EL SALVADOR: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH FMLN LEADERS ON MCA AND JULY 5 POLICE KILLINGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 001849

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2016
TAGS: ECON ES PGOV PREL PTER KMCA
SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH FMLN LEADERS ON MCA AND JULY 5 POLICE KILLINGS

REF: SAN SALVADOR 1736

Classified By: DCM Michael A. Butler, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a July 12 luncheon that had been planned
with leaders of the opposition Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) prior to the July 5 murders of
Civilian National Police riot-cotrol (PNC/UMO) officers at
the National University (UES),Ambassador Barclay discussed
the proposed MCA project, the July 5 murders, and El
Salvador's spiraling crime rate. Although the FMLN attendees
are not expected to become enthusiastic supporters of the MCA
as a result of the luncheon, there did appear to be some
progress made. Moreover, the luncheon provided the
Ambassador with an opportunity to express our outrage at the
July 5 murders, which have clear links to the FMLN. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C) FMLN attendees included Party Chairman Medardo
Gonzalez, FMLN Legislative Assembly delegation chief Salvador
Sanchez Ceren, Deputy (and spokesman) Sigfrido Reyes, and
Deputy Irma Lourdes de Palacios, FMLN representative to the
Legislative Assembly's Commission on Health and the
Environment. In addition to Ambassador Barclay and DCM
Butler, Embassy participants included Acting USAID Director
Tully Cornick, Economic Counselor Jessica Webster, and Acting
Political Counselor Philip Thompson. The meeting had been
scheduled at the Embassy,s request in order to discuss the
FMLN,s opposition to El Salvador,s bid for Millennium
Challenge funding; the events of July 5 near the University
of El Salvador (UES),in which twelve policemen were killed
or wounded (see reftel),were added to the agenda, as were
discussions of a shared concern about more generalized
violent crime.

MCC and the Environment
--------------


3. (C) Invited by the Ambassador to share their concerns
about the northern zone development project proposed by the
GOES for funding by the Millennium Challenge Corporation
(MCC),Sanchez Ceren outlined the group,s concerns that the
construction of a road in the northern zone would facilitate
activities by private mining companies and the construction
of new dams along the upper Lempa River. Although the group
acknowledged that neither mining nor dams were part of the
proposed GOES concept for MCA funding, they stressed the
vulnerability of the important watershed region to damming
and pollution. Palacios reiterated a position she had taken
publicly, following a briefing by the GOES MCA team for her
Legislative Assembly commission, that the northern zone
project should focus on the rehabilitation of the Upper
Lempa. Expanding on concern about dam construction, Reyes
referred to past experiences with large dam projects in the
region, laying out his concerns regarding the impact of
relocation of residents of affected communities. The FMLN
guests also alluded to their concerns that the project would
leave a superhighway across the northern zone, leading to
heavy traffic and an increase in crime to the detriment of
residents. They inquired broadly about the consultative
process, and asked about the government institutions that
would be managing MCA funds in the implementation process.


4. (C) Emboffs explained the requirement that environmental
impact assessments be conducted for all proposed activities
and that environmental standards be respected. While
acknowledging the importance of environmental protections,
Ambassador Barclay pointed out that these were concerns that
must be addressed in any development process, and that it was
critical to remained focused on the key objective of poverty
reduction. Emboffs posited the importance of economic growth
to environmental protection, and to offering residents in the
region a viable, sustainable economic alternative to
environmentally-risky activities. The Ambassador pressed
hard on the purpose of the Millennium Challenge in combating
poverty, and urged Sanchez Ceren to support progress on the
Compact, given the favorable conditions for the Compact that
now exist. Emboffs briefed FMLN guests in broad terms on the
components of the proposal: infrastructure for connectivity,
investment in human capital, and productive activity. Reyes
appeared especially interested in the financial breakdown,
and how an adjustment in the ultimate award--if the GOES did
not successfully negotiate a $442 million Compact--would
affect the design of the program.

July 5 Police Murders
--------------


5. (C) Turning to the events of July 5, the FMLN attendees at first refused to take responsibility in the killings, which appear to have been premeditated assassinations carried out by former FMLN Mejicanos City Councilman Jose Mario Belloso Castillo and FMLN militant Luis Antonio Herrador Funes, the latter of whom has been apprehended and who has confessed to his role in the killings. They characterized the week-long delay between the murders and any statement of condolence or condemnation by the FMLN as a necessary period of reflection and analysis. (Note: Reliable Embassy contacts report that the delay in the FMLN's public response to July 5 was actually related to ongoing power struggles between the FMLN's two main factions--both of which are orthodox hardliners. End note.) Following the Ambassador's robust expression of shock at the presence of such arms and lethal violence on campus, the FMLN guests seemed somewhat more forthcoming in their willingness to condemn the previous week's events. The Ambassador went on to demonstrate that the Embassy knew more about the planning of the killings than the FMLN was aware, and forcefully admonished Gonzalez, Sanchez Ceren, Reyes, and Lourdes that the FMLN was "on very thin ice". He urged the FMLN to cooperate fully in the police's efforts to find and arrest the killers. The FMLN guests were almost sheepish in their response, and thanked the Ambassador for his frankness.

A Newfound FMLN Commitment to Crimefighting?
--------------


6. (C) The luncheon conversation ended on a positive and
amicable note after all present agreed on the need to address
the nation's critical crime problem. (Note: The FMLN's
Legislative Assembly delegation has generally opposed most
law-enforcement-related initiatives during the
administrations of both President Saca and his predecessor.
They fought President Flores's "Mano Dura" anti-gang program,
Saca's "Super Mano Dura" that followed, and they remain
opposed to a Wiretapping Law passed by the previous
Legislative Assembly that must be ratified as well by the
present Assembly. FMLN-oriented judges have also been slow
to implement the nation's new Witness Protection Law, and
appear poised to fight long-overdue judicial reform measures
tooth-and-nail. End note.)


7. (C) COMMENT: The discussion of the MCA Compact was as
cordial as could be expected. We suspect that the group knew
much more than it let on, and that Reyes and Palacios, in
particular, are likely well-informed about the government,s
northern zone proposal for the Millennium Challenge
Corporation. In the end, the FMLN's opposition to the
proposed MCA project is likely rooted more in their sense
that ARENA's poverty-alleviation efforts pose a real threat
not to the environment, but to the FMLN's traditional bases
of political power in the northern region. In any event, the
luncheon was an unsurpassed opportunity for the Ambassador to
express our outrage at the police killings, which was made
unequivocally clear to the FMLN. Indeed, they departed the
luncheon somewhat chagrined at knowing that the Embassy will
be watching them closely in days to come, as the search for
the killer progresses, and when he is afterwards brought to
trial. END COMMENT.
Barclay