El Salvador: Funes Pushing New Public Security Plan

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000081

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/18
TAGS: PGOV KCRM SNAR ES
SUBJECT: El Salvador: Funes Pushing New Public Security Plan

CLASSIFIED BY: Robert I. Blau, Charge d' Affaires, Department of
State, Executive Office; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (SBU) President Mauricio Funes has pushed his Public
Security team to develop a new plan to confront ever worsening
levels of violent crime in El Salvador. His Wednesday evening
February 17 meeting with the diplomatic corps was the final of a
series of town-hall-style meetings Funes hosted on the subject;
previous ones included business and media leaders, mayors, judges,
and political parties. The process of consulting was billed as a
two-way conversation; but the plan was presented as a fait
accompli, ready to be launched this month. ChargC) commented
favorably on the plan to local media pointing out that its
objectives are in line with our multiple assistance programs.


2. (SBU) The plan itself (details septel, with the GOES's
slides attached) includes many good ideas, such as putting more
police on the streets, gathering and sharing better criminal
intelligence, providing services to victims, improving management
of crime scenes, and cracking down on corruption and lack of
discipline in the prison system. In the diplomatic corps briefing,
attended by ChargC) and Emboffs, the most telling comments and
questions were those that pointed out the plan's shortcoming in the
area of impunity, pointing out that the public's loss of confidence
in the GOES is precisely because criminals have a less than five
percent chance of getting convicted for a crime. Even if
convicted, gang members still find ways to operate in prison, where
the National Civilian Police (PNC) estimates over 70 percent of
phone-called extortions originate.


3. (C) Comment: If nothing else, the new plan is the Funes
Administration's recognition that the old plan was not working.
Citizen insecurity is the public's number-one concern, and likely
to cut into Funes's high approval ratings if/when, after all the
fanfare associated with this new plan, six months down the road
there is no noticeable improvement. Embassy's view is that
carrying out the plan, with a less-than-stellar public security
team in charge of its implementation, will be a lot harder than
developing the plan. That said, if just one aspect of this plan
succeeded, specifically tightening management of prisons, it would
represent a victory.
BLAU