VZCZCXRO5336
RR RUEHLMC
DE RUEHSN #0481/01 1482238
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 282238Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1144
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SAN SALVADOR 000481 
 
STATE PASS USAID/LAC 
STATE ALSO PASS USTR 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PGOV EFIN ETRD EINV ES
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT-ELECT FUNES ANNOUNCES ECONOMIC CABINET 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary. President-Elect Mauricio Funes named his economic 
cabinet on May 26.  The following positions were announced: 
Technical Secretary to the President (Chief of Staff), Minister of 
Finance, Minister of Economy, President of the Central Bank, 
Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Minister of Environment and 
Natural Resources, Minister of Public Works, and President of the 
Autonomous Executive Port Commission (CEPA).  Only Gerson Martinez 
is a member of the Farabundo Marti Front for the National Liberation 
Party (FMLN).  All others are technocrats drawn primarily from 
Funes' inner circle, many of whom are long-time Embassy contacts. 
Overall, the composition of the economic cabinet suggests that Funes 
intends to implement the moderate economic policy on which he 
campaigned.  We are waiting for the other shoe to drop on public 
security nominations.  End summary. 
 
Technical Secretary (Chief of Staff) 
------------------ ----------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Alexander "Alex" Segovia will serve as Technical Secretary of 
the Presidency, roughly equivalent to Chief of Staff.  Segovia has a 
PhD in Economics from the University of London, a Master's in 
Economics from Oxford University, and a degree in Economics from the 
Salvadoran Universidad Centroamericana Jose Simeon Canas (UCA).  He 
has worked as an academic researcher and as a consultant for the 
United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations 
Development Program (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of 
the United Nations (FAO), and the Economic Commission for Latin 
America and the Caribbean of the United Nations (ECLAC).  He has 
also worked for the German Cooperation Agency (GTZ), the Friedrich 
Ebert-Stiftung Foundation, and the International Center for 
Transitional Justice (ICTJ).   Currently he is an advisor to the 
UNDP.  He has been a close advisor to Funes throughout the campaign. 
 
 
Minister of Finance 
------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Carlos Caceres will serve as Minister of Finance.  Caceres 
has a degree in Economics from the Salvadoran National University, a 
Master's Degree in Government and Public Administration from the 
University of Belgium, and a Master's Degree in International 
Relations from the Salvadoran University "Universidad Tecnologica de 
El Salvador (UTEC)."  He has over 40 years of experience in the 
banking sector.  His last position was Executive Director for the 
Salvadoran Banking Association (ABANSA) and he has been a good 
Embassy contact.  He was a founding member of the "Friends of 
Mauricio" and has been working closely with Funes for over two 
years. 
 
Minister of Economy 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Hector Dada Hirezi will be the Minister of Economy.  Dada has 
a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of El Salvador, 
and both an undergraduate degree and a Master's degree in Economics 
from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. He has been the 
Secretary General of the (center-left) Democratic Change Party (CD) 
since 2004, and he has served as a Congressman since 2003.  He was 
Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1979-1980 and, following the 
military coup of October 1979, was a member of the Government's 
Revolutionary Board in 1980.  He also served as the Executive 
Director of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) 
and Economic Officer of the Economic Commission for Latin America 
and the Caribbean of the United Nations (ECLAC). 
 
President of the Central Bank 
------------ ---------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Carlos Acevedo was named President of the Central Reserve 
Bank.  Acevedo has a PhD in Economics from Vanderbilt University, a 
Master's degree in Economics from Duke University, and a degree in 
Economics from UCA. He is currently the Joint Coordinator of the 
Salvadoran Human Development Report at UNDP and teaches quantitative 
methods and international economy at the Salvadoran educational NGO 
FEPADE.  He was previously manager of the macroeconomic section at 
the Salvadoran right-leaning think tank FUSADES.  He also worked at 
the Research Department of the Central Reserve Bank.  He has been a 
consultant for the World Bank and the IDB. 
 
Minister of Agriculture and Livestock 
--------------- --------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock will be Manuel 
Sevilla.  Sevilla has a PhD in Public Finance and a Master's Degree 
in Economics from Syracuse University.  He also has a degree in 
 
SAN SALVAD 00000481  002 OF 002 
 
 
Economics from Bates College (Lewiston, Maine).  He has worked as 
chief of the UNDP's Democratic Governability Program and as the 
World Bank's Finance, Infrastructure and Private Sector Chief for 
Central America.  According to press reports, he is not well known 
in the agricultural sector. 
 
Minister of Environment and Natural Resources 
------------------ -------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) Herman Rosa Chavez will be the Minister of the Environment 
and Natural Resources.  Rosa has an Engineering degree from 
Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, Scotland) and a degree in 
Economics from UCA.  He also has a Master's degree in Political 
Economy and International Relations from Costa Rica's National 
University.  He joined the Environment and Development Research 
Salvadoran Program (PRISMA in Spanish) in 1993.  Previously, he 
worked as Director of the Electrical Engineering School of the 
Salvadoran National University.  In 1998, he worked on a 
USAID-financed project PRISMA executed.  Local USAID staff remember 
him as a hard-working professional. 
 
Public Works Minister 
--------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) The Minister of Public Works will be Gerson Martinez. 
Martinez was just reelected as an FMLN Congressman for 2009-2012. 
In the Legislative Assembly, he has been the President of the 
Finance and Budget Committee.  During the war years, he was in 
charge of the Intelligence Unit of the Popular Liberation Forces 
(FPL), one of the five organizations that united to create the FMLN. 
He co-wrote the current government plan with Alex Segovia. 
 
President of the Autonomous Executive Port Commission (CEPA) 
------------------------ ----------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) Guillermo Lopez-Suarez will be the President of the 
Autonomous Executive Port Commission (CEPA).  Lopez-Suarez has a 
degree in Agronomic Engineering from the Institute of Technology and 
Higher Studies of Monterrey, Mexico, and a Master's in Business 
Administration and Finance from the North Dakota School of Science 
(now North Dakota State College of Science).  He has over 34 years 
of experience working in the private sector (17 years with the 
Salvadoran franchise of "Pollo Campero"). During the Saca 
Administration, he was Minister of Finance from 2004-2006.  He left 
the Saca Administration after implementing a successful fiscal 
reform project. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The selection of the economic cabinet is a positive sign 
that President-Elect Funes intends to implement the moderate 
economic platform on which he campaigned.  Segovia, Caceres and 
Lopez-Suarez have been long-term, close contacts of the Embassy. 
Post has also had a good relationship with Gerson Martinez, the only 
FMLN member of the economic cabinet, who now is back in Funes's 
favor after a public reprimand for speaking out of turn to the press 
a week after Funes's election victory in March.  Taken together, 
these appointments augur well for close USG/GOES economic 
cooperation.  We are on the edge of our seats for an announcement of 
cabinet and other key positions in the public security area. 
 
Blau