Panama-Cuba
Relations in "Honeymoon"
Panama
President to Visit Guatemala
Salinas:
Looking Behind El Salvador Vote
Honduras May Suspend
Taca Airline Over $1.3M Debt
Salinas:
Looking Behind El Salvador Vote
By Maria Elena
Salinas
San Salvador - "Yet another leftist
government in Latin America." That's a
headline likely to be repeated after
Mauricio Funes, the candidate for the
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front,
known as the FMLN, won the presidential
election March 15 in El Salvador.
But for this election, there is a lot more
to consider than a growing trend in the
region. You have to look at the history of a
country that was torn by a 12-year civil
war, which left 75,000 dead, and that has
remained ideologically divided for two
decades. The United States poured millions
of dollars into that war in support of the
Salvadoran army.
After signing a peace treaty in 1992, the
leftist rebel group FMLN vowed to put down
its weapons and attempt to reach power
through the ballot box. However, the
ultraconservative National Public Alliance,
ARENA, held on to the presidency.
So, why now? Why was the leftist group able
to defeat a party supported by the rich and
powerful in this small Central American
nation? For one thing, Funes, a former
journalist, was the first FMLN presidential
candidate who was not a former rebel leader.
He presented himself as a credible,
pragmatic leader willing to govern from the
center.
According to Kenneth Roberts, professor of
government at Cornell University, Funes
showed an interest in helping the poor and
creating more employment opportunities with
social programs. That's music to the ears of
a country suffering the effects of the
financial crisis and still nurturing the
wounds of the bloody civil war. Violence
still abounds in El Salvador.
In short, the left won because Salvadorans
did not see an improvement in their daily
lives, because ARENA did not live up to its
promises, because the economic growth did
not go beyond the already wealthy citizens.
Although Funes won the election by less than
three percentage points, he begins his
presidency with a mandate. There were no
allegations of fraud or reports of
widespread irregularities. The FMLN has
already proven that it is capable of
governing, having held the mayorship of San
Salvador, the capital, for years and now
being the largest party in the Legislative
Assembly.
Susan Purcell, director of the Center for
Hemispheric Policy at the University of
Miami, thinks it's too soon to judge what
kind of government Funes will be heading as
president. It is still unclear if he will
follow the path of Brazilian President Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva, who governs from
center-left, as Funes claims he will, or if
he will take a more radical approach like
Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, Nicaragua's Daniel
Ortega or Bolivia's Evo Morales. "The
question is not whether he is from the left
or the right, but rather whether or not he
will be governing responsibly in a
democratic fashion," she says.
Purcell believes the outcome of the U.S.
election might have influenced the results
in El Salvador. "People decided they were
ready for a change. They saw Obama as the
president of change in the United States,
and felt that's what they wanted for
themselves also."
Relations between the United States and El
Salvador are not expected to change. But
citizens of both countries are hoping change
will come with the new governments they took
a chance on at the ballot box.
|
|
|
|
|
