Public Security Minister Melgar

Apparently one of the main challenges to the relationship between the US government and the Funes administration was the appointment of Manuel Melgar as Minister of Public Security. While there is little direct evidence of his involvement, one defector from the FMLN identified Melgar as the individual primarily responsible for the 1985 Zona Rosa attack that killed four off duty US military personnel and eight civilians.


According to the informant, "The Zona Rosa attack was Melgar's idea" and "Melgar collected information for the attack, including data on the Marines; coordinated with other perpetrators; and designed each team's tasks."

Funes must have known how Melgar's appointment would have been received by the US.

Melgar's rebel past is well-known among El Salvador's 6 million people, and there was barely a ripple when Funes tapped him for the public security post.

U.S. diplomats saw it differently, however, branding his appointment as an imposition of FMLN hard-liners, according to a July 2009 cable released by the WikiLeaks website. His naming froze U.S. law enforcement cooperation as the U.S. Embassy sought guidance from Washington on "how best to work around Melgar," whom it described as "an individual with blood on his hands."

For whatever reason, Funes must have decided that appointing Melgar to this position was worth the headache it would bring between his administration and the United States Embassy.

Just like the US realizes that when it appoints people like John "death squads? what death squads?" Negroponte as US ambassador to the UN, John "take a little off the top" Bolton as US ambassador to the UN, Robert "Iran-Contra Scandal" Gates to Secretary of Defense, and Colin "Operation Just Because" Powell to Secretary of State, other countries have the right to be offended.