Caribbean & Central America - January 2013 (ISSN 1741-4458)

President Mauricio Funes delivered a New Year’s radio address celebrating the fact that the homicide rate fell dramatically in 2012. The fall can be attributed to the truce between El Salvador’s two main gangs - Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and M-18 in March last year. The government is now intent on consolidating the gains made by supporting an ambitious second phase to the truce, including the choice of 10 municipalities as “sanctuaries” free of crime.

The year closed with official statistics released by the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) showing a 41% reduction in homicides compared with 2011: the PNC reported that there were 2,576 murders in 2012, down from 4,371 a year earlier. This means that 2012 was the least violent year since 2003.

President Funes said that other crimes also fell as a result of the gang truce: extortion, most notably, was down by 11% in 2012. The government is striving to make further progress in reducing extortion, while also keeping the number of homicides down, by embracing an innovative proposal to create 10 “sanctuaries” or “peace zones” in El Salvador.

The proposal was made last November by Bishop Fabio Colindres and former guerrilla Raúl Mijango, who are seeking a more lasting peace settlement after negotiating last March’s gang truce. In December the gangs accepted the proposal, under which they would commit to hand over weapons and end all criminal activity in the 10 selected municipalities. In return, the police would end night operations and gang members would receive incentives to work. Gang members would be able to move freely in these areas without fear of arrest.

The justice and security minister, retired General David Munguía Payés, has said he views the proposal positively, although it is not yet clear what role the government will play in implementing it. Extortion is the main source of funding for the gangs so how long they would be prepared to end this in the “peace zones” is a moot point, unless they were to choose some ‘unprofitable’ municipalities. In their December statement the gangs said they had provided Colindres and Mijango with a list of 10 municipalities in which they were “ready to implement this process”. These have not been made public. The plan would be for the number of “peace zones” to be increased if crime is deemed to have fallen in the 10 pilot districts.

One man who is likely to play a significant role in the new proposal is the new attorney general, Luis Martínez González, a 48-year old lawyer and notary. The left-wing Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) and right-wing opposition Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (Arena) finally managed to set aside their differences (see sidebar) to appoint a new attorney general on 4 December. Last July the constitutional chamber of the supreme court annulled the legislature’s election of Astor Escalante to the post and as a result of its institutional showdown with congress, the position had only been filled in an interim basis since then.

Both the US ambassador to El Salvador, Mari Carmen Aponte, and the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, had exerted pressure on the legislative assembly to expedite the appointment of a new attorney general. On 26 November, after a visit to San Salvador, Aponte said she was “very worried” that congress had been unable to agree on an attorney general “(who) has a crucial role to play in guaranteeing legality, combating corruption and impunity and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

• New attorney general

The decision by the left-wing FMLN to support the election of Luis Martínez González as attorney general was revealing. Martínez was the first choice of the right-wing Arena, having served in various ministries in legal advisory capacities in every Arena government since former president Alfredo Cristiani (1989-1994). It is worth noting that, days before his appointment, congress also voted unanimously to approve a loan of US$80m from the World Bank to upgrade the country’s hospitals. Without Arena’s support the loan could not have been approved. Arena had been steadfastly opposed to this loan on the grounds that the country could not afford it.