Millennium Challenge account projects provide basis for propaganda

The online newspaper El Faro has reported that there is a split in the executive board which oversees the projects funded by dollars from the US Millennium Challenge Account. The division arises from the concern of certain members of the council that president Tony Saca is using announcement of various projects of the Millennium fund for propaganda purposes. These dissenting members are the representatives of the NGOs and the private sector who sit on the board. The governmental members who are on the board continue to support Saca.

Two comments:
1. No one should be surprised.
2. The Salvadoran people have seen such self-promotion by the current government often enough that they recognize it for what it is.

Comments

Mysterious Me said…
The larger question is, does everyone see it for what it is...and who believes it?

propaganda or not, people believe things and vote.
Hodad said…
thanks for this
as USA tax dollars this is a serious issue

believe me, they will get e mails and calls from me
and hope CESTA and SHARE also pick up on this

as far as who believes this MM ?? more now thanks to Tim's blog,

corruption abounds especially in USA the worst hypocrites of all time
please list which folks and NGO's are asking the questions

Saca is as is Uribe, still bush's narco buddies,

i also heard how much dope is involved at Comalapa with all the so called US personell stationed there

hearing from the locals that work and translate there
legalize it all
HEMP is the solution for american farmers, the only hope
BACH and Vote Hemp websites for info
it would be the best crop grown ever in ES
hopefully Funes looks at this and complies

and biomass, bio-diesel,fiber,cloth, and paper for ES becomes a norm
Anonymous said…
not surprisingly at all. dang, why do we have so many crooks in el salvador? and have i mentioned before my dislike for rene figueroa on the basis that i find him to be irrevocably gay?
Anonymous said…
finding someone irrevocably gay could be valid for disliking someone on a personal level -homophobia's alive and well- but it's hardly a valid political critique
Hodad said…
"homophobia's alive and well- but it's hardly a valid political critique"

well said

most who say such as this[homophobic] are gay themselves or just very ignorant

these type of remarks
show's one's education, compassion and schooling
El mal ejemplo said…
it is definitely no surprise that the project is being used for propaganda.
This ties in pretty neatly with the earlier post about the UCA polls.
"democracy" is really, at best, of relative value. while the powers that be have the ability to create and manipulate public opinion -the millions spent in PR and what not; not just that, the control of the wider media, the educational system, etc.- while this remains true, democracy will remain a whim of the economically or politically powerful.

while there would be a need to address UCA's credibility, there is certainly a widespread dissatisfaction with the government, and a high likelihood of the opposition winning the presidential election -this, truth be told, might prove not to be such a big change in things. at this point in time they are just appendages in the general "democratic" clockwork of things.

i really see no reason why the economic power in el salvador should be so worried about a change in government. worst case scenario, they will probably just be a different set of neoliberal policy-makers, by virtue of forced or voluntary compliance. (the "forced" compliance might be anything from the fear of meltdown due to significant changes in the system or good-old-fashiong selling out).
El-Visitador said…
«a different set of neoliberal policy-makers»

The Saca administration has been the exact opposite of neoliberal.

It has created TWO fullblown new ministries, ONE new "tribunal", at least FOUR new "institutions," expanded the Foreign Relations bureaucracy as if we are the new UN, and generall expanded the interventionist powers of the government-owned companies, not to mention the price controls, subsidies, and endless new regulations it has issued.

If these Socialist practices are considered "neoliberal" around here, I'd hate to see what some people expect a truly lefty government to impose.
Anonymous said…
I really wouldn't know what to call Saca, but socialist he definately is not. Maybe a populist-propagandistic pilferer, much like all of ARENA. I mean, sustaining such an obsolete institution as the army with budgets beyond the 100 million mark, engaging on endless propaganda since he came to office, which leaves the cypher of how much he has wasted in this antic as our mystery cyphet of the day. How many millions has Saca squandered on propaganda (which btw, should be free, seeing how the major media channels of EL Salvador are OWNED by ARENA affiliates, so if propaganda and control of the masses by continous advertisement is to their best interest... they shouldn't worry about the bill :P).

Yet back to the point: ARENA markets itself as whatever it wants to keep in power and ransacking El Salvador's resources.