SACA'S COMMISSION CHATS WHILE MURDER RATE RISES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 002766

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2016
TAGS: ES KCRM PGOV PREL KHLS
SUBJECT: SACA'S COMMISSION CHATS WHILE MURDER RATE RISES

REF: A. SAN SALVADOR 2526


B. SAN SALVADOR 2661

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: The GOES released new figures on November 14
that show murders are up in October over September, rising to
339 homicides last month alone. The Saca Administration
paradoxically responds that the numbers are not entirely
negative. They point to the fact that the murder rate is
down in some of the 20 most violent municipalities. While
the efforts at better coordination between municipal
government and the police in the most dangerous areas may be
good news, the overall increase in the murder rate is
decidedly bad news. In other bad news, six prisoners have
been murdered in different prisons in the first two days of
the week, and a prison director was wounded in an
assassination attempt at a roadblock outside of San Miguel.
The Ambassador's October 16 message to stop crime now
inspired a flurry of positive commentary and reflection from
all sectors of society. This reflection and debate has led
to some very positive long-term planning, including proposals
by leading think-tank FUSADES, and the creation of the new
Anti-Crime Commission to study the issue (reftel B),but it
has not led to immediate action to get criminals off the
street--as the Ambassador urged. While the Commission
deliberates over possible solutions, violent crime in El
Salvador continues to rise. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) After three months of not reporting homicide rates,
the Ministry of Governance released new figures yesterday to
leading daily La Prensa Grafica. The numbers (reflecting
police statistics that do not include victims who die later
while being cared for in a hospital) show 291 murders for
September, with 339 in October. This brings the overall
number of murders in 2006 to 3,076, slightly up from the
3,043 reported for the same period in 2005. Despite this
seven percent rise in the murder rate in one month, the GOES
points to municipalities like San Martin, where efforts
between the police and municipal government to ban arms in
public places and better coordinate the involvement of local
residents apparently contributed to decreases in the murder
rate. (Note: The issue of access to more reliable crime
indicators was a major theme of a recent anti-crime plan
released by leading think-tank NGO Salvadoran Foundation for
Economic and Social Development (FUSADES). Discrepancies
between police statistics and Institute of Legal Medicine
(IML) numbers, combined with recent efforts of the Ministry
of Governance to not report violent crime figures, has made
analysis very difficult for civil society advocates. End
Note).


3. (U) At the same time these numbers were released, news
broke that two prisoners were murdered at the Chalatenango
Penitentiary on November 13, and four additional prisoners
were murdered at the Ciudad Barrios Penitentiary in San
Miguel on November 14. Near San Miguel on November 14,
Warden Nelson Miguel Hernandez of the San Francisco Gotera
Penitentiary in Morazan was wounded in an assassination
attempt by masked gunmen who stopped his car at a roadblock.
Initial reports of the murders indicated they were committed
by the maras in a brutal show of violence to protest new
government restrictions on frequency of conjugal and other
family visits, measures intended to reduce levels of
contraband in prisons. Minister of Governance Figueroa told
the press he does not believe this, and instead posited that
they were retribution killings among rival gang members.


4. (C) The new Anti-Crime Commission has made initial
consultations and is reported to be contemplating three
recommendations: stricter gun control, increased resources
for the police, and the passage of a RICO-style law to
prosecute gang members for participating in organized crime.
The Commission's third meeting will take place next Tuesday,
but Embassy contacts report that the Commission has not
addressed any substantive issues thus far. Some leading
members of the Commission have actually urged that the
Legislative Assembly refrain from passing any new anti-crime
laws for at least the next two weeks as the Commission
prepares its own recommendations. The other area the
administration has addressed is media coverage of crime. On
November 10, major media outlets in the country, including
major newspapers and television and radio stations signed an
agreement to report on crime in a more "humane and
responsible" manner. This includes not publishing images of
crime victims' corpses, refraining from speculation regarding
those responsible for specific crimes, and portraying a more
positive image of the country. Embassy contacts close to the
presidency have assured Polcouns that President Saca's
political advisers had a direct hand in urging the media to
sign on to such an agreement, in order to take public
pressure away from the president on the burgeoning violent
crime issue. Saca, in fact, has been publicly ebullient about
the media agreement, saying that presenting a more positive
image in the media will help reduce crime by helping
introduce a culture of nonviolence.


5. (C) COMMENT: The Ambassador's October 16 speech has been
viewed by key opinion-makers and the most influential
elements in the private sector, inter alia, as having
coalesced public opinion to demand immediate solutions to the
violent crime and mara problem. Nearly a month later, major
newspaper editorials continue to enthusiastically support the
Ambassador's call for action, and a broad array of Embassy
contacts continue to lavish praise on the speech. However,
despite this positive feedback, the signal for immediate
action has so far elicited only another commission to study
the problem further. Post will continue to press the National
Assembly to pass key legislation now, such as a RICO law and
an asset forfeiture bill, and let the commission deliberate
on its own timetable.
Barclay