Vice President Proposes Amending Constitution

id: 244774

date: 1/21/2010 22:26

refid: 10SANSALVADOR25

origin: Embassy San Salvador

classification: CONFIDENTIAL

destination:

header:

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DE RUEHSN #0025 0212227

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R 212226Z JAN 10

FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR

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INFO WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

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C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000025

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/21

TAGS: PGOV, ES

SUBJECT: Vice President Proposes Amending Constitution

CLASSIFIED BY: MMCGEE, CDA, FCS; REASON: 1.4(D)

1.  (C) Summary: At a high-profile public event on January 17, Vice

President Salvador Sanchez Ceren called for sweeping constitutional

reforms to enable plebiscites and other forms of "participative

democracy" in El Salvador.  The move stokes growing fears that the

Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) is following Hugo

Chavez's playbook with the ultimate goal of perpetuating itself in

power. Fierce opposition by the FMLN's rivals and onerous

constitutional requirements for passing an amendment give this

proposal little chance of passing any time soon.  End summary.

2. (C) On January 17, at an event commemorating the 18th

anniversary of the Salvadoran Peace Accords, Vice President

Salvador Sanchez Ceren declared his support for constitutional

reforms to authorize plebiscites and other "participative

democracy" initiatives.  The announcement comes weeks after Sanchez

Ceren made a series of controversial comments decrying U.S.

intervention, calling for the GOES to join Hugo Chavez's ALBA

movement, and proposing Cuban-style health and education systems

for El Salvador.

3.  (C) The constitutional reform comments appeared to surprise

some within the FMLN.  When questioned about Sanchez Ceren's

comments, FMLN leader Nidia Diaz said that while the FMLN has long

advocated "participative democracy," the plebiscite proposal is not

part of their current agenda.  (Note: The constitution requires an

amendment proposal to pass two consecutive legislative assemblies,

the second time by two-thirds supermajority, before ratification.

End note.)

4. (C) Right-wing parties universally condemned the comments.  The

(center-right) National Republican Alliance's president and former

President of El Salvador (1989-94), Alfredo Cristiani, said his

party would oppose such reforms, which he said are intended to

"permit the installation of a socialist dictatorship."  A

spokesperson for the Great Alliance for National Unity (GANA),

which supported the FMLN on recent votes in the Legislative

Assembly, said GANA would not support Sanchez Ceren's proposed

reforms.

5.  Comment: Sanchez Ceren's remarks are the clearest signal yet

that the hard-left FMLN core wants to follow Hugo Chavez's path of

socialist revolution via the dismantling of democratic

institutions.  The swift negative reaction of the right,

particularly from a party like GANA, which until now has acted like

a party-for-sale, suggests the FMLN's rivals see such

"participative democracy" as a threat to their interests, if not to

Salvadoran democracy.  Given the strong opposition of the FMLN's

rivals, as well as the high statutory hurdles for amending the

constitution, there is little chance the FMLN could push through

such a proposal any time soon.   End comment.

McGee

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