ARENA CONVENTION: UNITY OR MUTINY?

S E C R E T SAN SALVADOR 000978

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV ES
SUBJECT: ARENA CONVENTION: UNITY OR MUTINY?

REF: A. SAN SALVADOR 947

B. DAO IIR

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: On October 11, the center-right National
Republican Alliance (ARENA) party held its annual national
convention. Former Salvadoran presidents, including Tony
Saca, emphasized party unity in their addresses. However,
the day after the convention, twelve ARENA legislative
deputies announced they would not necessarily vote with the
party unless the National Executive Council (COENA),ARENA's
governing body, is reconfigured to include them. Embassy
believes these twelve deputies are allied with former
President Saca. End Summary.


2. (C) The ARENA convention, attended by all living former
Salvadoran presidents, reaffirmed the party,s current
rebuilding course, as expected (see reftel A). The party
re-confirmed the COENA, which had been serving in an interim
capacity since a post-election convention in June. Even
though his loyalists were purged to make room for this COENA,
Tony Saca himself presented the COENA for ratification and
said although "arguments can be healthy . . . we must now
look forward." COENA president (and former president of El
Salvador) Alfredo Cristiani struck a similar tone of unity by
closing his keynote address with a call for "everyone to push
together in the same direction."


3. (C) However, the day after the convention, twelve ARENA
deputies (of 32 total) announced they would no longer vote
the party line in protest of what they consider COENA's
"closed doors." They demanded that several COENA members be
replaced by members of their dissident bloc. According to an
article in La Prensa Grafica, if their demands are not met,
they threatened to vote with any other party, including the
FMLN, "to benefit the Salvadoran people." News reports
indicate these twelve legislators did not attend the party,s
convention the previous day.


4. (S/NF) The dissident group is led by Guillermo Gallegos,
former ARENA head of faction in the Legislative Assembly
during Saca's presidency. An Embassy source suggests
Gallegos may be receiving covert payments from Saca in
exchange for his loyalty (see reftel A). The other members
of the group represent mostly rural, poorer departments; only
Gallegos is from San Salvador. All of the 12 deputies are
among the 23 or 24 deputies that DAO reporting indicates are
on former President Saca's secret payroll (see reftel B).


5. (C) According to La Prensa Grafica, Cristiani publicly
responded to these "threats" by calling for dialogue with the
dissident bloc. He met with the COENA for several hours
following the bloc's announcement. After the meeting,
Cristiani announced that the COENA prefers to resolve
differences with the bloc "through mutual understanding."


6. (C) Comment: The dissident bloc's threat to split with the
party made a farce of the united image ARENA presented at the
convention. While Cristiani criticized the internally
divided FMLN as a "two headed monster," it is increasingly
apparent that his own party may also have two heads:
Cristiani and Saca. Whether or not Saca is behind the
dissidents, the party has serious internal divisions it must
resolve to have any hope of expanding its representation in
the legislature in the 2012 elections.
BLAU