FMLN to Continue Shafick Handal Legacy
"Shafick Handal"s death is a very heavy blow, but we will remain an option in El Salvador, as his legacy dictates," coordinator of Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) Medardo Gonzalez said Wednesday.

Gonzalez told Prensa Latina that "nothing will be the same without Shafick, but what he would have expected from us is to continue the struggle with the same morale we have always had."

The historic FMLN leader died suddenly Monday as he was returning from Bolivia, where he attended President Evo Morales" inauguration ceremony accompanied by Gonzalez.

"These are hours of great consternation, as Shafick wasn"t simply a leader of a political party or of a revolutionary movement, but a personality known by all society," said Sigfrido Reyes, of the FMLN Political Committee.

Shafick"s remains were laid out today at San Salvador Stately Chapel, to be later laid in state at the Legislature, the National University, and party headquarters, where thousands of people will pay him posthumous tribute.

High level delegations from Venezuela, Cuba and Brazil already confirmed their presence at the burial on Sunday, Gonzalez said.

Nicaraguan Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega and representatives of the Workers Party of Brazil, Guatemala"s National Revolutionary Unity, and other Latin American organizations will also be in El Salvador for Shafick"s funeral.