VZCZCXYZ0001
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSN #1849/01 2021805
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 211805Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3196
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 001849 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2016 
TAGS: ECON ES PGOV PREL PTER KMCA
SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH FMLN LEADERS ON MCA AND JULY 5 POLICE KILLINGS
 
REF: SAN SALVADOR 1736 
 
Classified By: DCM Michael A. Butler, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C)  SUMMARY:  In a July 12 luncheon that had been planned 
with leaders of the opposition Farabundo Marti National 
Liberation Front (FMLN) prior to the July 5 murders of 
Civilian National Police riot-cotrol (PNC/UMO) officers at 
the National University (UES), Ambassador Barclay discussed 
the proposed MCA project, the July 5 murders, and El 
Salvador's spiraling crime rate.  Although the FMLN attendees 
are not expected to become enthusiastic supporters of the MCA 
as a result of the luncheon, there did appear to be some 
progress made.  Moreover, the luncheon provided the 
Ambassador with an opportunity to express our outrage at the 
July 5 murders, which have clear links to the FMLN.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C)  FMLN attendees included Party Chairman Medardo 
Gonzalez, FMLN Legislative Assembly delegation chief Salvador 
Sanchez Ceren, Deputy (and spokesman) Sigfrido Reyes, and 
Deputy Irma Lourdes de Palacios, FMLN representative to the 
Legislative Assembly's Commission on Health and the 
Environment.  In addition to Ambassador Barclay and DCM 
Butler, Embassy participants included Acting USAID Director 
Tully Cornick, Economic Counselor Jessica Webster, and Acting 
Political Counselor Philip Thompson.  The meeting had been 
scheduled at the Embassy,s request in order to discuss the 
FMLN,s opposition to El Salvador,s bid for Millennium 
Challenge funding; the events of July 5 near the University 
of El Salvador (UES), in which twelve policemen were killed 
or wounded (see reftel), were added to the agenda, as were 
discussions of a shared concern about more generalized 
violent crime. 
 
MCC and the Environment 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (C)  Invited by the Ambassador to share their concerns 
about the northern zone development project proposed by the 
GOES for funding by the Millennium Challenge Corporation 
(MCC), Sanchez Ceren outlined the group,s concerns that the 
construction of a road in the northern zone would facilitate 
activities by private mining companies and the construction 
of new dams along the upper Lempa River.  Although the group 
acknowledged that neither mining nor dams were part of the 
proposed GOES concept for MCA funding, they stressed the 
vulnerability of the important watershed region to damming 
and pollution.  Palacios reiterated a position she had taken 
publicly, following a briefing by the GOES MCA team for her 
Legislative Assembly commission, that the northern zone 
project should focus on the rehabilitation of the Upper 
Lempa.  Expanding on concern about dam construction, Reyes 
referred to past experiences with large dam projects in the 
region, laying out his concerns regarding the impact of 
relocation of residents of affected communities.  The FMLN 
guests also alluded to their concerns that the project would 
leave a superhighway across the northern zone, leading to 
heavy traffic and an increase in crime to the detriment of 
residents.  They inquired broadly about the consultative 
process, and asked about the government institutions that 
would be managing MCA funds in the implementation process. 
 
¶4. (C)  Emboffs explained the requirement that environmental 
impact assessments be conducted for all proposed activities 
and that environmental standards be respected.  While 
acknowledging the importance of environmental protections, 
Ambassador Barclay pointed out that these were concerns that 
must be addressed in any development process, and that it was 
critical to remained focused on the key objective of poverty 
reduction.  Emboffs posited the importance of economic growth 
to environmental protection, and to offering residents in the 
region a viable, sustainable economic alternative to 
environmentally-risky activities.  The Ambassador pressed 
hard on the purpose of the Millennium Challenge in combating 
poverty, and urged Sanchez Ceren to support progress on the 
Compact, given the favorable conditions for the Compact that 
now exist.  Emboffs briefed FMLN guests in broad terms on the 
components of the proposal: infrastructure for connectivity, 
investment in human capital, and productive activity.  Reyes 
appeared especially interested in the financial breakdown, 
and how an adjustment in the ultimate award--if the GOES did 
not successfully negotiate a $442 million Compact--would 
affect the design of the program. 
 
July 5 Police Murders 
---------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Turning to the events of July 5, the FMLN attendees at first refused to take responsibility in the killings, which appear to have been premeditated assassinations carried out by former FMLN Mejicanos City Councilman Jose Mario Belloso Castillo and FMLN militant Luis Antonio Herrador Funes, the latter of whom has been apprehended and who has confessed to his role in the killings. They characterized the week-long delay between the murders and any statement of condolence or condemnation by the FMLN as a necessary period of reflection and analysis. (Note: Reliable Embassy contacts report that the delay in the FMLN's public response to July 5 was actually related to ongoing power struggles between the FMLN's two main factions--both of which are orthodox hardliners. End note.) Following the Ambassador's robust expression of shock at the presence of such arms and lethal violence on campus, the FMLN guests seemed somewhat more forthcoming in their willingness to condemn the previous week's events. The Ambassador went on to demonstrate that the Embassy knew more about the planning of the killings than the FMLN was aware, and forcefully admonished Gonzalez, Sanchez Ceren, Reyes, and Lourdes that the FMLN was "on very thin ice". He urged the FMLN to cooperate fully in the police's efforts to find and arrest the killers. The FMLN guests were almost sheepish in their response, and thanked the Ambassador for his frankness.
 
A Newfound FMLN Commitment to Crimefighting? 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C)  The luncheon conversation ended on a positive and 
amicable note after all present agreed on the need to address 
the nation's critical crime problem.  (Note:  The FMLN's 
Legislative Assembly delegation has generally opposed most 
law-enforcement-related initiatives during the 
administrations of both President Saca and his predecessor. 
They fought President Flores's "Mano Dura" anti-gang program, 
Saca's "Super Mano Dura" that followed, and they remain 
opposed to a Wiretapping Law passed by the previous 
Legislative Assembly that must be ratified as well by the 
present Assembly.  FMLN-oriented judges have also been slow 
to implement the nation's new Witness Protection Law, and 
appear poised to fight long-overdue judicial reform measures 
tooth-and-nail.  End note.) 
 
¶7. (C)  COMMENT:  The discussion of the MCA Compact was as 
cordial as could be expected.  We suspect that the group knew 
much more than it let on, and that Reyes and Palacios, in 
particular, are likely well-informed about the government,s 
northern zone proposal for the Millennium Challenge 
Corporation.  In the end, the FMLN's opposition to the 
proposed MCA project is likely rooted more in their sense 
that ARENA's poverty-alleviation efforts pose a real threat 
not to the environment, but to the FMLN's traditional bases 
of political power in the northern region.  In any event, the 
luncheon was an unsurpassed opportunity for the Ambassador to 
express our outrage at the police killings, which was made 
unequivocally clear to the FMLN.  Indeed, they departed the 
luncheon somewhat chagrined at knowing that the Embassy will 
be watching them closely in days to come, as the search for 
the killer progresses, and when he is afterwards brought to 
trial.  END COMMENT.
Barclay