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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| WaPo’s Bitter Condolences: New Face Delivers Old Result in El Salvador |
| 2004-03-23 |
| via WaPo, the recently acclaimed paragon of neutrality. EFL / Fair Use Candidate Seen as an Average Joe Retains Presidency for Pro-Business Party By Mary Beth Sheridan Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, March 23, 2004 SAN SALVADOR, March 22 -- Tony Saca, the winner of El Salvador’s presidential elections, had everything going for him. He was backed by the country’s business barons, by a party in power for 15 years and by a national media tilted strongly toward his conservative party. To the chagrin of Socialist Lefties everywhere, especially amongst WaPo staffers, right Mary Beth? And yet, Saca’s National Republican Alliance, or Arena, was running scared as it geared up for Sunday’s vote. Many Salvadorans have expressed concern about a lack of economic progress, and showed it in previous elections -- handing a victory in congressional elections last year to a party headed by former Marxist guerrillas. That raised the possibility of a dramatic change of leadership in El Salvador, one of the most pro-American governments in Latin America. Shit! The Anti-Americans Lost! OMG! The sky, she is falling! Hmmm, does this sound like standard Leftist bitterness to you? No, of course not! WaPo is fair and balanced and everything! Not exactly "All the truth, all the time, no spin." Right. Gotcha. They had a long long way to go. Still not there, sorry. Arena fought off the challenge with its traditional advantages of money and media. But it also renovated its image, distancing the party from the 12-year civil war in which it had been linked to death squads. And the distance isn’t real is the subtext, no? Nope, no spin here. Move along. The new president is a 39-year-old businessman who had no role in the conflict and no experience in political office. Saca became famous as a TV commentator narrating soccer games, and went on to purchase a string of radio stations. He projected a cheerful, Average Joe style in a party dominated by well-heeled businessmen. "I represent that Salvadoran who wants to find... a pretext to vote for Arena," Saca said in an interview on the eve of the election. He stole our gig! We are the official "Average Joe" party! You can find us just to the Left of Trotsky! Wait! Where are you all going? But his overwhelming victory, with about 57 percent of the vote, also reflected the difficulties that El Salvador’s former rebels have faced in adjusting to democratic competition since they signed peace accords in 1992, political analysts said. Their party, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, ran a former guerrilla leader known for his hard-line views. The candidate, Schafik Handal, 73, failed to gain much support beyond his party’s hard-core supporters. Not very good at democracy, huh? Sounds like the Jackass Party, come to think of it. "When they launched Schafik, they terrified the country," said Saca. Some of us can sympathize, just look at Skeery. |
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| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-3-23 2:27:17 PM |
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| Posted by: .com 2004-3-23 1:59:58 AM |