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Saturday, November 22, 2008
Funes Predicts Win and Withdrawal from Iraq
SAN SALVADOR
– FMLN presidential candidate Mauricio Funes, said that if he wins the elections in 2009 he will immediately withdraw Salvadoran
military troops from Iraq. El Salvador is the only Latin American country supporting
the US effort in Iraq.
On the other hand, Funes stressed: "El Salvador has many problems to solve. The Army can be assigned tasks such as opening avenues of cooperation, giving medical
care and other tasks in border areas, where there are great needs."
Funes,
a well-known television journalist and former correspondent for CNN in El Salvador, said that his prediction is that the FMLN
will win outright, without the necessity of a run-off election. Opinion polls favor Funes with proportions that give anywhere from two to 14 percent,
above the AREAN candidate, Rodrigo Avila.
Funes
announced that next weekend he will travel to the United States, where he has scheduled meetings with representatives of international
banks, officials in Washington, and with leaders of the Salvadoran community in the USA.
In addressing
the issue of dollarization Funes reiterated that his government will maintain the U.S. dollar as the national currency.
Police Capture $1.8 million of Pirated Music CDs
In the first eleven months of the year police have shut down twenty operations that illegaly copies music CDs.
More than one hundred alleged criminals have been arrested. However, it is believed the illegal music CD business sells
more than $30 million each year.
Police officer guards captured CDs.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Funes Leads, Ávila Gains
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Left-wing presidential candidate Mauricio Funes is leading
in El Salvador, according to a poll by Borge & Asociados published in El Diario de Hoy. 41.5 per cent of respondents
would support Funes of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) in next year’s election, up 3.9 points since July.
Rodrigo Ávila of the governing conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) is second with 37.8 per
cent, up 7.3 points in four months. One-in-five respondents remain undecided.
ARENA’s Antonio Saca, a media businessman, was elected in March 2004, garnering 57.73 per cent of the vote.
ARENA candidates have won the last four presidential elections in the Central American country. Saca is ineligible for a consecutive
term in office.
In September 2007, Funes became the FMLN’s presidential nominee. In March 2008, Ávila, a former National Police
chief, won ARENA’s three-candidate internal nationwide primary.
On Oct. 27, Funes reiterated that he would maintain a close relationship with Washington if elected and regardless
of who becomes the next president of the United States, saying, "I will work hand-in-hand with the American president-elect,
because the relationship between our countries is government-to-government."
The next legislative election is scheduled for Jan. 18, 2009, with a presidential ballot following on Mar.
15.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Church Asks Political Parties to Stay on the High Road
Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, Roman Catholic Archibishop of San Salvador, in his sermon today preached a message
of peace among those involved in the political campaign. The country is in the midst of the first election of mayors,
national legislators and president occurring together. The legislature and the mayors will be elected in January and
the President in March. There have been complaints about election violence from both sides. The archbishop called
on both sides to adhere to their earlier agreement to keep the campaign honest and non-violent.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
TRIBUTE TO TORTURED, KILLED and MISSING PERSONS,
(From Diario CoLatino) As part of the commemoration of the Day of the Dead, the
Consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations for Human Rights, paid tribute to the victims disappeared, tortured and murdered
during the civil conflict in the eighties in the country, at the Monument to them in the Cuscatlan Park in the capital,
with a mass in their memory, held on November 1.
Iberian-American summit held in El Salvador
(From Radio Netherlands) Leaders of Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal are trying to find solutions
to the worldwide financial crisis at a three-day Iberian-American summit in El Salvador.
The participants are hoping
to formulate a united standpoint on the crisis. This will enable them to participate fully in the world credit crisis summit,
scheduled to be held in Washington in mid-November.
Almost all Iberian and Latin American government leaders are present
at the summit. Only Venezuela and Cuba are represented by official government delegations.
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