El Salvador Casts Ballots for President

El Salvador Casts Ballots for President
1 hour, 12 minutes ago


SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - El Salvador (news - web sites)'s voters faced a sharp choice in Sunday's presidential election, between one of the hemisphere's most pro-American governments or a former Communist Party guerrilla leader.

A conservative broadcast media businessman, 39-year-old Tony Saca, was the clear favorite of President Bush (news - web sites)'s administration, whose officials suggested an opposition victory could affect El Salvador's remarkably warm relations with the United States.
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"We could not have the same confidence in an El Salvador led by a person who is obviously an admirer of Fidel Castro (news - web sites) and of Hugo Chavez," Reich was quoted as saying, referring to the leaders of Cuba and Venezuela.
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ARENA portrayed Handal as a kidnapper and thug who would install a communist system. Handal's backers accused ARENA of corruption and noted that its founder, Maj. Roberto D'Abuisson, had been accused by U.S. and U.N. reports of running death squads.
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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040321/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/salvador_election_4

I'm not too familiar with Handal, but if Bush and Otto Reich don't like him, then I probably do.

thanks, .. I'll be looking forward to seeing the outcome of this one.

Media business men shouldn't be allowed to run for office.

n/t

up my cheers for Handal. So, here are some googling links for your perusing pleasure:

From the American Society Council of the Americas (short blurb on his peace-making efforts)

http://www.counciloftheamericas.org/ann2004/ann-2-11-04-Handal.pdf

The press release for the above:

http://www.americas-society.org/PR/2-9-04-Handal.htm
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New York, NY _ February 9, 2004 -- Schafik Handal, recognized as one of the most prominent Leftist leaders in Latin America, and a candidate in El Salvador's upcoming presidential election, will give a press conference following his presentation to the Council of the Americas on Wednesday, February 11. He is expected to discuss El Salvador_s political and economic climate since the peace accords, the FMLN's platform on the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), foreign investment, dollarization, and U.S. - Salvadorean Relations.


Mr. Handal is an important leader of the FMLN since its inception in 1979 and throughout El Salvador's twelve-year armed conflict. He led the FMLN delegation that negotiated the 1992 peace accords with the government, which was followed by the FMLN's transition into a legal political party. Mr. Handal is currently serving a third term as a member of the National Congress, and heads the FMLN faction within the Salvadorean legislative body.
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Many links in Spanish that I can't possibly understand, but provided anyway:

http://www.elsalvador.com/vertice/2004/220204/politica.htm

http://www.elecciones2004.com.sv/ShowMessage.asp?ID=222

http://www.schafikpresidente.com.sv/02%20Programa%20de%20Gobierno/08%20Profesor%20Honorario.pdf

http://www.cepaz.org.sv/menu/publicaciones_cepaz/bio_schafik.htm

http://www.fuerzasolidaria.com/Articulos/ElSalvador.html

http://www.change-links.org/HANDAL.htm
<snip>
In a few days Schafik Jorge Handal, FMLN candidate for president of El Salvador, will arrive in Los Angeles for a series of events focusing on his campaign leading to the March, 2004 elections. In some ways it begins the culmination of the 23 years of solidarity. Polls show Handal can be elected president next year, moving the FMLN----which spent 12 years in the mountains of El Salvador--- into the country's presidential palace.

Born in 1930, Schafik Handal's life has, for over five decades, paralleled the revolutionary struggle for change in his country. He was one of the five-member general command of the FMLN throughout the war. He personifies the heroic, tenacious population of his country, constantly struggling for justice.


I hope our community gives Companero Schafik a warm and affectionate welcome here in Los Angeles. The people of El Salvador are moving toward an enormous victory. Let's once again mobilize to express the solidarity which has always meant so much to the people of El Salvador and which has so enriched the lives of people who share their struggle.
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EDIT: Picture of Handal


Also being spelled Shafik

OH, and for all those who love the Miami Cuban Club .. here's one for you! Headlines straight from the Miami Herald!!

Weapons, Chinese aid firing up election debate
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/8156673.htm

The Miami Herald link was highly interesting: should have them all bouncing off the wall until after the election.

Gonna "Cubanize" El Salvador, their right-wing alarmists insist! Doesn't that sound all too familiar, by now?

others are so diligent to provide us with links and info to keep us informed!

Cheers to all of you for keeping us in the know!! :toast:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr

You can surf through links and they automatically translate the pages.

I really recommend this site. It's a great way to break the grip CNN and the NYT have on information.

nt

From Democracy Now!:

In El Salvador the U.S.-backed right-wing candidate Tony Saca easily won in national elections on Sunday beating former guerilla leader Schafik Handal. The Bush administration was accused by some as meddling in the election by publicly backing Saca.
A week ago, White House Special Assistant Otto Reich gave a phone press conference at the headquarters of the right-wing party. He told Salvadorean reporters he was worried what kind of impact a victory by the left could have on the country’s "economic, commercial, and migratory relations with the United States."

Last month Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noreiga told voters to "consider what kind of a relationship they want a new administration to have with us."

This prompted 28 members of Congress to send a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell warning that Noriega’s remarks were perceived as "interference in Salvadoran electoral affairs."

One of the signees of the letter Dennis Kucinich said, "Unfortunately, what is going on in El Salvador is representative of a Latin American policy that is not about promoting healthy democracies, but instead focused on making Latin American nations bend to U.S. commercial interests."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/22/1536226

When the fascists get control a lot of people die.

Saca Wins El Salvador Presidential Race
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: March 22, 2004


Filed at 12:58 p.m. ET

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) -- Former sportscaster Tony Saca easily won El Salvador's presidential race, promising to continue the direction of one of the most pro-U.S. governments in the hemisphere.

But the former Communist Party guerrilla leader who lost accused Saca of resorting to ``lies, fear and blackmail'' to win and warned that his party would fight a proposed free-trade agreement with the United States.
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But the words followed a campaign in which ARENA and a heavily pro-Saca local press portrayed Handal as an unreconstructed communist kidnapper who would stamp out freedom, teach schoolchildren guerrilla warfare and possibly cause the United States to expel Salvadoran refugees.
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``We could not have the same confidence in an El Salvador led by a person who is obviously an admirer of Fidel Castro and of Hugo Chavez,'' Reich was quoted as saying, referring to the leaders of Cuba and Venezuela.
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Salvador-Election.html


Otto Reich