El
Salvador President Rejects XXI Century
Socialism
SAN SALVADOR - El Salvador president
Mauricio Funes said his country will not
take a single step towards the incorporation
of his country to ALBA or the XXI century
Socialism promoted by Venezuelan president
Hugo Chavez and defended close relations
with United States.
“My government is not going to take any step
towards the incorporation of El Salvador to
ALBA and the XXI century Socialism”, said
Funes the first Socialist president of El
Salvador
ALBA or the Bolivarian Alliance for the
Americas was created in 2004 by Venezuela
and Cuba, and later incorporated Bolivia,
Nicaragua, Ecuador, Honduras and some
islands from the Caribbean.
Funes said that as an elected president he
respects but does not share the decision
adopted by his political party, the
Farabundo Martí Front for National
Liberation, FMLN, during a recent convention
in which it agreed to support a proposal to
summon the V International Socialist.
“One thing is the FMLN as a political party,
even when it is represented in the
government and another the Executive which I
command. The Executive I manage has not
joined ALBA nor will it join ALBA, nor is it
going to build the XXI century Socialism”,
emphasized the president who is married to a
Brazilian and is a close friend of President
Lula da Silva.
He added that FLMN can join “as many
internationals as it wishes” but the
government program does not contain a single
element or a single government policy that
could lead to think that the El Salvador
administration is obliged or committed to
building the XXI century Socialism as
understood by Chavez.
Funes ratified that it is the president who
defines which groupings of countries El
Salvador belongs to or integrates and to
which it does not incorporate or adhere.
“I’ve already taken a very clear stance on
this issue: I have decided that our goal is
Central American integration, which does not
mean that the President, my government and
El Salvador can’t have a close relation with
Venezuela or with Cuba”, he added.
Funes also argued in favour of closer
relations with United States which he
described as a strategic “ally”.
“This does not mean submission: it means
political pragmatism, common sense. We have
almost three million Salvadorians living in
the US, how can I possibly start a fight
with the United States?” asked Funes.
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