PRESIDENT-ELECT FUNES ANNOUNCES ECONOMIC CABINET

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SAN SALVADOR 000481 STATE PASS USAID/LAC STATE ALSO PASS USTR SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON PGOV EFIN ETRD EINV ES SUBJECT: PRESIDENT-ELECT FUNES ANNOUNCES ECONOMIC CABINET ¶1. (SBU) Summary. President-Elect Mauricio Funes named his economic cabinet on May 26. The following positions were announced: Technical Secretary to the President (Chief of Staff),Minister of Finance, Minister of Economy, President of the Central Bank, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Minister of Public Works, and President of the Autonomous Executive Port Commission (CEPA). Only Gerson Martinez is a member of the Farabundo Marti Front for the National Liberation Party (FMLN). All others are technocrats drawn primarily from Funes' inner circle, many of whom are long-time Embassy contacts. Overall, the composition of the economic cabinet suggests that Funes intends to implement the moderate economic policy on which he campaigned. We are waiting for the other shoe to drop on public security nominations. End summary. Technical Secretary (Chief of Staff) -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) Alexander "Alex" Segovia will serve as Technical Secretary of the Presidency, roughly equivalent to Chief of Staff. Segovia has a PhD in Economics from the University of London, a Master's in Economics from Oxford University, and a degree in Economics from the Salvadoran Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeon Canas (UCA). He has worked as an academic researcher and as a consultant for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations (ECLAC). He has also worked for the German Cooperation Agency (GTZ),the Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung Foundation, and the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ). Currently he is an advisor to the UNDP. He has been a close advisor to Funes throughout the campaign. Minister of Finance -------------- ¶3. (U) Carlos Caceres will serve as Minister of Finance. Caceres has a degree in Economics from the Salvadoran National University, a Master's Degree in Government and Public Administration from the University of Belgium, and a Master's Degree in International Relations from the Salvadoran University "Universidad Tecnologica de El Salvador (UTEC)." He has over 40 years of experience in the banking sector. His last position was Executive Director for the Salvadoran Banking Association (ABANSA) and he has been a good Embassy contact. He was a founding member of the "Friends of Mauricio" and has been working closely with Funes for over two years. Minister of Economy -------------- ¶4. (U) Hector Dada Hirezi will be the Minister of Economy. Dada has a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of El Salvador, and both an undergraduate degree and a Master's degree in Economics from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He has been the Secretary General of the (center-left) Democratic Change Party (CD) since 2004, and he has served as a Congressman since 2003. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1979-1980 and, following the military coup of October 1979, was a member of the Government's Revolutionary Board in 1980. He also served as the Executive Director of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) and Economic Officer of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations (ECLAC). President of the Central Bank -------------- -------------- ¶5. (U) Carlos Acevedo was named President of the Central Reserve Bank. Acevedo has a PhD in Economics from Vanderbilt University, a Master's degree in Economics from Duke University, and a degree in Economics from UCA. He is currently the Joint Coordinator of the Salvadoran Human Development Report at UNDP and teaches quantitative methods and international economy at the Salvadoran educational NGO FEPADE. He was previously manager of the macroeconomic section at the Salvadoran right-leaning think tank FUSADES. He also worked at the Research Department of the Central Reserve Bank. He has been a consultant for the World Bank and the IDB. Minister of Agriculture and Livestock -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock will be Manuel Sevilla. Sevilla has a PhD in Public Finance and a Master's Degree in Economics from Syracuse University. He also has a degree in SAN SALVAD 00000481 002 OF 002 Economics from Bates College (Lewiston, Maine). He has worked as chief of the UNDP's Democratic Governability Program and as the World Bank's Finance, Infrastructure and Private Sector Chief for Central America. According to press reports, he is not well known in the agricultural sector. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources -------------- -------------- ¶7. (U) Herman Rosa Chavez will be the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources. Rosa has an Engineering degree from Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, Scotland) and a degree in Economics from UCA. He also has a Master's degree in Political Economy and International Relations from Costa Rica's National University. He joined the Environment and Development Research Salvadoran Program (PRISMA in Spanish) in 1993. Previously, he worked as Director of the Electrical Engineering School of the Salvadoran National University. In 1998, he worked on a USAID-financed project PRISMA executed. Local USAID staff remember him as a hard-working professional. Public Works Minister -------------- ¶8. (U) The Minister of Public Works will be Gerson Martinez. Martinez was just reelected as an FMLN Congressman for 2009-2012. In the Legislative Assembly, he has been the President of the Finance and Budget Committee. During the war years, he was in charge of the Intelligence Unit of the Popular Liberation Forces (FPL),one of the five organizations that united to create the FMLN. He co-wrote the current government plan with Alex Segovia. President of the Autonomous Executive Port Commission (CEPA) -------------- -------------- ¶9. (U) Guillermo Lopez-Suarez will be the President of the Autonomous Executive Port Commission (CEPA). Lopez-Suarez has a degree in Agronomic Engineering from the Institute of Technology and Higher Studies of Monterrey, Mexico, and a Master's in Business Administration and Finance from the North Dakota School of Science (now North Dakota State College of Science). He has over 34 years of experience working in the private sector (17 years with the Salvadoran franchise of "Pollo Campero"). During the Saca Administration, he was Minister of Finance from 2004-2006. He left the Saca Administration after implementing a successful fiscal reform project. Comment -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The selection of the economic cabinet is a positive sign that President-Elect Funes intends to implement the moderate economic platform on which he campaigned. Segovia, Caceres and Lopez-Suarez have been long-term, close contacts of the Embassy. Post has also had a good relationship with Gerson Martinez, the only FMLN member of the economic cabinet, who now is back in Funes's favor after a public reprimand for speaking out of turn to the press a week after Funes's election victory in March. Taken together, these appointments augur well for close USG/GOES economic cooperation. We are on the edge of our seats for an announcement of cabinet and other key positions in the public security area. Blau