March 7th marks the date of the national presidential elections in El Salvador. The two major parties, ARENA and the FMLN are long-time adversaries from El Salvador's civil war and before. ARENA is the current ruling party, and the supporter of El Salvador's death squads during the 1980's. The United States has long supported ARENA under the auspices of protecting national security and promoting American interests in the region. The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front is a coalition of left-leaning parties that have joined together to present a united alternative to the right-wing in El Salvador.

The FMLN was formed during the civil war of the 80's as an armed revolutionary resistance movement. Since the war, ARENA has instituted neo-liberal economic policies as mandated by the IMF, including privatizing the national telephone company and cutting the national health care system. In 1996, the FMLN won several seats in the legislature and has since been able to reject or tone down many of the "structural adjustment" policies proposed by ARENA. Here in the U.S. an activist group, the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), among other organizations worldwide, is gathering delegates to serve as international observers in the upcoming presidential elections.

Central America has a history of fraud and corruption in post-war electoral processes, and this election should promise to be no different. When right wing parties have control the electoral process, they've often proven themselves tempted to stoop to any low to keep themselves in a position of power. The United States is the beneficiary of a right-wing agenda in Latin America, so our government is often caught funding right-wing campaigns and promoting right-wing candidates. These are generally the same people that participated in the "dirty" wars of the 1980's.

A recent example of direct U.S. intervention was the 1996 Nicaraguan Elections. The U.S. donated over $12 million to the UNO election campaign (UNO being the current incarnation of the right wing party). During the election, international monitors noted the lack of influence the election committee had. Months after the election, an UNO representative was charged with fraud after 50,000 ballots were found buried in his back yard. Nevertheless, UNO remained in power with no censure for corruption, and only one politician was given a mild slap on the wrist.

The monitors for the upcoming elections will have the opportunity to observe, and perhaps even guarantee, landmark progress from single party rule to a semblance of democracy in El Salvador. Latin America is currently in a crisis of democracy--from Mexico with its murderous PRI candidates to Guatemala with the "unsolved" murder of Auxiliary Bishop Monsignor Gerardi, to Chile with the pending trial of a brutal former dictator charged with genocide. The U.S., in spite of its rhetoric, has often been a hindrance to democratic efforts within neighboring countries. Clinton is planning an upcoming visit to El Salvador, scheduled for the day after the first primary election. This visit is surely timed to bolster the ARENA campaign during the run-off elections, as Clinton will surely press for more neo-liberal economic reforms and talk about bringing Central America into NAFTA. ARENA has also proposed a Hurricane Mitch "recovery plan," which involves constructing sweatshops in the areas most heavily hit. Since El Salvador already imports 60 percent of its food supply, replacing farms with sweatshops is not a sustainable alternative.

The campaign is also a time of excitement for all involved, like any national election. The FMLN hopes to claim the Presidential seat to change the current direction of social and economic policy of the ARENA-dominated government. They have fierce competition, both from ARENA and the Centrist CDU party. The FMLN is not underestimating the competition, and is already planning for a major election drive for the 2000 legislative elections.

The after-effects of Hurricane Mitch may be a problem for the elections in El Salvador. The lack of reliable transportation and infrastructure makes getting to and from the ballot box difficult, if not impossible, in many areas. ARENA is in no big hurry to make it easier for rural FMLN supporters to get their votes counted.

The election monitors will spend time in some of the hardest-hit areas in El Salvador, but will see post-hurricane restoration work being done by the communities themselves--often with only the help of FMLN-sponsored groups. CISPES delegates will also have the opportunity to meet Union organizers currently working in the textile industry. There will be a Seattle-based film crew traveling with the delegation, documenting the election and the current conditions in El Salvador.

Hopefully, in spite of major hurdles, this election will be a fair one.

For more information on the CISPES Delegation, contact CISPES at (206) 325-5494. For information on the documentary project, contact Activ8 Productions via e-mail at activ8@speakeasy.org.