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DE RUEHSN #1166/01 1231933
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 031933Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2230
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 001166 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2016 
TAGS: PREL ES PGOV KCOR
SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR PASSES HISTORIC GOVERNMENT ETHICS LAW 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Michael A. Butler, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C)  SUMMARY:  El Salvador's departing Legislative 
Assembly on April 25 unanimously approved a comprehensive and 
robust ethics law to oversee conduct of public sector 
employees across all branches of government, following an 
often-frustrating five-year Embassy effort to institute such 
legislation.  Three weeks ago, most political actors, 
including the executive, showed little interest in the law's 
passage.  Ambassador and emboffs then put on a full-court 
press with the political parties and gained their support. 
On the day of the law's passage, however, the Embassy learned 
that the National Conciliation (PCN) and ARENA parties 
intended to water down the law's efficacy by placing it under 
the oversight of the unreliable, and perhaps corrupt, 
Comptroller's Office (Corte de Cuentas).  Embassy's 
eleventh-hour lobbying finally convinced the ARENA and PCN 
leadership that passage of their "alternate" bill would 
damage El Salvador's image. When the vote was taken, all 
political parties, including the FMLN, supported the bill. 
Embassy's strongest allies in support of the bill were the 
moderate-left Revolutionary Democratic Front (FDR) and 
Christian Democratic Party (PDC), both of whom refused to 
support ARENA efforts to elect Supreme Court magistrates 
until the ethics bill was passed.  END SUMMARY. 
 
BACKGROUND 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU)  In 1988, the Government of El Salvador (GOES) 
ratified the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, 
which entailed its commitment to approve and implement a 
government ethics law covering all government employees.  In 
conjunction with USG reconstruction assistance in the wake of 
1998 Hurricane Mitch, the U.S. in 2000 signed a bilateral 
anti-corruption agreement with the GOES and allocated 
$350,000 for the creation of a public employees code of 
ethics and the establishment of an office of government 
ethics.  USAID was tasked with the implementation of this 
agreement, and assisted the Flores administration (1999-2004) 
with designing a code of ethical conduct and the 
establishment of a GOES government ethics office. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  In President Flores's view, an independent 
government institution such as the Court of Accounts 
(Comptroller's Office) represented the most logical home for 
an office of government ethics; USAID subsequently provided 
technical assistance to the Court of Accounts to review the 
draft bill and make modifications necessary to adjust it to 
its own internal legal framework.  The Court of Accounts 
presented the revised ethics law to the Legislative Assembly 
in March 2003; the bill was passed to the Legislative 
Assembly's Legislation Commission, where it was tabled and 
languished in neglect.  With Embassy support, the Legislative 
Assembly withdrew the ethics bill from the Legislation 
Commission in 2005, and established a new ad-hoc 
subcommission to draft a more comprehensive ethics bill using 
many of the principles, ideas, and language contained in the 
bill submitted by the Court of Accounts.  The Legislative 
Assembly on April 25 approved, with no dissenting votes, the 
Government Ethics Law that will apply to all public 
employees. 

CONTENT OF THE LAW 
------------------ 

¶4. (SBU)  The most significant features of the Law include 
the following: 
 
--  The Law's objective is to promote ethical conduct in 
government by preventing, detecting, and sanctioning 
corruption by public servants who utilize public office for 
private gains. 
 
--  All persons who render service to any government entity, 
within or outside the country, including all direct-hire 
Executive, Judicial, and Legislative employees, municipal and 
other local government workers, autonomous and independent 
government institutions, as well as contractors, are covered. 
 
--  The Law establishes ethical prohibitions, exceptions, 
public servants, rights, complaint procedures, and citizen 
rights, and includes as sanctions warnings, fines, and 
dismissals. 
 
--  In addition to implementation via ethics commissions to 
be created within each government institution, a new 
Government Ethics Tribunal will be established as the supreme 
administrative authority charged with enforcing the law; the 
Tribunal's five members will include one representative each 
from the Legislative Assembly (who will serve as President), 
the Presidency, the Supreme Court, the Court of Accounts, and 
the Attorney General,s Office/Public Defender,s Office. 
Member terms of office will be five years, after which they 
may seek reappointment; each member will also have his/her 
own alternate. 
 
--  Functions of the Tribunal will include:  promotion, 
dissemination, and training on ethics principles among public 
employees; resolution of corruption cases and imposition of 
sanctions for violations; establishment of mechanisms for 
public administration transparency; formulation and 
implementation of policies regarding the appropriate use of 
public resources; and the selection of members to be 
appointed to ethics commissions in each government 
institution. 
 
--  The ethics commissions of each government institution 
will be composed of three members with terms of five years; 
their primary function will be to publicize the law among 
their respective groups of employees, to train personnel, to 
receive complaints, and to follow up on Tribunal resolutions 
and propose administrative measures to prevent and curb 
corruption.  (Note:  The National Mayors Association, 
COMURES, will oversee the establishment of the commission 
that will oversee municipal governments.  End note.) 
 
--  The Ministry of Education will assist in raising 
awareness of the new Law by including instruction on the 
importance of ethics and the responsibilities of public 
servants in public education programs at all appropriate 
grade levels.  USAID's Transparency and Governance Program 
will assist the GOES in implementing the law through 
technical assistance, training, and observational exercises. 
 
¶5. (C)  COMMENT:  Notwithstanding President Saca's 2005 
decree instituting an ethics code for executive branch 
employees, the GOES and Legislative Assembly had resisted the 
Embassy's efforts to pass such a law for three years.  In the 
end it did not come easy; Embassy learned of a last-minute 
plan by ARENA deputies and their center-right National 
Conciliation Party (PCN) allies to substitute alternate 
legislation which would have placed oversight of ethics law 
compliance under the discredited Court of Accounts.  In the 
ultimate approval of the law in the waning hours of the 
outgoing Legislative Assembly, support from the loose 
center-left coalition of the Revolutionary Democratic Front 
(FDR), Christian Democratic Party (PDC), and Democratic 
Change (CD) proved critical.  FDR President Julio Hernandez, 
Deputy Hector Silva (CD), and PDC President Rodolfo Parker 
were particularly helpful in achieving this objective. 
(Note:  In a two-hour visit the weekend following passage of 
the Law, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz singled out 
approval of the public ethics law as an important 
achievement.  End note.) 
Barclay