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### Viewing cable 08SANSALVADOR560, FMLN TRIES TO CONTROL DAMAGE FROM ACCUSATIONS OF

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08SANSALVADOR560 | 2008-05-13 19:54 | 2011-06-17 23:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy San Salvador
Appears in these articles: http://www.wikileaks.elfaro.net/es/201106/notas/4412/

`

    VZCZCXYZ0000
    PP RUEHWEB

    DE RUEHSN #0560/01 1341954
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 131954Z MAY 08
    FM AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9455
    INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 2530
    RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000560

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/13/2018
    TAGS: PGOV PREL ES CO PTER PARM
    SUBJECT: FMLN TRIES TO CONTROL DAMAGE FROM ACCUSATIONS OF
    FARC TIES

    Classified By: Charge D'Affaires Deborah Kennedy-Iraheta, Reasons
    1.4 (b) and (d)

    -------
    Summary
    -------

    ¶1. (C) Recent press reports on ties between the Colombian
    FARC guerrillas and the Salvadoran opposition Farabundo Marti
    Liberation Front (FMLN) party have party leadership
    scrambling to explain itself.  Documents reportedly seized in
    recent Colombian military actions and subsequently published
    by the El Pais newspaper in Spain, clearly lay out recent and
    extensive communications between the FARC and Jose Luis
    Merino Hernandez (a.k.a. Ramiro Vasquez), a senior FMLN party
    official. Mauricio Funes, the FMLN presidential candidate,
    who up to now has been the golden boy of the party and the
    face of the "new" FMLN, quickly denied the charges in their
    entirety.  Other FMLN party sources have not been so quick to
    dismiss the allegations against Merino, and privately give us
    the sense that the party knows that if the allegations are
    proved true, it will need to act swiftly and decisively to
    mitigate the damage.  ARENA officials, who have thus far been
    circumspect in their comments, must certainly see this as an
    electoral gift by the FMLN, which has been favored to win in
    early opinion polls. End Summary

    ---------------------
    "Ramiro" and the FARC
    ---------------------

    ¶2. (U) Salvadoran newspaper headlines have been dominated
    over the last several days by allegations of ties between the
    opposition Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN) party and
    Colombian FARC guerrillas.  The storm of publicity began with
    the publication of a story in the Spanish daily newspaper, El
    Pais, entitled "The FARC Papers Implicate Chavez" which
    referred to links between the FARC and the Venezuelan
    President.  The documents in question were reportedly found
    on FARC-owned computers seized in Colombian military
    operations along the Ecuadorian border in March of this year.
     The documents discuss at length military and financial ties
    between Chavez and the FARC.

    ¶3. (C) According to the documents, a Salvadoran man called
    "Ramiro" from the FMLN was facilitating contact between the
    FARC and Australian arms dealers in order for the FARC to
    purchase rifles, grenade launchers, and missiles. "Ramiro"
    has been identified as Jose Luis Merino, an FMLN party
    official and Deputy in the Central American Parliament.
    (Note: Indeed, FMLN contacts commonly refer to Merino as
    "Ramiro." End note.)  The documents also indicate that, as
    part of its campaign to seek international support, the FARC
    had offered $10-12 million dollars to support the FMLN in the
    2004 elections. The FARC also allegedly offered to help the
    FMLN conduct kidnappings in El Salvador.

    --------------------------------------
    FMLN Denies Everything  -- Ramiro who?
    --------------------------------------

    ¶4. (C) Mauricio Funes, the FMLN Presidential candidate in the
    2009 election was quick to reject the accusations against
    Merino.  He claimed that the press stories had no new
    information and that there was no evidence of connections to
    Merino. He echoed the vehement denials of FMLN spokesman
    Sigfrido Reyes who called the accusations a "typical
    Hollywood story."  While acknowledging that "Ramiro Vasquez"
    is Merino's FMLN nom-du-guerre, Funes added that the
    pseudonym "Ramiro" had been used by several other FMLN
    militants.  Funes has also suggested that the FMLN may pursue
    a legal case against the Colombian government for defamation.

    ----------------------------
    ARENA Claims the High Ground
    ----------------------------

    ¶5. (C) While disclaiming any political motive with respect to
    the upcoming elections, El Salvador's ARENA government has
    been quick to call for investigations.  Minister of Public
    Security and Justice, Rene Figueroa is quoted as saying that
    the issue of arms trafficking is serious and dangerous and
    that any investigation "will not be contaminated by
    pre-election politics."  Figueroa also announced that the
    Salvadoran Government will send a team to Colombia to
    investigate these specific charges and links between the FMLN
    and the FARC.  Vice Minister for Public Security Astor
    Escalante told PolCouns May 12 that he had not been
    personally involved in the GOES follow up to the allegations
    made in El Pais and Salvadoran newspapers over the weekend
    regarding FARC-FMLN ties.  However, he said he knew Figueroa
    was actively involved in talks with the Colombians, both with
    the Colombian Ambassador in San Salvador and soon, if not
    already, in Bogota.  Escalante was short on detail, but quite
    confident these allegations would be pursued by the GOES and
    beneficial to ARENA in 2009 elections.

    --------------------------------------------- --
    FMLN Worried, Waiting for the Next Shoe to Drop
    --------------------------------------------- --

    ¶6. (C) FMLN Deputy and Coordinator for Relations with the
    U.S. Hugo Martinez sought out PolCouns May 12 in order to
    relay a conversation he had earlier that day with FMLN
    General Coordinator Medardo Gonzalez.  The primary message,
    which Martinez repeated twice, was that while there were
    contacts with the FARC during the Salvadoran Civil War,
    official contacts had not continued.  While there was no
    doubt and no surprise that some "personal" contacts had been
    maintained since then, contacts with the FARC of the sort
    alleged in the Salvadoran press were not the policy of the
    FMLN.  The FMLN had converted itself into a political party
    at the end of the Salvadoran Civil War and believed a
    "humanitarian solution" to the conflict in Colombia was
    appropriate.

    ¶7. (C) Martinez acknowledged that ARENA was certain to use
    these allegations against Merino in the Salvadoran election
    campaigns.  Indeed, he felt ARENA was merely warming up at
    this point.  If the allegations are proved true, he said,
    there would be consequences inside the FMLN because of the
    damage it could do to the party and its aspirations to win
    the Salvadoran presidency in 2009.  Martinez speculated that
    if the allegations against Merino turn out to be true, they
    are likely to be attempts to grab the power and influence
    that Merino had developed, especially in the mid-ranks of
    party officials.  First, though, the party would wait to see
    the promised report from INTERPOL expected on May 15.

    ¶8. (C) Merino, Martinez said, was not a well known individual
    outside of FMLN circles, but was extremely influential.  He
    characterized Merino as more radical than the FMLN's hard
    line (i.e., Medardo Gonzalez and VP Candidate Sanchez Ceren).
     Martinez noted the institutional balance that had existed
    between Gonzalez and Sanchez Ceren, both with roots in the
    Popular Liberation Forces (FPL), a violent offshoot of the
    Salvadoran Communist Party (PCS), and Schafik Handal and
    Merino, both with roots in the PCS.  Those represented by
    Merino, he said, were a sector that could not be excluded
    from party leadership.

    ¶9. (C) As to the possible effects on the FMLN's campaign,
    Martinez acknowledged that if the allegations proved true,
    there would be damage.  Indeed, he lamented FMLN Presidential
    Candidate Mauricio Funes' response to the press which
    Gonzalez had reportedly described as "stupid".  Funes sought
    to downplay the validity of allegations made in the press,
    suggesting the pseudonym used by the press to identify Merino
    (Ramiro) could refer to anyone.  Martinez described Funes'
    responses as weak.  He said Funes must be worried about the
    potential fallout.  Perhaps grasping for straws, he said the
    FMLN could hope that ARENA might try to overplay its hand as
    it had with the Suchitoto case and others.

    -------
    Comment
    -------

    ¶10. (C) Based on the FMLN's urgency in communicating with us,
    relaying a message from the highest levels of the party, and
    from the body language of the messenger, it is clear that the
    FMLN is concerned at the likely fallout for the 2009
    elections.  There is also clear concern over Funes' initial
    fumble on the issue.  It was clear that Martinez, at least
    (though perhaps not everyone in the FMLN) was shocked by the
    scope of these allegations.  It remains to be seen, however,
    if allowing Merino's head to roll (as was strongly suggested
    by Martinez as a likely outcome) will minimize the damage to
    the FMLN's charm offensive for the 2009 elections and to the
    Funes campaign.
    KENNEDY-IRAHETA

`