US embassy cable - 05SANSALVADOR2503

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SAN SALVADOR 002503 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, EB/TPP, WHA/CEN, WHA/EPSC, WHA/PDA 
AMEMBASSIES FOR PAS, POL, USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR, ES, KPAO, HURRICANE KATRINA 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON HURRICANE KATRINA 
 
 
The chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina inspired 
Salvadoran newspaper commentators to express sympathy and 
solidarity as well as concern about the possible economic 
repercussions of Katrina on El Salvador, in particular given 
already high fuel prices.  They also criticized inadequate 
prevention measures and, directly or indirectly, admonished 
Salvadoran authority to learn from U.S. mistakes and thereby 
lessen the impact of the next natural disaster that sooner 
or later will befall El Salvador. 
 
For his weekly column in El Diario de Hoy (far right, circ. 
100,000) on Saturday, September 3, Eduardo Torres wrote: 
 
"It would be very, very unfortunate if in the face of this 
terrible human tragedy, particular sectors continue to play 
politics with the issue of international petroleum prices, 
as they were doing before Katrina." 
 
Weekly El Diario de Hoy columnist Pedro Roque wrote on 
September 4 about "New Orleans, City of Jazz": 
 
"If the United States -- with its large economic power, 
reserve funds for disasters, rescue procedures and 
technology -- is having serious problems and needs aid, 
imagine how we would have been after a hurricane with 200 km 
per hour winds and strong rains.. Regardless of a country's 
location, size, religious beliefs, or economic system, none 
is safe from the forces of Mother Nature.  I hope that here 
we prepares ourselves well with information management and 
preventive measures for what could happen." 
 
 
 The September 6 editorial in La Prensa Grafica (center 
right, circ. 110,000) opined: 
 
"In this era of growing communication and interdependence 
between regions and countries, great disasters are no longer 
confined to the areas they occupy.  Today, chain reactions 
are regionalized and globalized..  No one is self- 
sufficient..  Now that we are tied to the U.S. economy by 
the umbilical cord of dollarization, everything that happens 
there will have direct repercussions on our process of 
internal (economic) reactivation, which is already 
complicated enough." 
 
Also in La Prensa Grafica on September 6, columnist Roberto 
Turcios opined: "Iraq comes up as an inevitable reference in 
commentaries about the tragedy.  Two, three, and four days 
without assistance to people needing water, food, and 
security says a lot about a government that maintains 
military operations in faraway continents..  In the recent 
catastrophe, we have seen what a distance there is between 
efficiency in pursuit of military goals and ineffectiveness 
in the face of suffering." 
 
The September 7 editorial in El Diario de Hoy, entitled "The 
Haitianization of New Orleans," commented: 
 
"Inside the shelters of New Orleans each night, rapes and 
murders occur, elderly people are assaulted, and the worst 
barbarism is committed..  Unfortunately, for years there 
have been two cities of New Orleans: the beautiful, 
hospitable, artistic, interesting, lovely and calm one, and 
the other that neither residents nor foreign visitors will 
approach without putting themselves at great risk." 
 
In La Prensa Grafica on September 7, columnist Joaquin 
Samayoa wrote: 
 
"I know I spoke for almost all Salvadorans when I expressed 
to (the U.S. Ambassador) our solidarity with the people of 
that beloved country and also our readiness to help out in 
whatever ways are necessary and feasible.  But it is 
important that we learn something from this tragedy, because 
others will occur and some of them will affect us directly.. 
Who were Katrina's partners in crime?  First, there are 
those who ignore and are indifferent to how we allow and 
provoke global warming..  Second, there is poverty..  In the 
affected zones, one of every four residents lives below the 
poverty line and two out of ten households do not have 
vehicles.  That explains why many had to remain despite the 
warnings.  Finally, Katrina had two more important 
supporters that we Salvadorans are familiar with.  I am 
referring to the politicians and bureaucrats who did not 
make necessary decisions quickly or impeded their being 
carried out." 
 
In his daily Editor's Column in the September 7 issue of 
daily paper El Mundo (center right, circ. 35,000), Ricardo 
Chacon wrote that "The Easiest Thing is Blaming Others:" 
 
"U.S. public opinion has been tough on the Bush 
Administration for its tardiness, inefficiency, lack of 
sensitivity, and scarce preparation before the tragedy that 
occurred in New Orleans..  After a tragedy, the easiest 
thing is to point the finger and blame everyone else; the 
difficult thing is to have the vision to avoid disasters." 
 
BUTLER