Saturday, March 7, 2009

Representative Raul Grijalva's (D-AZ) Congressional Letter on Elections in El Salvador

Foreign Affairs, Immigration: Dear Colleague: Respect Salvadoran Elections

From: The Honorable Raul M. Grijalva Date: 2/23/2009

Respect Democracy in El Salvador: Letter to President Obama Calling for Non-intervention in Presidential Election

Dear Colleague:

Please join us in writing to President Obama to encourage him to fulfill a historic opportunity to build a new relationship with our neighbors in the Americas based on mutual respect.

The upcoming Presidential election in El Salvador , the first in the Americas since President Obama was elected, is a chance for the United States to demonstrate that it will respect the results of our neighbors’ elections, and will not intervene in support of one party or candidate over another.

Before El Salvador ’s 2004 presidential election, US officials attempted to sway the vote by suggesting that in the event of a victory by the opposition party, the legal status of Salvadoran immigrants living in the U.S. would be jeopardized and remittances sent to El Salvador by family members in the U.S. could be outlawed.

Remittances are believed to comprise roughly 20% of El Salvador ’s GDP, and consequently these threats were widely covered in the Salvadoran press and had an enormous impact that lingers to this day.

We believe that the proper position of the U.S. Congress and government is one of neutrality and respect for El Salvador ’s independent democratic process, allowing the Salvadoran people to make a free choice of personal conscience, a choice which can only be done in the absence of coercion and threats.

Please join us in calling on President Obama to affirm this position, prevent a recurrence of the events of 2004, and bring real change to our relationship with Latin America .

Sincerely,

/s /s

Raul M. Grijalva Marcy Kaptur

Member of Congress Member of Congress

Dear President Obama:

As Members of Congress who have been disappointed by many of our nation's foreign policy decisions over the past eight years, we write to extend our support for your vision of a more respectful, less confrontational relationship with our neighbors in the Americas . We also believe that the March 2009 presidential election in El Salvador – the first such contest in the Western Hemisphere since your election in November, will provide a critical opportunity to realize this vision.

We wish to express our support for free and fair elections in El Salvador . To that end, we request your assurance that your administration will join us in honoring and respecting the will of the Salvadoran people when they go to the polls on March 15. Furthermore, we call upon all U.S. government officials and Members of Congress to refrain from any attempt, at any point during the campaign, to influence the decision of Salvadoran voters.

Intervention in the El Salvador's 2004 election took the form of public statements, made in the days and weeks leading up to the election, suggesting that U.S.-Salvadoran relations would be severely damaged in the event of a victory by the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), the opposition party whose candidate is now leading in the polls for 2009. Specific threats made by U.S. officials in 2004 alleged that the legal status of Salvadoran immigrants living in the U.S. would be jeopardized and remittances sent to El Salvador by family members in the U.S. could be outlawed if ARENA's candidate were not elected.

Documentation attached as an addendum to this letter highlights many of statements made by U.S. officials during El Salvador 's 2004 campaign, and the coverage they received in the Salvadoran press.

El Salvador uses the U.S. dollar as its official currency, and the U.S. is by far the country's most important trade partner. Nearly 25% of El Salvador ’s population lives in the United States , and the remittances that these immigrants send home comprise roughly 20% of El Salvador ’s GDP.

In light of these facts and circumstances, threats made by US officials are widely covered in the Salvadoran press and can have an impact that is hard to overstate.

The interventionist statements and actions of 2004 had a serious, coercive effect on the choices made by the Salvadoran electorate and, even today linger in the minds of Salvadoran voters, as US Embassy staff in San Salvador admitted to a visiting delegation.

The governing party has encouraged the U.S. government to repeat its intervention in the 2009 campaign. I a September 2008 speech in Washington, Salvadoran Foreign Minister Marisol Argueta, called for the U.S. government to again tip the scales toward ARENA.

Pro-ARENA television advertisements recapitulating the claim that an opposition victory at the polls will cause the U.S. government to outlaw remittances from Salvadoran immigrants are nearly ubiquitous. Similar advertisements and television reports have made use of statements by an adviser to the Obama campaign, Dan Restrepo, identifying him as an actual official in the Obama Administration, to suggest that your administration is averse to an election result favoring the FMLN.

These claims and distortions will continue to resonate until they are refuted by words and actions.

As Members of Congress, we reject the threats of 2004 and any effort to instigate another US intervention in Salvadoran politics. We feel that U.S. immigration policy should not be made into a political instrument used to influence foreign elections. Similarly, we reject the suggestion that the US government would seek to financially punish Salvadorans, in this country or in El Salvador , for exercising their right to elect a government of their choosing. As members of Congress, we will not support any such measure.

We believe that the proper position of the U.S. Congress and government is one of neutrality and respect for El Salvador ’s independent democratic process, thus allowing the Salvadoran people to make a free choice of personal conscience, a choice which can only be done in the absence of coercion and threats.

We believe it is essential that the United States seize this quickly approaching opportunity to demonstrate that we will not seek to undermine democracy in El Salvador and Latin America . This is an invaluable, historic opportunity to make a clean break with the past and move with our neighbors into a relationship based on mutual respect.

No matter the results of El Salvador 's 2009 elections, we look forward to working with the Salvadoran people and their elected representatives to seek a future that holds peace and shared prosperity for both of our countries. We trust that your administration will join us in these efforts.

Sincerely,

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