[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 15, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 15, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                 THE NATIONAL ELECTIONS IN EL SALVADOR

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this Sunday, March 20, the people of 
El Salvador will go to the polls to cast their votes in a historic 
election. This is the first election since the end of over a decade of 
civil war, and it is the first real test of whether democracy is taking 
root in that country.
  There have been past elections in El Salvador which former United 
States administrations certified as free and fair. But anyone who was 
there or who was honest about the situation in that country knew that 
tens of thousands of people, and possibly hundreds of thousands, did 
not vote because they were either too afraid or did not believe their 
vote would matter. I have photographs, taken by a Vermonter at the last 
election, of Salvadoran soldiers armed with machine guns standing next 
to ballot boxes. These were the same government security forces who 
committed the majority of human rights atrocities during the 1980's. 
Over 70,000 people died, so many of them civilians.
  These elections are unique because for the first time the FMLN, who 
fought the government to a stalemate, will be fielding a slate of 
candidates. This by itself is remarkable, and both President Cristiani 
and the FMLN deserve enormous credit for this achievement.
  During the months leading up to the election, there have been many 
problems. Most disturbing has been the resurgence in violence. While 
some of these murders appear to have been the result of common crime, 
others look suspiciously like political assassinations. A U.N. 
commission to investigate these crimes will not issue its report until 
later this summer.
  Last summer it was apparent that the Salvadoran Government was not 
doing its part to support the registration process. Very few people 
were being registered, and many were being turned away for lack of a 
birth certificate or other identification. The Congress responded by 
withholding aid, and the U.S. Agency for International Development and 
the United Nations have worked hard since then to deal with the 
problems that were preventing people from registering. I am told that 
if everyone who has registered goes to the polls, over 90 percent of 
the eligible voters will vote in this election--by far the largest 
turnout in history. This would be a tremendous accomplishment. As I 
told President Cristiani when I was in El Salvador last December, I 
believe it is imperative that anyone who has registered to vote and can 
prove his or her identity should be permitted to vote whether or not 
they have received a voter card. I understand this is also the position 
of the United States Embassy and the United Nations, as well as the 
Presidential candidates.

  Despite these hopeful signs, there remains in El Salvador enormous 
distrust. Violence, intimidation and fraud have been a fact of life for 
decades. Some people still believe the government will rig the 
election, or that the army will intimidate voters in areas sympathetic 
to the FMLN. Let us hope that these fears are a holdover from the past 
rather than a reflection of the present, and that the election will be 
free and fair.
  It will take years for the people of El Salvador to put the war 
behind them. Much of the poverty and injustice that was the basis for 
that conflict remains. But a free and fair election is absolutely vital 
for peace to develop there. It will also bear enormously in our future 
relationship with that country. Like thousands of Vermonters and people 
throughout this hemisphere, I will be watching the elections in El 
Salvador closely. It is imperative that the Administration make 
unequivocally clear that fraud will not be tolerated. I urge the 
Administration and the United Nations to make every effort to ensure 
that adequate monitors are in place to guarantee the integrity of the 
vote counting process.

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