President Mauricio Funes has vetoed the legislative decree suspending the charging of $18 for non-intrusive inspections at customs offices in the country.
From a statement issued by the presidency of El Salvador:
The President, Mauricio Funes vetoed today, after considering it inconvenient, the six-month suspension of the collection of a few for the service of nonintrusive inspection at customs office, which deputies approved by Legislative Decree no. 629.
Salvadoran exporters and importers will continue to pay the $18 fee per load and only goods passing through will be exempt from the fee.
The authentic interpretation of the decree eliminating a charge of $18 for the non-intrusive inspection services at Salvadoran Customs offices was vetoed by President Mauricio Funes.
The Salvadoran President has asked the SIECA to intervene in a trade dispute with Costa Rica.
President Mauricio Funes, believes that a regional agency should resolve the trade dispute with Costa Rica, which has requested the creation of an international arbitration group. The problem, Funes said, should be resolved by the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA).
The Central Council of Transport has announced a three-day strike in protest against El Salvador levying a tax on freight carriers of between $35 and $250.
Laprensa.com.ni reports that "the measure will affect all regional trade, because the rest of the international freight carriers from the isthmus will join the strike 'in solidarity' in order to send a message to other governments who have created new taxes on trade merchandise ... ".
At a meeting in Honduras, the region's heads of state agreed to discuss the decriminalization of drugs.
The initiative was proposed by Otto Perez Molina, president of Guatemala, who emphasized the need to seek "alternative mechanisms" to combat drug trafficking.
Funes and Martinelli have maintained high levels of approval from their countrymen, while Ortega is recovering, Colom and Lobo are still low and Chinchilla is still falling.
With the first few years of presidency behind them, Mauricio Funes and Ricardo Martinelli are the leaders in the area with the most approval from their citizens: The first for having faced difficult opposition, and for his education, personality and charisma.
From El Salvador, the US president offered the funds for regional security projects.
Regarding distribution of funds, the president said Central American countries will be the ones deciding how to invest the funds according to their particular needs.
Laprensagrafica.com reported statements from Barack Obama, "It will be a program designed and led by Central American governments in the region ... The emphasis is to work with a regional focus and Central American countries must help shape and design how the money should be spent."
The Salvadoran president has a 72% approval rating, while Martinelli has 65%, Lobo 51%, Chinchilla 45%, Colom 41% and Ortega 40%.
Mauricio Funes, although still in second place in Latin America, falls three percentage points from a previous survey and now has 72% approval rating, topping the list of presidents in Central America with high evaluation.
New regulations in El Salvador to tackle gang violence foster the development of regional measures to control and proscribe local gangs.
In order to prevent gang members from fleeing the country to avoid jail, especially to Guatemala and Honduras, these countries has activated extra security measures at their borders.
The “Special Declaration on Honduras”, signed by the presidents, also proposes speeding up Honduras’ return to the Organization of American States (OAS) and calls on the country to respect the basic rights of its citizens.
Mauricio Funes has an approval rating of 76%; he is followed by Ricardo Martinelli (66%), Laura Chinchilla (64%), Porfirio Lobo (60%), Alvaro Colom (50%) and Daniel Ortega (38%).
CID-Gallup unveiled its Central American public opinion poll for July 2010. It remarks that Funes remains the president with the highest approval ratings, and that Honduran president Lobo slipped from the third to the fourth spot, mainly because he is disliked by opposition and unregistered voters.
The Summit of the Central American Integration System (SICA) has started in El Salvador; its participants will discuss regional integration and security topics.
The presidents of Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador will take part in the activity.
In El Salvador, the debate over the advantages and disadvantages of dollarization has been reignited, as the government is in need of resources for funding its programs.
President Funes has regretted that Dollarization has limited El Salvador from taking actions to combat the economic crisis.
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