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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