EL SALVADOR: MCC DEPUTY CEO BENT MEETS WITH HUMAN

UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 001037 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ES PGOV PHUM PREL KMCA SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR: MCC DEPUTY CEO BENT MEETS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSWOMAN ¶1. SUMMARY: In a free-ranging May 18 discussion with Deputy CEO Rodney Bent of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC),Dr. Beatrice Carrillo of the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDDH) outlined what in her view represent the most serious threats to continued progress in rule of law in El Salvador. Carrillo perceives significant problems in many areas, including lack of respect for workers' rights, incompetence and corruption in the judicial sector, and inefficiency among the nation's police force, investigators, and prosecutors. Deputy CEO Bent expressed the MCC's interest in these areas and its commitment to doing as much as possible, within the parameters of its mandate, to contribute to solutions to these challenges. END SUMMARY ¶2. The meeting was held at the Embassy; attendees also included Acting DCM Deborah Kennedy-Iraheta, MCC's Kenneth Miller, and Human Rights Officer Philip Thompson. Deputy CEO Bent began by thanking Carrillo for the opportunity to meet and discuss her concerns, and he underscored the importance of rule of law and the integrity of the judicial system to the MCC's "Ruling Justly" benchmark indicators. ¶3. Carrillo discussed what she viewed as the poor state of respect for labor rights in El Salvador, and related that this was partly a legacy from wartime years, when some labor unions maintained close ties with guerrilla insurgents. She went on to offer her view that the problem was not due to a lack of resources on the part of the Labor Ministry, as many attest. ¶4. Carrillo decried the poor state of the judicial branch, which she viewed as a symptom of the overall declining state of legal education at El Salvador's universities. She was especially critical of the country's Civilian National Police (PNC),averring that they are widely feared by the people, and that they represent the greatest single source of human rights abuses in El Salvador. She stressed that lack of PNC expertise in crime scene management and evidence collection often resulted in failure to bring guilty parties to justice, and cited the November 2004 murder of American labor activist Jose Gilberto Soto as an example of this inefficiency. ¶5. Deputy CEO Bent listened attentively to Carrillo's discourse, and asked whether, inasmuch as only long-term solutions may ameliorate many of the problems Carrillo had outlined, she might identify the most pressing issue requiring the most urgent attention. Carrillo immediately responded that, notwithstanding her personal respect for PNC Chief Rodrigo Avila, the police are the most serious threat to the continued consolidation of rule of law in El Salvador, and that purging the PNC's bad apples must be accompanied by significant improvements in training. ¶6. COMMENT: Post concurs with many of Carrillo's views, including her assessment of the judicial branch's serious shortcomings. We may differ in other areas, including the harsh degree of criticism she conveyed regarding the Civilian National Police, who are unquestionably one of the region's most professional police forces. Notwithstanding occasional differences in perspective, our continued engagement with the PDDH represents a key source in the Embassy's staying informed of developments in human rights issues as implementation of the MCC compact moves ahead. END COMMENT. Glazer