US and El Salvador make progress on second MCC compact

The second Millennium Challenge Compact for El Salvador has been held up for a number of reasons. Last year it was Gold Corp and Enel pressuring US congressmen to use the possibility of a second compact to advance their business interests. The US government has also required passage of a new Public Private Partnership law (P3) that opens up additional economic areas to foreign/partnered investment. Senator Leahy and others have been upset with the the limited progress that the Funes/FMLN administration had demonstrated on tackling corruption and money laundering. And many of the communities that live along the coast where the next phase of development is scheduled to take place have been fighting the proposed project although I am not sure whether they have slowed down the passage of FOMILENIO II in any way. Then there were the elections with the US seemingly deciding to wait until they were concluded to move forward.

Another hurdle now seems to be passed. Sixteen Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary John Kerry, chair of the MCC board, requesting that the US not condition a second compact on a requirement that the Salvadoran government change its seed procurement for its Family Agriculture Plan.

To condition the final approval of the MCC compact on the elimination of a provision that enables local producers to access government procurement mechanisms poses a risk to El Salvador’s national food security efforts. Agriculture and food security are outside the scope of the compact, yet critical to the country’s development. For both of these reasons, elimination of support for small-scale farmers to improve their livelihoods through domestic seed production has no place as a condition for signing the MCC compact with El Salvador.

We believe it is in the best interests of U.S. foreign policy and development policy to desist from conditioning the MCC compact on the Salvadoran government’s seed purchase for the Family Agriculture Plan. We respectfully request your swift action to ensure that the signing and administration of MCC compact will, ultimately, uphold the U.S. development goals of poverty reduction, and independent and sustainable development. In addition, we look forward to your timely response regarding the steps you will continue to take in order to ensure the agreement’s final approval and implementation.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the US and El Salvador had made progress on the second compact.

But on Tuesday, MCC and the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador both set a different tone, both signaling that El Salvador has shown real progress in answering the U.S. demands and it is time to move on.

“We are seeing commitment by El Salvador to complete their action plan,” said MCC spokesman John Gagain, when asked about the issue. “We are pleased that their government has provided assurances that it intends to pursue future corn and bean seed purchases under a mechanism that is transparent, competitive and compliant with Salvadoran law and CAFTA-DR.”

Gagain’s choice of words closely matched draft talking points for the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday. The net impact suggested the administration was cutting its losses after a sometimes embarrassing fight and hoped to steer attention back to the money laundering issue.

The US is more concerned with tackling money laundering in El Salvador. The country's use of the US dollar makes its easier to launder money there. The fact that $4 billion is sent to El Salvador from the US in relatively small amounts doesn't help either. The US also wants El Salvador's help in reducing the number of unaccompanied minors heading north to the US and didn't want the attacks on the country's seed procurement program to undermine those efforts.

The US and Salvadoran governments have not always seen eye-to-eye but have managed to cooperate when they've had to. With questionable proposed investments in coastal and maritime areas, US interference in Salvadoran domestic politics, and El Salvador's limited progress tackling money laundering, corruption, and increasing questions surrounding General Munguia Payes and the gang truce, I'm not sure many people are happy with the second compact. That's doesn't mean it won't help but I can't say anyone is going to be able to point to this second compact as a shining example of the US and Salvadoran government working together to invest in El Salvador's future.

US issues sexual assault warning for Antigua, Guatemala

The US has travel warnings for Honduras and El Salvador but not for Guatemala. Given that we tend to lump all three northern triangle countries together when it comes to violence, it's kind of surprising. Well, while it's not a countrywide warning (not sure what it would take for that), the US has now issued a Security Message for U.S. Citizens: Sexual Assault for Antigua, Guatemala.

The U.S. Embassy Guatemala City, Guatemala reminds U.S. citizens in Guatemala of the dangers of sexual assault. It has come to our attention that at least three U.S. citizens have been the victims of sexual assault in the city of Antigua since April. We are aware of similar crimes committed against other foreign tourists in Antigua in this same time frame. In some scenarios, date rape drugs may have been used to disable the victim. Several of these crimes have taken place in bars, clubs, or after-hours clubs.

We suggest that U.S. citizens take the following precautions:

Do not go out alone at night.

Do not walk alone in isolated areas.

Use the buddy system to ensure that all members of the group are accounted for.

Do not accept drinks from strangers or casual acquaintances.

Keep an eye on all drinks in public places.

Avoid late-night or illegal after-hours clubs.

It's a very specific warning and must have US officials worried since I can't say that it is a new development. I remember hearing assaults against foreign women when I was in Antigua in 1998. Antigua is a beautiful place but there are places you do not want to be caught after dark such as Cerro de la Cruz where women have been victimized over the years. A police presence has been helpful there but I have heard that whether or not police are present depends upon the budget.

One also hears stories from ex-pats and reporters who live there where US and foreign women have been victims of assaults during home invasions and at least one kidnapping. These stories have not made the news from what I am aware.

"They have good devices" in Guatemala

Michael Dougherty and Tricia Olsen have a new article on “They have good devices: Trust, mining and the microsociology of environmental decision-making” in the Journal of Cleaner Production. Here's the abstract:

Since the 1990s, transnational mining firms have increasingly sought new deposits in the developing world. This shift in global patterns of mineral activity has led to contestation by mining host community residents and their activist allies. A swell of recent literature in the social sciences explores this phenomenon, largely accepting conventional wisdom about the causal forces behind individuals' choices to contest mining.

This article examines individual decision-making around mineral conflicts in an effort to bring the microsocial into focus. Trust is an essential and largely ignored dimension of mining conflicts.

We argue that two types of trust—institutional and relational trust—help explain how individuals form preferences about mining in their territory. We further argue that individuals' sense of self-efficacy underlies their decisions about whom to trust or distrust. We also seek to deepen the social theorization of trust by challenging the common binary of affective and cognitive trust. To make this argument we draw from a mixed-methods study of responses to gold mining in Guatemala.

 Michael previously provided a guest post on Complex support for mining in Guatemala.