Why the Left won in El Salvador by María Elena Salinas

Viewpoint: Why the Left won in El Salvador
By by María Elena Salinas

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“Yet another leftist government in Latin America.” That’s a headline likely to be repeated over and over 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 just 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 the past 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 for the past 20 years. 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 to the electorate 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 left open by the bloody civil war. Violence still abounds in El Salvador, with youth gangs created by former members of the army and rebel groups reigning terror across the country.

In short, the left won in El Salvador 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 and because more than half of the population still lives in poverty.

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 during the electoral process. The FMLN has already proven that it is capable of governing, having held the mayorship of San Salvador — the capital — for the past 12 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 Inacio 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 Chavez, 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 (Barack) Obama as the president of change in the United States, and felt that’s what they wanted for themselves also.”

A few days after his triumph at the polls, President Obama spoke with President-elect Funes and congratulated him on his historic victory. Obama said he is looking forward to working with the new Salvadoran administration on issues of mutual interest, including “economic growth and poverty, energy cooperation and security.”

Former presidents George W. Bush and Tony Saca of El Salvador enjoyed close ties. Saca visited Washington often, and El Salvador was the only country in the region to continue to send troops to Iraq in support of coalition forces.

With new opposition governments in power in both the U.S. and El Salvador, relations between the two countries 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.

Source: www.mariaesalinas.com

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