SCENESETTER FOR VISIT OF SALVADORAN PRESIDENT SACA

id: 53502
date: 2/17/2006 17:20
refid: 06SANSALVADOR413
origin: Embassy San Salvador
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination:
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INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 0291
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA PRIORITY 0020
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000413
 
SIPDIS
 
SIPDIS
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2015
TAGS: ES, PGOV, PREL, OVIP, ETRD, MARR, MASS, KMCA
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR VISIT OF SALVADORAN PRESIDENT  SACA
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador H. Douglas Barclay, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
 
Introduction
-------------
 
1. (C)  President Elias Antonio "Tony" Saca will meet with
the President February 24, shortly before El Salvador's March
12 national congressional and mayoral elections. Saca hopes
the meeting with the President will further aid his party's
chances in the elections, and help him soundly defeat the
FMLN, which he maintains is being helped by Hugo Chavez and
Fidel Castro.  Saca further believes a positive electoral
outcome will help promote democracy, counter anti-Americanism
in this Hemisphere, and influence the November elections in
Nicaragua.  Saca wants to walk away from his Washington visit
with an announcement that El Salvador has qualified for
CAFTA-DR, and that the President will extend TPS benefits
again.  He will reaffirm his personal relationship with the
President and the United States, maintain his commitment on
Iraq, and will likely offer to help the administration in
Latin America, especially in relation to Venezuela, Cuba, and
Bolivia, but also on Central America and Nicaragua.  The
following topics will likely come up:
 
-- CAFTA
 
-- TPS
 
-- Deportations
 
-- MCC
 
-- Iraq Deployment
 
-- Chavez/Cuba/Nicaragua
 
-- Major Non-NATO Ally Status
 
 
CAFTA-DR
--------
 
2. (C)  Saca believes the GOES has met its obligations and
hopes that he and the President will be able to announce that
CAFTA-DR will enter into force on March 1.  Intense
negotiations between USTR and the GOES have resolved many
issues and led to expectations of an early implementation,
but the March 1 date has not yet been finalized. Saca has
stated here that the trade agreement will help jump-start the
economy.  In the leadup to CAFTA-DR implementation, the
nation's Legislative Assembly had to undertake extensive
legislative amendments to bring El Salvador's laws into
compliance with the agreement's provisions.  Influential
agricultural interests have had to accept some controversial
compromises.  The GOES is taking steps to enforce CAFTA-DR's
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) provisions, also in the
face of stiff opposition.
 
Temporary Protected Status
--------------------------
 
3. (C)  Roughly 250,000 Salvadorans have benefited from TPS,
which has been renewed three times since it was instituted in
March 2001 in response to two deadly earthquakes.  President
Saca has declared continuation of TPS one of his top
priorities. El Salvador continues to struggle to reconstruct
infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the earthquakes, and
subsequent damage from October 2005 natural disasters.  The
cost of reconstruction has diverted resources from other
critical needs, such as public health, nutrition programs,
and education.  El Salvador continues to suffer from alarming
poverty rates, as well as high unemployment and
underemployment.
 
Deportations
------------
 
4. (C)  Due to insufficient detention space for Salvadoran
illegal aliens apprehended at the border, DHS has asked El
Salvador to increase the number of deportees it will accept,
and to document their citizens more rapidly, to facilitate
their early repatriation. The GOES has made a good-faith
proposal to DHS that includes organizing accelerated
deportations and fuller information sharing and intelligence
cooperation.  The GOES has asked for financial support to
offset the increased costs associated with such initiatives.
The GOES and DHS are currently negotiating an accelerated
deportations agreement.
Millennium Challenge Account
----------------------------
 
5. (C)  El Salvador was one of two lower-middle-income
nations to qualify for Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)
compacts, and has proposed a new trunk highway linking the
impoverished northern region to markets.  The project aims to
increase development and link the Salvadoran economy to its
Central American neighbors, including MCC recipient Honduras.
 MCC representatives have met with GOES officials at the
national and local levels to discuss the project and study
its economic feasibility.  Thus far, the MCC has been very
favorably impressed with their GOES counterparts and the
project's quality.
 
Iraq Deployment
---------------
 
6. (C)  The sixth Salvadoran army contingent has just arrived
in Iraq; nearly 2,300 Salvadoran troops have now served with
the U.S.-led coalition, and El Salvador remains the sole
Western Hemisphere nation participating in Operation Iraqi
Freedom.  Although polls indicate that the government's
deployment of troops to Iraq is very unpopular with most
Salvadorans, Saca affirms that Salvadoran troops will
continue to be deployed as long as necessary.
 
Venezuelan and Cuban Interference in El Salvador
--------------------------------------------- ---
 
7. (C) Saca is worried about the direction in which Latin
America is headed, and cites Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, and
Nicaragua as areas of major concern.  He contends that
Venezuela and Cuba are interfering directly in El Salvador's
electoral process. Chavez has made overtures to Salvadoran
municipalities run by the FMLN offering sales of refined oil
at low prices in exchange for foodstuffs.  The Venezuelan
proposals are intended to boost the FMLN in the March 12
elections. Cuba is reportedly attempting to reunify the
Salvadoran left around the FMLN hardline leadership.  Links
between the FMLN and Daniel Ortega are very strong.  Saca is
concerned about the November elections in Nicaragua and a
possible Ortega victory, and has offered to help.
 
Major Non-NATO Ally Status
--------------------------
 
8. (C)  GOES Foreign Minister Lainez has raised with
Ambassador Barclay the possibility of Major Non-NATO Ally
(MNNA) status for El Salvador and asked for basic information
on MNNA.  Saca may raise MNNA during his visit.
Barclay

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