Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06SANSALVADOR2639
2006-11-01 19:36:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy San Salvador
Cable title:  

EL SALVADOR: CHARGE DELIVERS DEMARCHE ON PRISONER

Tags:  PREL PGOV KCRM KJUS CASC 
pdf how-to read a cable
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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSN #2639 3051936
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 011936Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4207
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 002639 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV KCRM KJUS CASC
SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR: CHARGE DELIVERS DEMARCHE ON PRISONER
TRANSFER TREATY

REF: STATE 179139

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 002639

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV KCRM KJUS CASC
SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR: CHARGE DELIVERS DEMARCHE ON PRISONER
TRANSFER TREATY

REF: STATE 179139

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


1. (C) Accompanied by DOJ Attache and Acting polcouns,
Charge met October 30 with Acting Foreign Minister Margarita
Escobar and delivered reftel demarche regarding El Salvador's
possible accession to the OAS Prisoner Transfer Treaty.
While Escobar was receptive to pursuing the OAS route, she
and her staff noted that what the GOES is really seeking is a
legal mechanism whereby deportees with criminal records can
be incarcerated on arrival in El Salvador. Charge again
underscored that deportees with criminal records who are
returned to El Salvador have completed their sentences, a
point on which Escobar and other GOES officials have
repeatedly expressed confusion. Escobar also raised the
oft-heard complaint that criminal deportees arrive from the
U.S. without adequate documentation outlining the exact
nature and seriousness of their respective criminal records.
(Note: Criminal deportees' detailed criminal records are in
fact provided to Salvadoran consulates in the U.S., but
inadequate communication between the MFA and Ministry of
Governance security agencies is apparently responsible for
this widespread misconception. End note.) Charge and DOJ
Attache offered to meet with GOES representatives as needed
in the future to help clarify any unclear language in
criminal deportees' records (the terminology of which can
vary from state to state).


2. (C) DCM and DOJ Attache had on October 26 met with Vice
Minister of Governance Astor Escalante to discuss the OAS
Treaty and related themes. Like Escobar, Escalante had
expressed the GOES's confusion regarding the utility of a
prisoner transfer treaty in dealing with the issue of
criminal deportees from the United States. Emboffs clarified
to Escalante that a prisoner transfer treaty applies to
currently-incarcerated criminals--not to criminal deportees
who have completed their sentences prior to deportation.
Vice Minister Escalante agreed that, given its limitations, a
prisoner transfer treaty would not address the problem in the
way that they had originally hoped. Before the close of the
meeting, the DCM expressed his disappointment at the GOES's
repeated attempts to blame much of the country's crime
problem on criminal deportees from the United States, and
urged Escalante and the GOES to work together with the USG in
finding real solutions, rather than continuing attempts to
lay blame elsewhere.


3. (C) COMMENT: The meetings with Escalante and Escobar,
both friendly and reliable interlocutors, were cordial and
cooperative in tone. While it is a positive development that
the GOES is open to routes other than simply delaying the
return of their nationals, Escobar was clearly somewhat
disappointed that the OAS Prisoner Transfer Treaty did not
offer the type of mechanism the GOES is seeking. In any
event, adoption of the OAS Treaty would add another tool to
the range of technical measures we are pursuing to mitigate
the impact of the return of violent criminals to El Salvador,
and we will continue the closest possible coordination on the
issue.
Butler