EL SALVADOR: EXTENSION OF TPS FOR EL SALVADOR

id: 94964
date: 2/1/2007 20:02
refid: 07SANSALVADOR179
origin: Embassy San Salvador
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 07STATE6653
header:
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DE RUEHSN #0179/01 0322002
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5055
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE


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C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000179

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN J. CORNFORTH AND PRM/PIM T. WRIGHT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2017

TAGS: EAID, ES, HO, NU, PGOV, PHUM, PREF, PREL, SMIG

SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR: EXTENSION OF TPS FOR EL SALVADOR

REF: STATE 6653

Classified By: Ambassador Charles Glazer, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

1.  (C)  Temporary Protected Status should be extended again

for the nearly 250,000 Salvadoran beneficiaries living and

working in the United States.  El Salvador's ongoing

reconstruction from two devastating earthquakes in 2001 is

incomplete, and a series of moderate local earthquakes during

late December 2006 in Ahuachapan Department have exacerbated

the situation by displacing nearly 2,000 more households.

Current conditions prevent the safe return of Salvadoran

nationals to a country still ill-prepared to absorb them.

TPS remains an important bilateral issue, and the forced

return of such a large group of people would not only have a

severe negative impact on socioeconomic conditions but also

severely damage bilateral relations with a country that is

one of our most important allies in the region.

2.  (SBU)  The earthquakes of January and February 2001

claimed 1,159 lives, damaged or destroyed 276,000 homes,

destroyed major hospitals and community infrastructure, and

left unserviceable 1,400 miles of roadways.  This major

disruption to the economy and social fabric, despite major

reconstruction efforts, has yet to be overcome.  Though

USAID's $170 million disaster reconstruction program made

significant improvements to damaged infrastructure,

assistance from many other sources is still being

implemented.  The GOES has only recently begun to rebuild two

of the seven hospitals damaged by the earthquakes.  Repairing

these hospitals will cost an estimated $100 million, and the

work will not be complete until 2009 at the earliest.

3. (C)  To complicate matters, a series of moderate but

localized earthquakes (up to 4.6 on the Richter Scale) hit

the western half of El Salvador during the last week of 2006.

 There were a handful of deaths, and given the substandard

housing prevalent in region, nearly 2,000 families were left

homeless.  The GOES has been unable to adequately respond to

this latest natural disaster, and the Vice Ministry of

Housing informed affected residents that the government would

make loans to cover at most 35 percent of reconstruction

costs.  The other 65 percent would be paid directly by those

affected.

4. (SBU)  El Salvador has not recovered from the 2005

eruption of the Santa Ana Volcano, which was immediately

followed by flooding and mud slides caused by Hurricane Stan.

 Those disasters resulted in 69 deaths and $355.6 million in

damage to housing and infrastructure. The GOES redirected

local and international funding to address these crises, but

as their response to the 2006 earthquakes shows, resources

are scarce.  Moreover, the GOES is redirecting resources to

face the enormous challenge gang violence poses to the

country's stability.  The murder rate for El Salvador is the

highest per capita in the Western Hemisphere (58 per 100,000

in 2006) and is arguably one of the highest in the world

outside of an active war zone.  Gang violence continues to

have a destabilizing effect on the society as a whole,

damaging the basic social and economic fabric of the country.

5. (SBU)  Though the economic situation in El Salvador has

shown modest improvement in 2006, 35 percent of households

nationwide still live in poverty. Poverty in rural areas,

which often bear the brunt of natural disasters, is even

higher, at 42 percent.  Underemployment nationwide stands at

32 percent, and apparel manufacturers have cut thousands of

jobs in the past year as increased competition from China

takes its toll despite CAFTA-DR benefits. Remittances, which

in 2006 were $3.3 billion, remain an important source of

income for the nearly 1.7 million people who receive them.

With CAFTA-DR, the recently signed Millennium Challenge

Compact, and other initiatives in support of economic growth,

the USG is helping El Salvador establish the framework for

growth in the long term, but the major benefits of these

agreements, including the connection of the impoverished

northern zones to the rest of the country, remain years away.

 At present, there are insufficient economic opportunities to

ensure a secure reintegration of returnees, and social

services are inadequate to attend to them.

6. (SBU)  Despite the great strides the GOES has made in just

15 years since the end of the civil conflict to improve the

living conditions of its citizens, some estimate that up to

600 Salvadorans per day leave the country headed for the

United States.  Many of them never make it to Mexico, let

alone the United States.  However, USG efforts to stem the

flow of migrants and return citizens to their native country

have yet to ebb the tide of Salvadorans emigrating illegally

to the north.

7. (C)  From a socioeconomic perspective, the GOES is not

prepared to accept the return of nearly 250,000 nationals

from the United States, in addition to the some 30,000 others

who may face deportation this year.  While there remains a

clear statutory rationale for the extension of TPS again this

year, the political importance of this issue cannot be

underestimated.  Such a massive deportation would be a

political embarrassment for the GOES in the lead up to 2009

local, legislative, and presidential elections that could

provide a significant boost to the electoral prospects of the

communist-dominated and Chavez-supported FMLN.  El Salvador

under ARENA,s leadership has been one of our most important

allies in the Western Hemisphere, during a major rise of

leftist populist regimes unfriendly to USG interests.  El

Salvador is currently deploying its eighth contingent of the

Cuscatlan Battalion to Iraq (a deployment the government sees

in part as an expression of gratitude for USG support in

their own civil conflict), but terminating TPS would

dramatically undermine President Saca's ability to support us

on this and many other global and hemispheric issues of

importance.  For these reasons, in addition to the

socioeconomic disruption such a massive deportation would

cause, post continues to strongly advocate the extension of

Temporary Protected Status for the Salvadoran nationals who

are beneficiaries.  Ending TPS now could have a profound

negative impact on our bilateral relationship.

Glazer