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Fact-Finding
Delegation Pledges to Hold Current Ambassador Glazer to Non-Interventionist
Commitment for 2009
July 10, 2008
Contact: Burke Stansbury – 202 521 2510 ext. 205 or
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During a recent
heated meeting at the US Embassy in El Salvador,
Ambassador Charles Glazer admitted to U.S. intervention in the 2004
Salvadoran Presidential Elections. The
meeting on June 27 was requested by a group of 12 U.S. citizens, including
professors, students, journalists and community activists who were taking part
in a 10-day delegation organized by the Committee in Solidarity with the People
of El Salvador (CISPES).
In their meeting with
the Ambassador, the group focused specifically on the history of U.S. political and military intervention in El Salvador. They cited statements made by US State
Department officials denouncing. the leftist Farabundo Marti Liberation Front
(FMLN) party during the 2004 presidential campaign. The delegates also referenced legislation put
forward in Congress by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) that threatened to cut off
remittances sent by Salvadorans in the U.S.
to their families in El
Salvador should the FMLN win. “The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador never countered this absurd threat
or clarified the impossibility of such legislation being passed,” said Rosa
Lozano, a delegate from Washington
D.C. “Ultimately, such intervention helped turn a
close race for the presidency into a decisive victory for the right-wing
National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party.”
When asked directly
if the U.S.
government had intervened in the 2004 presidential elections on behalf of the
ARENA party, Glazer replied in the affirmative.
When asked if such intervention would occur again, he said “no”. “We believe that this is the first time that
a representative of the Bush Administration has taken responsibility for the
manipulative interference that took place during the 2004 presidential campaign,”
said Burke Stansbury, Executive Director of CISPES and a participant in the
meeting with the ambassador. “It’s
really quite remarkable; CISPES and others have been crying foul since State
Department intervention began in mid-2003 but the Embassy has always denied it
played a role in President Saca’s victory,” continued Stansbury. “But admitting fault last time is not
enough. We will continue to demand that
no such intervention occurs, not in 2009 nor ever again.”
During the meeting, the
Embassy labor attaché claimed that the possibility of fraud in the 2009 would
be diminished because of the active monitoring of various international
organizations and emphasized the role to be played by the International
Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), both
subsections of the National Endowment of Democracy (NED). When challenged about the partisan nature of
these quasi-non governmental organizations, as well as accusations that the IRI
and NDI have played an interventionist role in other Latin American elections,
the Embassy representative admitted that there was controversy and doubts
surrounding the NED.
“In 2007, the IRI –
headed by Republican presidential candidate John McCain – presented President
Saca with its ‘Freedom Award’, showing its clear ideological preference in the
polarized Salvadoran political process,” said Laura Embree-Lowry, a member of
the Boston
chapter of CISPES and a participant in the Embassy meeting. “We believe that the presence of partisan
groups like the IRI and NDI will in fact be counterproductive to the goal of
the Salvadoran people, which is to hold free and fair elections in 2009.”
The CISPES delegation
also expressed concern about the aggressive conduct of Ambassador Glazer during
their brief meeting. “Mr. Glazer arrived
with the idea of attacking our delegation and rudely countering everything we
put forward, to the point of being verbally abusive to at least two of the
delegates,” said Andrew Kafel, a member of the delegation from New York. “Whether or
not the Ambassador agrees with the concerns we laid out about potential U.S.
intervention, he has a duty as a public official to hear us out in a respectful
manner,” continued Kafel. “If this is
how we as U.S.
citizens are treated, we can only imagine how the Ambassador interacts with
Salvadorans. We hope that in the future
the State Department will better orient their representatives about how to
respectfully dialogue with those holding a differing opinion.”
The group plans to
issue an extensive report of the information gathered during the June CISPES
fact-finding delegation, including an analysis of the current human rights
situation, information about the potential of fraud and irregularities in the
2009 elections, and concerns about U.S. involvement in the
process. The report will be release at
the end of July. For more information go
to www.cispes.org
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