Political parties agree to work together on public security

Representatives of El Salvador's political parties in the country's National Assembly signed an accord on Friday regarding public security.   In a rare moment of partisanship being set aside, the parties agreed to adopt measures which would improve the public security situation in the country.

Among the items in the agreement, the parties agreed to work together in a spirit of respectful dialog:

• to fund the Plan El Salvador Seguro developed by the president's National Council on Citizen Security and Coexistence; 
• to strengthen the National Civilian Police and Attorney General on strategic approaches to the investigation and prosecution of crime; 
• to develop a mutual agenda of measures in the areas of economic growth, public finance, and citizen security; and  
• to adopt measures to effectively block cell phone signals from the leaving the country's prisons.

The agreement has further commitments to adopt Plan El Salvador Seguro, as well as exhorting the news media to highlight the advances the government is making in the area of citizen security.   The agreement ends by asking the Constitutional Chamber to lift its ruling which blocks the country from issuing $900 million in bonds to fund various programs.

This new accord is signed by members of all the major parties, by the executive branch, and by representatives of the Organization of American States and the United Nations Development Program who are asked to follow the parties' compliance with their agreements.

We'll see how long this spirit of cooperation lasts.   Allies of the FMLN today were still issuing partisan tweets about forces trying to destabilize the government.