Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10SANSALVADOR83
2010-02-19 19:15:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy San Salvador
Cable title:
Wiretap Law Passes, Implementation Needs USG Funding
how-toVZCZCXYZ0000 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHSN #0083 0501915 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 191915Z FEB 10 FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0412 INFO WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC RHMFISS/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC RUCNFB/FBI WASHINGTON DC RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC RUEPWAI/ATF INTEL WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000083
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/19
TAGS: PGOV KJUS PREL ES
SUBJECT: Wiretap Law Passes, Implementation Needs USG Funding
REF: 09 SAN SALVADOR 390; 09 SAN SALVADOR 486
CLASSIFIED BY: RBlau, CDA, DOS; REASON: 1.4(D)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000083
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/19
TAGS: PGOV KJUS PREL ES
SUBJECT: Wiretap Law Passes, Implementation Needs USG Funding
REF: 09 SAN SALVADOR 390; 09 SAN SALVADOR 486
CLASSIFIED BY: RBlau, CDA, DOS; REASON: 1.4(D)
1. (C) Summary: On February 18, the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly
unanimously passed a landmark wiretap bill, providing GOES
authorities an important tool to combat the growing crime problem
in the country. The Assembly had considered versions of electronic
surveillance legislation for more than a decade, but intense USG
engagement over the last two years helped break the legislative
deadlock and push through a compromise that, we believe, will
ensure effective surveillance while protecting civil liberties.
Given the USG's interest in strengthening law enforcement in El
Salvador and the GOES's limited resources, it is imperative that
the USG assist the GOES to stand up this new wiretap center with
equipment and training, either through Merida/CARSI funds or other
sources. End Summary.
2. (C) The Assembly finalized the necessary constitutional
amendment authorizing electronic surveillance in May 2009
(reftels),but the implementing legislation languished for months
as the (center-right) Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and
(left-wing) Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN)
wrangled over how wiretaps would operate in practice and who would
control and operate them: ARENA favored the Attorney General (AG),
the FMLN the National Civilian Police (PNC). In the end, the
bill leaves wiretaps under the authority of the AG, but the center
will be staffed by the PNC, a compromise both similar to
Guatemala's model and consistent with the Salvadoran Constitution.
3. (C) Embassy Engagement: This victory is the fruit of more than
two years of intense USG engagement with legislators and other GOES
authorities and, while long overdue, demonstrates a promising
degree of pragmatism and multipartisanship in the Legislative
Assembly on public security. Two years ago, EmbOffs approached
FMLN and ARENA deputies to start over from zero, setting aside
previously defeated ARENA-only constitutional amendment drafts.
Months of private lobbying, providing example texts from other
regional governments, and Embassy participation in drafting
sessions resulted in passage of an amendment and a bill with a
single sticking point - ARENA's distrust of the PNC and the FMLN's
desire to exclude the AG from wiretaps altogether. Following an
Embassy-organized trip to Guatemala that showed Guatemalan
prosecutors and police side-by-side conducting wiretaps, followed
by two weeks of intense arm-twisting by EmbOffs, brought the FMLN
to agree to AG control of the center but with PNC staffing. ARENA
deputies, sensing opportunity, sought to amend the draft bill text
to potentially exclude the PNC from operations, which threatened to
bring us back to a stalemate. High level EmbOff interventions with
ARENA, including calls by the Charge to ARENA President Alfredo
Cristiani and former President Armando Calderon Sol, made clear our
willingness to blame publicly recalcitrant ARENA deputies. With
the logjam broken, a new round of negotiations began on February
17, leading to passage of the bill on the 18th.
4. (SBU) Embassy San Salvador would like to thank Embassy Guatemala
for its support in coordinating the Salvadoran deputies' February
1-2 visit to Guatemala's wiretap facilities.
5. (C) Comment/Next Steps: As long and rough as the road to this
law has been, difficult work still lies ahead. The GOES does not
have the funds necessary to establish an effective electronic
surveillance agency without significant outside assistance. U.S.
law enforcement equities in El Salvador, particularly direct
communications between violent Salvadoran gang members and other
criminals with their counterparts in U.S. cities, make it
imperative that Washington assist the GOES in standing up the
wiretap agency, either through Merida 2.0/CARSI funding or other
sources for both training and equipment. Passage of this bill,
which provides legal authority for electronic surveillance while
protecting civil liberties, gives us hope that a national consensus
on public security policy is possible, despite polarization on most
every other issue in Salvadoran politics. End comment.
BLAU
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/19
TAGS: PGOV KJUS PREL ES
SUBJECT: Wiretap Law Passes, Implementation Needs USG Funding
REF: 09 SAN SALVADOR 390; 09 SAN SALVADOR 486
CLASSIFIED BY: RBlau, CDA, DOS; REASON: 1.4(D)
1. (C) Summary: On February 18, the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly
unanimously passed a landmark wiretap bill, providing GOES
authorities an important tool to combat the growing crime problem
in the country. The Assembly had considered versions of electronic
surveillance legislation for more than a decade, but intense USG
engagement over the last two years helped break the legislative
deadlock and push through a compromise that, we believe, will
ensure effective surveillance while protecting civil liberties.
Given the USG's interest in strengthening law enforcement in El
Salvador and the GOES's limited resources, it is imperative that
the USG assist the GOES to stand up this new wiretap center with
equipment and training, either through Merida/CARSI funds or other
sources. End Summary.
2. (C) The Assembly finalized the necessary constitutional
amendment authorizing electronic surveillance in May 2009
(reftels),but the implementing legislation languished for months
as the (center-right) Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) and
(left-wing) Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN)
wrangled over how wiretaps would operate in practice and who would
control and operate them: ARENA favored the Attorney General (AG),
the FMLN the National Civilian Police (PNC). In the end, the
bill leaves wiretaps under the authority of the AG, but the center
will be staffed by the PNC, a compromise both similar to
Guatemala's model and consistent with the Salvadoran Constitution.
3. (C) Embassy Engagement: This victory is the fruit of more than
two years of intense USG engagement with legislators and other GOES
authorities and, while long overdue, demonstrates a promising
degree of pragmatism and multipartisanship in the Legislative
Assembly on public security. Two years ago, EmbOffs approached
FMLN and ARENA deputies to start over from zero, setting aside
previously defeated ARENA-only constitutional amendment drafts.
Months of private lobbying, providing example texts from other
regional governments, and Embassy participation in drafting
sessions resulted in passage of an amendment and a bill with a
single sticking point - ARENA's distrust of the PNC and the FMLN's
desire to exclude the AG from wiretaps altogether. Following an
Embassy-organized trip to Guatemala that showed Guatemalan
prosecutors and police side-by-side conducting wiretaps, followed
by two weeks of intense arm-twisting by EmbOffs, brought the FMLN
to agree to AG control of the center but with PNC staffing. ARENA
deputies, sensing opportunity, sought to amend the draft bill text
to potentially exclude the PNC from operations, which threatened to
bring us back to a stalemate. High level EmbOff interventions with
ARENA, including calls by the Charge to ARENA President Alfredo
Cristiani and former President Armando Calderon Sol, made clear our
willingness to blame publicly recalcitrant ARENA deputies. With
the logjam broken, a new round of negotiations began on February
17, leading to passage of the bill on the 18th.
4. (SBU) Embassy San Salvador would like to thank Embassy Guatemala
for its support in coordinating the Salvadoran deputies' February
1-2 visit to Guatemala's wiretap facilities.
5. (C) Comment/Next Steps: As long and rough as the road to this
law has been, difficult work still lies ahead. The GOES does not
have the funds necessary to establish an effective electronic
surveillance agency without significant outside assistance. U.S.
law enforcement equities in El Salvador, particularly direct
communications between violent Salvadoran gang members and other
criminals with their counterparts in U.S. cities, make it
imperative that Washington assist the GOES in standing up the
wiretap agency, either through Merida 2.0/CARSI funding or other
sources for both training and equipment. Passage of this bill,
which provides legal authority for electronic surveillance while
protecting civil liberties, gives us hope that a national consensus
on public security policy is possible, despite polarization on most
every other issue in Salvadoran politics. End comment.
BLAU