El Salvador goes its own way in fighting corruption?

Hector Perla Jr. Senior Research Fellow, Liliana Muscarella, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, argues that A New Independence for El Salvador might be on the horizon.

On September 15, El Salvador celebrated its 195th year of independence from Spanish rule. A few days later though, the tiny Central American nation had even greater reason to celebrate: in an effort to take on political corruption and historically weak judiciaries, the administration of President Salvador Sánchez Céren is focusing efforts on fortifying its own institutions and steadfastly refusing to become dependent on foreign tutelage.[i] The result is a contemporary kind of independence that goes against the recent trend in Central America’s Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras), where countries facing similar endemic issues have had to rely on international institutions to address such troublesome problems.

Punctuating the Salvadoran government’s efforts to domestically strengthen its judicial and executive rule of law was an announcement on September 14 by Salvadoran Attorney General Douglas Meléndez. At a teleconference at Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., Meléndez announced the creation of a new unit within the prosecutor’s office to lead the fight against existing impunity. This move, importantly, carries both promise and risk. It is promising in that such a homegrown approach in the country has distinct advantages for reinforcing the capabilities of El Salvador’s domestic institutions to curtail corruption, as well as long term potential for strengthening the rule of law. Here, though, lies the risk: the success of the new unit and the positive legacy of the new administration hinges on Meléndez’s integrity when carrying out supposed anti-corruption measures, as well as his ability to resist interference by Washington in Salvadoran affairs.

Hector's very concerned that the attorney general might be acting in a partisan manner in going after FMLN-related corruption cases and not working aggressively against cases related to ARENA officials.

It's not necessarily that the cases Melendez is pursuing do not have merit; it's just that they have the potential to lead to questions of partisan intent if he does not pursue corruption cases against ARENA officials as vigorously. That is one of the CICIG advantages. It is an international commission where claims of bias that it is working in favor of one or two political parties are not particularly persuasive. That would have been really helpful in such a polarized political system and society as El Salvador.

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