CENTRAL AMERICA

 

El Salvador Chooses Change

San Salvador - Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) candidate Mauricio Funes' victory in Sunday presidential elections in El Salvador paves the way for a process of changes towards a developed, egalitarian country.

"We are starting a new stage of out history. For the first time, those nominated for president and vice-president by a leftwing party took power," said Funes in his first message to the nation.

The president-elect promised to lead El Salvador to reconciliation, progress and social justice, and to favor the historically excluded sectors.

Funes, who will took power on June 1, is facing huge challenges, but the most important ones are to reduce poverty and violence.

In 20 years of neoliberal policies, the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) privatized electricity, the banking system and telecommunications.

Poverty is affecting 40 percent of the population.

The country is also suffering the consequences of eliminating the national currency, the Colon, which was replaced by the US dollar, causing a general increase in the cost of living.

This nation, with barely 6.8 million inhabitants is one of the most violent in the world, with 12 deaths per day.

Crime and poverty have forced almost three million Salvadorans into exile, mostly to the United States.

This panorama motivated voters to vote for a change, despite the campaign of fear and terror unleashed by ARENA.

According to the results announced by the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), Funes won 51.26 percent of the votes, while his rival Rodrigo Avila was supported by 48.74 percent.

"We support the FMLN candidate, because we think he represents the people's expression," Marco Antonio Cativo, of the Movement of Mauricio's Friends in Ilopango, told Prensa Latina.

Meanwhile, veteran fighter Roberto Canas, signatory of the peace agreements, said that the Front's victory paves the way for social justice and dignity.

The FMLN government program includes generating jobs, reducing the cost of living and improving health and education, as well as implementing short, mid, and long-term plans to eradicate the causes of violence.

That government plan also includes strengthening state institutionality, struggle against corruption, rural development, creation of a food security network to protect vulnerable groups, and an economy committed to social welfare.

There are also measures to face up to the consequences of the current global turbulences, which will have a great impact on El Salvador, due to dependence on the United States after dolarization, the Free Trade Agreement and remittances.

The plan for a new El Salvador has bringing the country out of the crisis, taking the route to development, and building and consolidating democracy.