VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSN #0560/01 1341954
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 131954Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9455
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 2530
RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000560 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/13/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ES CO PTER PARM
SUBJECT: FMLN TRIES TO CONTROL DAMAGE FROM ACCUSATIONS OF 
FARC TIES 
 
 
Classified By: Charge D'Affaires Deborah Kennedy-Iraheta, Reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. (C) Recent press reports on ties between the Colombian 
FARC guerrillas and the Salvadoran opposition Farabundo Marti 
Liberation Front (FMLN) party have party leadership 
scrambling to explain itself.  Documents reportedly seized in 
recent Colombian military actions and subsequently published 
by the El Pais newspaper in Spain, clearly lay out recent and 
extensive communications between the FARC and Jose Luis 
Merino Hernandez (a.k.a. Ramiro Vasquez), a senior FMLN party 
official. Mauricio Funes, the FMLN presidential candidate, 
who up to now has been the golden boy of the party and the 
face of the "new" FMLN, quickly denied the charges in their 
entirety.  Other FMLN party sources have not been so quick to 
dismiss the allegations against Merino, and privately give us 
the sense that the party knows that if the allegations are 
proved true, it will need to act swiftly and decisively to 
mitigate the damage.  ARENA officials, who have thus far been 
circumspect in their comments, must certainly see this as an 
electoral gift by the FMLN, which has been favored to win in 
early opinion polls. End Summary 
 
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"Ramiro" and the FARC 
--------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Salvadoran newspaper headlines have been dominated 
over the last several days by allegations of ties between the 
opposition Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN) party and 
Colombian FARC guerrillas.  The storm of publicity began with 
the publication of a story in the Spanish daily newspaper, El 
Pais, entitled "The FARC Papers Implicate Chavez" which 
referred to links between the FARC and the Venezuelan 
President.  The documents in question were reportedly found 
on FARC-owned computers seized in Colombian military 
operations along the Ecuadorian border in March of this year. 
 The documents discuss at length military and financial ties 
between Chavez and the FARC. 
 
¶3. (C) According to the documents, a Salvadoran man called 
"Ramiro" from the FMLN was facilitating contact between the 
FARC and Australian arms dealers in order for the FARC to 
purchase rifles, grenade launchers, and missiles. "Ramiro" 
has been identified as Jose Luis Merino, an FMLN party 
official and Deputy in the Central American Parliament. 
(Note: Indeed, FMLN contacts commonly refer to Merino as 
"Ramiro." End note.)  The documents also indicate that, as 
part of its campaign to seek international support, the FARC 
had offered $10-12 million dollars to support the FMLN in the 
2004 elections. The FARC also allegedly offered to help the 
FMLN conduct kidnappings in El Salvador. 
 
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FMLN Denies Everything  -- Ramiro who? 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Mauricio Funes, the FMLN Presidential candidate in the 
2009 election was quick to reject the accusations against 
Merino.  He claimed that the press stories had no new 
information and that there was no evidence of connections to 
Merino. He echoed the vehement denials of FMLN spokesman 
Sigfrido Reyes who called the accusations a "typical 
Hollywood story."  While acknowledging that "Ramiro Vasquez" 
is Merino's FMLN nom-du-guerre, Funes added that the 
pseudonym "Ramiro" had been used by several other FMLN 
militants.  Funes has also suggested that the FMLN may pursue 
a legal case against the Colombian government for defamation. 
 
---------------------------- 
ARENA Claims the High Ground 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) While disclaiming any political motive with respect to 
the upcoming elections, El Salvador's ARENA government has 
been quick to call for investigations.  Minister of Public 
Security and Justice, Rene Figueroa is quoted as saying that 
the issue of arms trafficking is serious and dangerous and 
that any investigation "will not be contaminated by 
pre-election politics."  Figueroa also announced that the 
Salvadoran Government will send a team to Colombia to 
investigate these specific charges and links between the FMLN 
and the FARC.  Vice Minister for Public Security Astor 
Escalante told PolCouns May 12 that he had not been 
personally involved in the GOES follow up to the allegations 
made in El Pais and Salvadoran newspapers over the weekend 
regarding FARC-FMLN ties.  However, he said he knew Figueroa 
was actively involved in talks with the Colombians, both with 
the Colombian Ambassador in San Salvador and soon, if not 
already, in Bogota.  Escalante was short on detail, but quite 
confident these allegations would be pursued by the GOES and 
beneficial to ARENA in 2009 elections. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
FMLN Worried, Waiting for the Next Shoe to Drop 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶6. (C) FMLN Deputy and Coordinator for Relations with the 
U.S. Hugo Martinez sought out PolCouns May 12 in order to 
relay a conversation he had earlier that day with FMLN 
General Coordinator Medardo Gonzalez.  The primary message, 
which Martinez repeated twice, was that while there were 
contacts with the FARC during the Salvadoran Civil War, 
official contacts had not continued.  While there was no 
doubt and no surprise that some "personal" contacts had been 
maintained since then, contacts with the FARC of the sort 
alleged in the Salvadoran press were not the policy of the 
FMLN.  The FMLN had converted itself into a political party 
at the end of the Salvadoran Civil War and believed a 
"humanitarian solution" to the conflict in Colombia was 
appropriate. 
 
¶7. (C) Martinez acknowledged that ARENA was certain to use 
these allegations against Merino in the Salvadoran election 
campaigns.  Indeed, he felt ARENA was merely warming up at 
this point.  If the allegations are proved true, he said, 
there would be consequences inside the FMLN because of the 
damage it could do to the party and its aspirations to win 
the Salvadoran presidency in 2009.  Martinez speculated that 
if the allegations against Merino turn out to be true, they 
are likely to be attempts to grab the power and influence 
that Merino had developed, especially in the mid-ranks of 
party officials.  First, though, the party would wait to see 
the promised report from INTERPOL expected on May 15. 
 
¶8. (C) Merino, Martinez said, was not a well known individual 
outside of FMLN circles, but was extremely influential.  He 
characterized Merino as more radical than the FMLN's hard 
line (i.e., Medardo Gonzalez and VP Candidate Sanchez Ceren). 
 Martinez noted the institutional balance that had existed 
between Gonzalez and Sanchez Ceren, both with roots in the 
Popular Liberation Forces (FPL), a violent offshoot of the 
Salvadoran Communist Party (PCS), and Schafik Handal and 
Merino, both with roots in the PCS.  Those represented by 
Merino, he said, were a sector that could not be excluded 
from party leadership. 
 
¶9. (C) As to the possible effects on the FMLN's campaign, 
Martinez acknowledged that if the allegations proved true, 
there would be damage.  Indeed, he lamented FMLN Presidential 
Candidate Mauricio Funes' response to the press which 
Gonzalez had reportedly described as "stupid".  Funes sought 
to downplay the validity of allegations made in the press, 
suggesting the pseudonym used by the press to identify Merino 
(Ramiro) could refer to anyone.  Martinez described Funes' 
responses as weak.  He said Funes must be worried about the 
potential fallout.  Perhaps grasping for straws, he said the 
FMLN could hope that ARENA might try to overplay its hand as 
it had with the Suchitoto case and others. 
 
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Comment 
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¶10. (C) Based on the FMLN's urgency in communicating with us, 
relaying a message from the highest levels of the party, and 
from the body language of the messenger, it is clear that the 
FMLN is concerned at the likely fallout for the 2009 
elections.  There is also clear concern over Funes' initial 
fumble on the issue.  It was clear that Martinez, at least 
(though perhaps not everyone in the FMLN) was shocked by the 
scope of these allegations.  It remains to be seen, however, 
if allowing Merino's head to roll (as was strongly suggested 
by Martinez as a likely outcome) will minimize the damage to 
the FMLN's charm offensive for the 2009 elections and to the 
Funes campaign. 
KENNEDY-IRAHETA