces to perform public security functions in support of the National Police, the military will be charged with training the soldiers to confront the current crime wave. Salvadoran Minister of Defense David Munguía Payés has reassured the public that the military has the capacity to submit its members to an intensive training in police duties. "We believe that with the course we offer, which can last between 15 days and 2 months, we could have our officers, superiors, subofficials, and troop personnel trained to carry out the mission in a better way," he said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon opened the annual General Debate this morning. All 192 members will make a presentation over the next week and a half.

Excerpt from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's speech :

Poor and developing countries must increase their share of control in the IMF and the World Bank. Otherwise, there can be no real change and the peril of new and greater crises will be inevitable. Only more representative and democratic international agencies will be able to deal with complex problems like reorganizing the international monetary system.

We are moving towards a multilateral world. However, it is also a multipolar world, based on experiences in regional integration such as South America’s experience in creating the UNASUR. This multipolar world will not conflict with the United Nations. On the contrary, it could be an invigorating factor for the United Nations…. The issues at the core of our concerns – the financial crisis, new global governance and climate change – have a strong common denominator. It is the need to build a new international order that is sustainable, multilateral and less asymmetric, free of hegemonies and ruled by democratic institutions. This new world is a political and moral imperative.

Excerpt from Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez' speech :

Our country has taken on a firm commitment as regards tobacco control policies, both at the international level through the ratification of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and at the national level through the implementation of policies for the improvement of the wellbeing of the population.

Given that tobacco smoke does not only affect smokers, and that great achievements are usually a product of evolutionary processes that proceed in small steps, our delegation at the United Nations sponsored and promoted the resolution adopted by this Assembly, whose implementation will allow us to have, at least in this sphere, a "smoke free United Nations."

Excerpt from Chilean President Michele Bachelet's speech :

After the Asian crisis one decade ago, there was much talk about financial system reforms, better oversight mechanisms and early warning systems.

Military or economic might cannot be the norm in international relations.

Excerpt from Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez' speech:

In Colombia the only reason behind terrorism is the illicit-drug enterprise. Before, violent criminals denied drug-trafficking and made efforts to maintain ideological appearances; today, having lost all decency, they can no longer hide their criminal business nor fake ideological postures, denied by the cruelty towards their victims and those that have been kidnapped, and never acceptable by the democratic transparency of our Country that they have tried to destroy.

…We believe that instead of advocating for the legalization of drugs, we must reflect on the need to make consumption illegal. There is no coherence between the severity facing production and trafficking and the permissiveness of consumption. This has led to murderous micro-trafficking in cities, to encouraging consumption by adolescents and youth and to involving children in the criminal enterprise. We are advancing in the constitutional process to make consumption illegal, making sure not to confuse the sick addict with the criminal distributor.

Excerpt from El Salvadorian President Don Carlos Mauricio Funes' speech:

…I wish to underline that it is a major objective of my government to strengthen the links that unite the brother countries of Central America. In this sense, I am convinced that there is no exit nor future for each one of our countries in isolation, backs to one another…

We have unresolved matters that we must undertake; we have common challenges that we must face, shoulder to shoulder. With the full integration of our region, we have everything to win and nothing to lose.

Excerpt from Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez’ speech:

Given the almost general failure of developed countries in fulfilling their commitement at the Social Development World Summit in Copenhagen to contribute to the development of the weakest and most vulnerable countries, as well as the prevailing situation of a global recession, let us draw the attention of the General Assembly regarding possible new funding sources for the Millennium Development Goals…

The only hope to revert the current situation of economic decline, social deterioration, and moral crisis prevailing in the world, lies in the brave, wise, and timely decisions that we can take from this prestigious forum.

Excerpt from Panama President Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal’s speech:

Tolerance is the secret to people’s coexistence with one another. Nuclear tests, however, make us all nervous. The state of alert only serves to elevate tensions between nations whose relations are already less than stable…In Panama we respect the use of science as a tool for human development, but we reject its use as a front to conceal nuclear proliferation and the production of weapons of mass destruction…

…Due to its nature as a crossroads, Panama is used by organized crime for drug and arms traffic. But we are declaring our own war. We’ve become an active partner with Mexico and Colombia in the battle against narco-terrorists. Alongside President Calderon and President Uribe, we are committed to strengthening the ties of cooperation, so that Panama can be an active source of intelligence.

Excerpt from Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo Mendez' speech:

...I would like all the peoples and governments represented here to energetically condemn the commercial blockade that the largest economy in the world exercises against Cuba, another unsustainable chapter that, while in force, shatters the credibility of any discussion of pluralism, tolerance or humanism that is expressed in these forum...

...In fourth and last place, I openly express concern for the sinister winds that blow in the world with the out of control arms race, that in no sense is justified and that can only be applauded by the industries of death and barbarity.

As more speeches become available we'll continue to post them here.

Yesterday, Mauricio Funes was sworn in as President of El Salvador - marking the historic end of the conservative ARENA party's two-decade rule and the historic beginning of the leftist Farabundo Marti Liberation Front's (FMLN) first attempt at the presidency.

After fighting U.S.-backed troops for over 12 years, the FMLN converted itself from a Marxist guerrilla-based group to a political party in 1992, after the signing of the peace accords. Yet, despite its multiple candidates for president throughout the years, it had never been able to pull ahead of ARENA's candidate until this year. Many attribute this in part to the United States' previous strong stance against the prospects of a government run by the FMLN in El Salvador, since in the 1980s, the United States poured $6 billion into El Salvador to fight the rebel group.

However, the Obama administration has changed the way the United States views El Salvador and the FMLN. And to show its support for the new, democratically elected government, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the inauguration of Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes wearing a bright red suit - the color of the FMLN - and called Funes' election a testament to democracy, according to Reuters. A Washington Post article reports that "After meeting with Funes on Monday evening, Clinton told him: 'The United States stands ready to assist you and your new government. This is a commitment President Obama and I share.'"

A common fear appearing both in the news and on Capitol Hill after Funes' victory (see our previous blog post) was that President Funes would follow in the path of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. However, Funes has sought to distance himself from the far left and instead align himself with moderates like Brazilian President Lula da Silva and President Obama.

The only revolution Funes spoke of during his inaugural address was a "peaceful and democratic revolution" that erases "inequalities, improves the population's quality of life, and regains the efficiency of public management." And, according to the Los Angeles Times, Funes' "Cabinet has more economic pragmatists than ex-guerrillas, and he promised economic austerity along with a fight against corruption, drug trafficking and organized crime."

During his speech, Funes praised both Obama and Lula, stating that "When my adversaries, distorting facts and staining the honor of people, tried to falsely discredit us, me and my beloved party, the FMLN, turned to the strong examples of Obama and Lula, as proof that progressive leaders, instead of being a threat, can be a new, safe path for their people. . . . Obama, I said, proved that it is possible to reinvent hope. And Lula, I said, showed that one can make a government popular, democratic, with a strong economy and fair distribution of wealth."

The FMLN's and Funes' victory in El Salvador is not only a historic event for the country, it is an important marker for the passing of Cold War sentiments and the beginning of a new era of foreign relations. To mark this event, 15 heads of state attended yesterday's inauguration, in addition to Secretary of State Clinton and Spanish Prince Felipe de Asturias and many other delegations from all over the world. While, according to El Nuevo Herald, 17 heads of state were to attend the events, a last minute change led to "no-shows" for Hugo Chávez and Daniel Ortega (the Wall Street Journal also reports that Bolivian President Evo Morales missed the ceremony). President Ortega did show up for the evening festivities, however the Venezuelan government cited "possible assassination attempts" as President Chávez's excuse for his decision not to attend. Yet, it is coincidental that the two heads of state from whom Funes tried to distance himself during his campaign were the day's "no-shows".

It is still too early to know which way President Funes will go - whether he will ally himself with the politics and style of President Chávez, or whether he will stick with Presidents Obama and Lula. After day one, Funes seems to be leaning toward Lula and Obama, yet only time will truly tell.

The Los Angeles Times published an article today, titled "El Salvador grapples with rising bloodshed." The news story highlights the increasing level of violence in El Salvador, a country which suffers "one of the highest [homicide rates] in the world." El Salvador's per capita homicide rate is 5 times that of Mexico and 10 times that of the United States, with an average of 12 people killed each day in the first three months of 2009, in a country of 7 million people. Yet violence in Mexico has dominated the headlines this year.

Much of this violence is attributed to gang violence, drug-fueled crime and abusive police officers, combined with a weak and "flawed judicial system whereby few if any killings are ever solved." The article notes that "one of El Salvador's leading human rights organizations ... has analyzed homicides every year since 2004 and concluded that hundreds were committed by rogue police officers, private security guards and people hired to carry out 'social cleansing' - the elimination of undesirables through extrajudicial executions."

A new Salvadoran President-elect, Mauricio Funes, elected just two months ago after a campaign promising change, will face many important decisions about how to address the increase in violence when he takes office in June. The past administration's "iron fist" policies against gangs have increased violence, according to the LA Times, leading gangs to "strike anywhere - attacking, robbing, extorting, killing - because they need money to support their incarcerated associates and families."

El Salvador is one of the countries funded by the United States' Mérida Initiative, which, in Central America, is intended to help tackle much of the increasing gang and drug violence through projects such as community development targeting youth, judicial reform, and strengthening the police force. Yet as the LA Times article shows, it is extremely important that the United States monitors the aid to ensure that it is not merely fueling increased impunity and human rights violations.

Last week, the Government of El Salvador extended its agreement with the United States to allow U.S. anti-narcotics aircraft to operate out of the Salvadoran Air Force base at Comalapa for five more years. Since March 2000, the United States has used the Comalapa Air Force base as a Forward Operating Location (FOL) - the same arrangement as the Manta Air Base in Ecuador, which U.S. personnel will be vacating by November - to "allow interdiction aircraft to be forward deployed closer to drug routes in the region," according to the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador. The original agreement was set to expire in 2010.

The timing of the renewed agreement coincides with the approaching end of President Tony Saca's term on May 31. Saca, from the center-right ARENA party, is an ardent supporter of U.S.-Salvadoran military collaboration. However, in June of last year, President-elect Mauricio Funes, from the left-of-center FMLN opposition party, announced that he would guarantee the continuation of the Comalapa Forward Operating Location, contradicting the FMLN's traditional stance against the FOL residing on Salvadoran territory.

Despite Funes' previous announcement, the U.S. government likely hoped to extend the agreement before his inauguration just in case his position changes once he and the FMLN assume power in June. Though Funes has pledged to work closely with the United States, his political party began life as an insurgency that, during the 1980s, the U.S. government spent hundreds of millions of dollars arming the Salvadoran military in an effort to defeat. If relations should sour and Funes's position on the Comalapa facility should change, U.S. officials no doubt calculated, they would be left with only one formal Forward Operating Location, in the Netherland Antilles, after Manta closes. Colombia has, however, agreed to accommodate the U.S. planes and crews that will be vacating Manta.

Below, thanks to CIP Intern Stacy Ulmer, are remarks of government officials around the region regarding the results of Sunday’s elections in El Salvador:

“We applaud the democratic process in El Salvador, and we give our most enthusiastic best wishes to El Salvador for their democratic examples” -Álvaro Uribe Vélez, President of Colombia

“Well, first and foremost, I want to congratulate the people of El Salvador for, you know, a very free, fair, and democratic election. I want to specifically congratulate Mauricio Funes as the winner of the presidential election, and also his opponent, Rodrigo Avila, for participating in the election and for respecting the election results. So we look forward to working with the new government of El Salvador, you know, on our bilateral agenda. And you know, and that’s what I have.” - Robert Wood, Acting Department Spokesman for the U.S. State Department

“The sons of Simón Bolívar give our supportive hand to President Mauricio Funes” -Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela

…with the FMLN at the head of El Salvador, the leftist governments extend throughout the region and that, in his opinion, are “a clear demonstration that the political neoliberals promoted by the United States, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been an entire failure and that the people are looking for new horizons” -Iván Canelasagregó, Spokesman for the Bolivian Government

The President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, congratulated the winning candidate of the El Salvador elections, Mauricio Funes, by telephone this afternoon; and through their own channels he asked the Salvadoran citizens to do the same, which yesterday became a model for elections, that displayed their vibrant democracy that lives in this Central American country.

On Sunday, El Salvador held historic elections. For the first time in 20 years, a government led by a party other than the conservative ARENA proved victorious. And the victor was none other than the party of the former leftist guerrillas, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), who during El Salvador's 12 year civil war fought against the U.S. backed government. 17 years after the war ended, the FMLN's candidate, Mauricio Funes, was elected with 51% of the vote to be the country's next president. Not only is this a major step for El Salvador, but it is also another step in Latin America's move to the left.

Now many are watching President-elect Funes closely, wondering whether he will join the ranks of the far-left leaders in Latin America like Venezuelan President Chávez and Bolivian President Morales, or follow the lead of moderates like Brazil's Lula.

Funes himself has compared his future policies and leadership style to that of President Lula and has tried to distance himself from Chávez. In an interview yesterday (as it appears in the Washington Post), President-elect Funes said "nothing traumatizing is going to happen here. There will be no confiscation, we will not reverse any privatizations. We will not jeopardize private property. There is no reason at this moment for fear." However, some skeptics believe that the extreme left of the FMLN is going to have more influence over Funes than he says. Regardless, as made clear by editorials from many of the Central American region's major newspapers, many challenges lie ahead for Funes, including a suffering economy and high levels of poverty, inequality and criminal violence.

Major newspapers in the United States reported mainly on the historic nature of the victory and Funes' promise to be a moderate leader. However, some publications had a more pointed stance on the outcome of the elections. Following the cue of some Republican members of Congress, who believe that an FMLN victory is a threat to national security, the Washington Times editorial board was quick to make their (reminiscent of Cold War rhetoric) opinion be known. The editorial argues that a win by the FMLN is a win for "communist terrorists" and it continues by sounding the alarm that "a pro-terrorist political party taking power in El Salvador is a grave development that underscores the need for urgent action in Latin America. Our friends in Colombia are being surrounded, and Mexico is inching toward a social meltdown that Chávez and his cronies will leap to exploit."

The Obama Administration, however, refuses to take this negative stance. Yesterday, State Department spokesman Robert Wood congratulated the people of El Salvador for a "very free, fair, and democratic election." Continuing on to "specifically congratulate Mauricio Funes as the winner of the presidential election" and make clear that the U.S. "look[s] forward to working with the new government of El Salvador, you know, on our bilateral agenda."

Below are links to some of the editorials written about the FMLN victory.

Editorials from major newspapers in Central America

Costa Rica: Change in El Salvador, La Nación

Honduras: El Salvador moves left, El Heraldo

Guatemala: Challenges for Funes, the FMLN and Arena, La Prensa Libre

Nicaragua: Welcome Hope, El Nuevo Herald

U.S. Editorials

A new El Salvador, Los Angeles Times

El Salvador taking a left turn, Washington Times

For more links to articles covering the elections in Salvador, check out the Just the Facts news links.