En una cita bibliográfica, Violeta Bonilla (1926-1999) expresa sobre el significado de la figura: “Quise representar un hombre sin ataduras, sus manos sueltas expresan la libertad intangible, y los cuatro picos del fondo representan otras cuatro naciones centroamericanas”

jueves, 9 de agosto de 2012

LO QUE SE DIJO EN EL CONGRESO POR UN AMIGO DE PETER KING



Peter King & Stafy 

[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 11, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E633-E634]

                         EL SALVADOR ELECTIONS
                                 ______
                              

                         HON. DANA ROHRABACHER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 11, 2009

  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Madam Speaker, El Salvador is a good friend of the
United States. And after we suffered the attacks of 9/11, most
Salvadorans kept us in their prayers. But one group felt differently.
  The FMLN, a pro terrorist, Left wing party in El Salvador, issued a
communique that the U.S., because of its policies, was itself to blame
for being attacked. The U.S. embassy publicly denounced that
declaration, yet the FMLN is now poised to possibly enter into the
government in El Salvador.
  Four days after 9/11, the FMLN had a march in their capital city to
celebrate the 9/11 attack by Al-Qaeda and to burn the American flag.
The leader of that march was Salvador Sanchez Ceren, who today is the
FMLN's candidate for El Salvadoran Vice President.
  El Salvador's election is on Sunday. If an ally of Al-Qaeda and Iran
comes to power in El Salvador, the national security interests of the
United States will require certain immigration restrictions and
controls over the flow of the $4 billion in annual remittances sent
from the U.S. back home to El Salvador.
  Let me note, that my purpose is not to punish Salvadorans, but if a
pro-terrorism government takes power, it will be imperative to review
our policies in order to protect the national security of the United
States.

    Statement on United States Policy Regarding the FMLN, Temporary
    Protected Immigration Status, Money Transfers and U.S. National
                                Security


                     NEW WORLD REALITY OF TERRORISM

       The global offensive waged by terror groups against the
     United States and the free world obliges our nation to make
     strong decisions to help assure our own security.


             REMITTANCES AN ISSUE OF U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY

       The U.S. government, in permitting or prohibiting
     unregulated remittances from the United States to a foreign
     country, must concern itself above all with the national
     security of the United States.
       Policy decisions regarding monetary remittances to foreign
     countries must now be evaluated with special attention paid
     to the degree of confidence and effective cooperation that
     exists with the counterpart government.
       It has been determined through a number of official
     investigations that some of the same groups that direct
     terror campaigns against us and our allies may help finance
     those campaigns with money acquired in the United States and
     then transferred out of the country.


  REMITTANCES DESTINED FOR TERRORIST GROUPS MUST BE BLOCKED AND SEIZED

       To fight this threat, tougher laws have been enacted and
     effective law enforcement efforts have been able to block and
     seize funds originating in the United States that were
     destined for foreign terrorist groups. Toward that end,
     international and bi-lateral cooperation is of the utmost
     importance.
       Ample legal precedent exists to shut down U.S.-based
     organizations that send money or material support, directly
     or indirectly, to terrorist entities, and to seize their
     assets. The FBI and Department of the Treasury have done so
     on several occasions since the September 11, 2001, terrorist
     attacks.


        COUNTRY POLICY ON REMITTANCES AND PRO-TERRORIST REGIMES

       The country policy regarding the unregulated flow of
     remittances should be urgently reviewed and, in most cases,
     those remittances must be immediately terminated, if a pro-
     terrorist party wins power or enters the government of a
     country.


                   THE FMLN AS A PRO-TERRORIST PARTY

       The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), a
     political party in El Salvador, can be considered a pro-
     terrorist party because of its support for designated
     terrorist organizations, such as the FARC, for state sponsors
     of terror, such as Cuba and Iran, and for the public
     participation by some of its leaders, including its current
     candidate for Vice President, in a pro-Al Qaeda rally where
     the U.S. flag was burned, this taking place immediately after
     September 11, 2001. The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador was
     forced to condemn the written public statements related to
     the September 11th attacks that were issued by the FMLN and
     blamed the U.S. for causing itself to be attacked because of
     its international policies.


                         THE ORIGIN OF THE FMLN

       The FMLN was created in 1980, with the direct help of Fidel
     Castro, as an armed subversive communist organization that
     sought the violent overthrow of the Government of El Salvador
     in order to replace it with a pro-Castro Marxist-Leninist
     regime. After years of armed aggression and terrorism, which
     included the murder of four U.S. Marines in El Salvador as
     well as other U.S. citizens, the FMLN signed a peace
     agreement in 1992 that brought the war to an end and led to
     the participation of the FMLN in the political process.


                      CURRENT ACTIONS OF THE FMLN

       The FMLN continues to participate actively in international
     gatherings with violent and radical anti-U.S. groups and
     terrorist organizations. The FMLN contains clandestine armed
     groups that have been linked to violent actions in El
     Salvador, including the murder of a policeman and an attack
     on a presidential convoy.
       The FMLN maintains direct ties with terrorist
     organizations. This relationship was confirmed by electronic
     records left by the Colombian narco-guerrilla terrorist group
     the FARC on a laptop computer used by one of the group's
     leaders. The emails found show that a key figure of El
     Salvador's FMLN, Jose Luis Merino (alias ``Ramiro''),
     assisted the FARC in contacting international arms dealers
     for the purpose of obtaining weapons.
       Purges in the FMLN have left the party under the complete
     control of its most hard-line communist leaders. The FMLN is
     also known to organize in the United States among the
     Salvadoran immigrant community.


        EXCELLENT CURRENT RELATIONS BETWEEN U.S. AND EL SALVADOR

       It must be emphasized that the United States has very good
     relations with the current government of El Salvador, led by
     the party ARENA. This friendship is based on confidence,
     shared values, mutually beneficial international policies and
     strong personal relationships.
       Excellent bi-lateral relations permit a high-level of
     cooperation on important national security matters. El
     Salvador provides military and intelligence cooperation and
     was one of the longest-serving members of coalition that sent
     armed forces to post-war Iraq. El Salvador is also a valued
     ally in the war on drugs, providing the United States with an
     important Forward Operating Location in Central America.


             TPS BASED ON EXCELLENT STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP

       In the context of excellent relations and close
     cooperation, the U.S. government was able to grant and extend
     TPS for the benefit of nearly 300,000 Salvadorans now living
     and working in the United States. For similar

[[Page E634]]

     reasons, the U.S. government has not had special concerns
     about the source and use of the nearly $4 billion in
     remittances sent last year by Salvadorans in the United
     States to their home country, allowing the free movement of
     that large sum. The government of El Salvador has shown
     itself to be a reliable and trustworthy counterpart regarding
     U.S. national security.


CURRENT U.S. POLICY ON REMITTANCES TO EL SALVADOR IS BASED ON A STRONG
                         STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP

       In the context of excellent relations and close
     cooperation, the U.S. government has not had special security
     concerns about the source and use of nearly 4 billion dollars
     per year (2008) sent by Salvadorans in the United States to
     their home country. The current government of El Salvador has
     shown itself to be a reliable and trustworthy counterpart
     regarding U.S. national security.


           FMLN IN GOVERNMENT RADICALLY CHANGES THE EQUATION

       If the FMLN enters the government of El Salvador following
     the presidential elections scheduled for March 2009, it will
     mean a radical termination of the conditions that underlie
     the unrestricted movement of billions of dollars a year and
     that permitted the granting of TPS in the first place and its
     continued renewal. The U.S. government would have no reliable
     counterpart to satisfy legitimate national security concerns,
     especially those regarding the threat posed by pro-terrorist
     groups and the providing of funding for those groups.


          FMLN IN GOVERNMENT COULD REQUIRE TERMINATION OF TPS

       Therefore, if the FMLN enters the government in El Salvador
     it will be necessary for the U.S. authorities to consider all
     available information regarding the ties of the FMLN to
     violent anti-U.S. groups and designated terrorist groups and,
     on that basis, proceed toward the immediate termination of
     TPS for El Salvador.


        FMLN IN GOVERNMENT COULD REQUIRE CONTROL OF REMITTANCES

       In many instances, pro-terrorist groups conduct fundraising
     in the United States, and special controls and restrictions
     on the flow of funds have been applied where necessary. Given
     the pro-terrorist nature of the FMLN and its ties to
     designated terrorist groups, if the FMLN enters the
     government in El Salvador, it will be urgent to apply special
     controls to the flow of remittances from the United States to
     El Salvador, a sum that is currently $4 billion per year.
       This review would examine and consider the termination of
     the flow of money remittances to El Salvador, either from our
     country, in our currency, or using our financial system and
     our means of land- and space-based telecommunications.


     U.S. PROHIBITION ON DESIGNATED FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS

       The U.S. Department of State has expressed the
     ramifications, based on U.S. law, of the designation of
     foreign terrorist organizations (FTO):
       It is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject
     to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide
     ``material support or resources'' to a designated FTO. (The
     term ``material support or resources'' is defined in 18
     U.S.C. Sec. 2339A(b)(1) as `` any property, tangible or
     intangible, or service, including currency or monetary
     instruments or financial securities, financial services,
     lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses,
     false documentation or identification, communications
     equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances,
     explosives, personnel (1 or more individuals who may be or
     include oneself), and transportation, except medicine or
     religious materials.''
       18 U.S.C. Sec. 2339A(b)(2) provides that for these purposes
     ``the term `training' means instruction or teaching designed
     to impart a specific skill, as opposed to general
     knowledge.'' 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2339A(b)(3) further provides that
     for these purposes ``the term `expert advice or assistance'
     means advice or assistance derived from scientific, technical
     or other specialized knowledge.''
       Representatives and members of a designated FTO, if they
     are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain
     circumstances, removable from the United States (see 8 U.S.C.
     Sec. Sec. 1182 (a)(3)(B)(i)(IV)-(V), 1227 (a)(1)(A)).
       Any U.S. financial institution that becomes aware that it
     has possession of or control over funds in which a designated
     FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or
     control over the funds and report the funds to the Office of
     Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the
     Treasury.


 FMLN IN GOVERNMENT WOULD FORCE A CHANGE IN U.S. IMMIGRATION PRACTICES
                         REGARDING EL SALVADOR

       Since the 1980s, the United States has maintained a lenient
     immigration policy toward Latin Americans, particularly
     Central Americans, and has not significantly enforced its
     laws. In the past decade, successive Salvadoran governments,
     offering Washington credible assurances of security and
     intelligence cooperation, have asked the U.S. for continued
     leniency toward their citizens who enter and work in the
     United States illegally. However, if a pro-terrorist party
     enters government in El Salvador that creates a radically
     different strategic reality and the U.S. will be compelled to
     change its immigration enforcement policy.


  PRO-TERRORIST PRACTICES BY FMLN MAKE IT AN UNTRUSTWORTHY COUNTERPART

       Based on the intimate relations between the FMLN and narco-
     guerrilla FARC terrorist organization in Colombia, if the
     FMLN were to enter government in El Salvador, the U.S. will
     have no alternative but to apply maximum lawful security
     measures to Salvadoran nationals living and working in the
     country illegally without valid identification, visas, work
     permits, and related papers.
       The Department of the Treasury may be forced to use its
     legal authority to monitor, control, delay, or terminate the
     movement of remittances and other money transfers to El
     Salvador, and the Department of Homeland Security may be
     compelled to end TPS and to undertake a massive review of
     Salvadoran nationals residing in or entering the U.S.
     unlawfully.


 TO RAPIDLY TERMINATE THE FLOW OF REMITTANCES, HOMELAND SECURITY MUST
                       PREPARE A CONTINGENCY PLAN

       The United States must be prepared to apply, on an urgent
     basis, the full array of legal instruments available should
     circumstances after the Salvadoran election require the
     urgent termination of the flow of remittances to that
     country. Under U.S. law and in accordance with our national
     security policies, the immediate responsibility for preparing
     these plans resides with the Department of Homeland Security,
     working in conjunction with the Department of the Treasury
     and other agencies of the U.S. government.


                    FACTS ABOUT THE FMLN LEADERSHIP

       Leadership of FMLN is hostile to U.S. FMLN, in power, would
     follow anti-U.S. agenda of Venezuela's radical president Hugo
     Chavez and join Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras
     in pro-Chavez axis. Flags of Venezuela, Cuba and Iran are
     carried at FMLN rallies.
       Chavez helps finance FMLN campaign by selling cut-rate
     diesel fuel to FMLN's ``ALBA PETROLEOS''. Reselling the fuel
     (20% of the diesel sold in El Salvador) gives FMLN profit
     estimated at $20 mn.
       SALVADOR SANCHEZ CEREN is FMLN's candidate for Vice
     President. In 2001, four days after 9-11, Salvador Sanchez
     Ceren led march in San Salvador that celebrated attacks by
     Al-Qaeda and burned American flags. FMLN issued a communique
     that the U.S., for its policies, was itself to blame for
     being attacked.
       Sanchez Ceren is the FMLN commanding general whose alias
     was ``Leonel Gonzalez''. Between 1986 and 1990, he approved
     1,200-1,500 assassinations according to investigation
     reported by John R. Thomson in the Washington Times (November
     2008). Ceren, a hard-core communist, purged party leaders
     seen as insufficiently radical. He and Merino dominate (and
     if necessary could eliminate) Mauricio Funes, their
     figurehead presidential candidate.
       JOSE LUIS MERINO (code name ``Ramiro''), de-facto leader of
     FMLN, helped arrange the diesel fuel deal with Chavez. In
     2005 interview, Merino said El Salvador should model itself
     after Chavez's Venezuela, and that USSR was ``one of the most
     just'' political systems on earth.
       FMLN, like Chavez, is ally of designated terrorist groups
     and of state sponsors of terror, including FARC, Cuba and
     Iran. FMLN contains clandestine armed groups (BPJ, `El
     Limon', BRES), that stage violent actions, killed a
     policeman, and attacked presidential convoy.
       FARC (Colombian narco-terrorists)
       Merino is implicated in arms trafficking with FARC. In raid
     on a rebel camp last year, Colombian military seized computer
     of FARC leader Raul Reyes. An e-mail from Ivan Marquez, FARC
     guerrillas' primary contact with the Venezuelan government,
     showed Merino to be the link with certain arms dealers.
       IRAN
       Chavez introduced FMLN and Iran at meetings in Nicaragua.
     With flights from El Salvador to 10 U.S. cities and large
     FMLN network in the United States, Salvador would be
     important beachhead for Iran, a state sponsor of terror. Iran
     opened large embassy in Nicaragua and is building relations
     with Honduras.
       CUBA
       FMLN is close ally of Cuba, a state sponsor of terror.
     Castro played key role creating FMLN as an armed
     revolutionary force, uniting five Salvadoran extremist groups
     under one banner.

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