Leaked Embassy cables prove U.S. intervention in El Salvador’s 2006 and 2009 elections

On Monday, May 23, the Salvadoran digital news magazine El Faro published a series of confidential cables sent by the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador to various officials at the U.S. State Department that were leaked as part of Wikileaks Cablegate. According to the digital publication, the published cables demonstrate that “U.S. intervention in Salvadoran electoral processes has been calculated and sustained over time” and that “from 2005 to 2008 their diplomats analyzed practically every facet of their bilateral relationship with El Salvador in light of its effect on the possibility of victory for ARENA—the party that guarantees U.S.-backed economic policies.”

For years, CISPES has denounced U.S. intervention in El Salvador’s electoral processes as an egregious violation of the country’s national sovereignty and the self-determination of the people of El Salvador. Whether it is through direct statements by high-ranking State Department officials that attempt to sway Salvadoran voters’ decisions or through the manipulation of international aid, economic and trade policy, and the stability of Salvadoran immigrants living in the U.S., the leaked cables demonstrate, as El Faro says, “the constant effort of the Embassy to make the political tempo of the bilateral relationship coincide with the Salvadoran electoral calendar."

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