Yesterday, President of El Salvador Mauricio Funes swore in retired general David Munguía Payés as the country´s new Minister of Public Security and Justice, following the sudden resignation of Manuel Melgar from the position on November 8. The move prompted outspoken opposition from Salvadoran social organizations who view it as a violation of the 1992 Peace Accords that ended the country’s Civil War and transferred public security from military to civilian administration.Although President Funes has denied the “influence of foreign governments” in this cabinet switch, Roberto Lorenzana, spokesperson for the governing leftist party, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), said, “This was not a decision that the President made; he is simply a spokesperson. It’s a decision that was made somewhere in the U.S. capital.”It’s shameful how blatantly the U.S. is manipulating El Salvador´s affairs of state right now” said Alexis Stoumbelis, of the U.S.-based Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, calling the apparent U.S. intervention that led to Melgar´s resignation “ a major violation of El Salvador’s national sovereignty and a deliberate maneuver to hijack El Salvador’s security apparatus to serve the U.S. agenda of re-militarizing Central America under the pretense of fighting its bloody and disastrous ‘War on Drugs’.” FMLN spokesperson Roberto Lorenzana announced, “We do not support this decision, nor do the majority of political forces in the country” and cautioned El Salvador against falling prey to the trend of expanding militarization in the region.Military leaders are once again gaining influence in Central American governments, advocating “hard on crime” policies that advocate more weapons, more soldiers and advanced technology to fight narco-trafficking and crime, all a boost to the U.S. military contractors like Northrop Grumman and Blackwater, among the main beneficiaries of the Mérida Initiative in México, and to the Pentagon’s influence in Latin America.Some, including Otto Pérez Molina, recently elected President of Guatemala, have strong links to the brutal right-wing regimes of the 1980s, which were backed by the U.S. According to FMLN San Salvador Youth Coordinator, Adalberto Elias, “It’s no coincidence that Guatemala’s President-elect is a general accused of genocide, El Salvador’s new Minister of Security is a former general, and a military officer who masterminded the coup d´état [Romeo Vásquez] is running for president in Honduras.”
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