[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 11, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E633-E634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EL SALVADOR ELECTIONS
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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
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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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