POLITICS-SALVADOR: FMLN Racked by Internal Disputes

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Laura Vargas

SAN SALVADOR, May 27 1998 (IPS) - The former guerilla organisation Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) is in turmoil 10 months before El Salvador’s presidential election, which has dimmed its hopes of success at the ballot box, according to political observers.

In legislative and municipal elections last year, the FMLN became the country’s main opposition coming in closely behind the ruling right-wing Arena party (Nationalist Republican Alliance).

Its showing bolstered the possibility of he FMLN achieving o p power in the presidential election of March 1999 but differences between hardline Marxists and reformmists within the party soon emerged. The FMLN was the bacxkbone of the insurgent force in this countrys civil war, which lasted 12 years, left 75,000 people dead, 8,000 missing and close to one million people displaced before it ended in 1992.

The internal disputes have centred on the FMLN’s participation in a project designed by Arena and sponsored by the state. Renewed tensions between Marxists and reformists have also emerged over the designation of the party’s presidential candidates.

The latest conflict came about this month when an anonymous document circulated among the media which criticized FMLN leader and presidential hopeful for the social democratic wing of the party, Facundo Guardado.

No one claimed responsibility for the eight-page document entitled “About the FMLNs Current Path” which warned that Guardado and other reformists were destroying the revolutionary aims of the party.

Salvador Sanchez, one of the party’s hardliners, stated hjowever that he shared the concerns expressed in the documents and subscribed to the ideological issues raised.

Previously, the FMLN had indicated it’s ideological path had been clearly established at its convention in December, by the adoption of a socialist platform thaty left the Marxist faction in a minority position.

“The convention decided on socialist principles along with liberty, democracy, equal opportunity and solidarity. Perhaps there are those who do not like the word ‘liberty.’ Well if they dont like it they should try to change it at the next convention,” Guardado told reporters.

These conflicts intensified as a result of support that some groups within the FMLN gave to a project promoted by the Arena government through the National Development Commission. Reformists and communists are split over the plan because it proposes a neoliberal model of development.

These factions intend to develop an alternative development plan from the internal debates within the party, which they will implement if the FMLN wins the March presidential elections.

Oscar Ortiz, the partys communications coordinator, stated that what is important is not who is progressive or orthodox within the FMLN. “That is a myopic vision; the debate must directly confront the big national issues facing the party,” he said.

According to Guardado, it remained to be seen how these internal disputes will influence selection of the party’s presidential ticket for the March election, to chosen at a convention on July 26.

Some of the names being considered are Abraham Rodriguez of the Social Christia n Union, which is allied with the FMLN, economist Salvador Arias of the Democra tic Peasant Alliance (ADC), and Victoria de Aviles, a former human rights Ombud swoman who was nominated by 14 womens organizations. The other two hopefuls are Guardado and Hector Silva, who currently holds the i mportant office of mayor of San Salvador.

It is not known whether the current conflict even originated within the FMLN si nce no one has claimed responsibility for drafting the document that was leaked to the media. Moreover, the conflict only benefits the ruling Arena party, because the FMLN has once again been portrayed as a threat to democracy.

The newspaper Diario de Hoy published an analysis of the language utilized in the document and stated that it alarmed certain business and social sectors who believed that it called for social revolution.

The daily stated that the eight pages of the document put the FMLN to the test, because what is written on those pages will force its leaders to demonstrate, in the context of the March 1999 elections, that their revolutionary spirit is not only destructive, but also constructive.

Salvador Samayoa, former member of the FMLN and currently an independent analyst, stated that the debate now centers around whether the FMLN will be a real political alternative which will incorporate the needs and concerns of the business sector, or whether it remain simply a small, sectarian and belligerent opposition party. (FIN/IPS/mso/mj/ip/mg/mk/98)