u.s. out of (fill in the blank)!!!

despite their elaborate electoral fraud machine, decades of u.s. military intervention on their behalf, and 20 years of successfully buying/stealing the salvadoran presidency, the pro-ruling class anti-communist arena party is behind in the polling for this sunday's presidential elections in el salvador. last weekend the fmln manifestación in the capital supporting their candidate, mauricio funes, drew 250,000 people.

for sure, the fmln candidate this time around is no schafik handel (comunista! guerrillero! palestino!). the late beloved leader of the salvadoran communist party & former comandante in the armed struggle was the fmln's candidate last time around, and the united states used the occasion to threaten salvadorans that if they elected him that would be like electing a terrorist (ahh, so familiar, no?) and they could expect to be dealt with accordingly. as i said funes is no handel, but of course the republicans are at it again.

46 congressional republicans last week signed a letter, main sections of which ran in the country's most circulated daily el diario de hoy. it said this:

tenemos graves preocupaciones de que una victoria electoral del fmln podría propiciar vínculos entre el salvador y los regímenes en venezuela, irán, cuba y otros estados que promueven el terrorismo, así como con otros regímenes no democráticos y con organizaciones terroristas...

we have grave worries that an electoral victory by the fmln could facilitate ties between el salvador & regimes in venezuela, iran, cuba and other states that promote terrorism, and with other non-democratic regimes and terrorist organizations.

cispes (the comittee in solidarity with the people of el salvador) is reporting that speeches have also started on the floor of the u.s. house of representatives, which specifically reference the remittances that salvadorans in the u.s. send home:

rep. dan burton stated, “those monies that are coming from here to there i am confident will be cut, and i hope the people of el salvador are aware of that because it will have a tremendous impact on individuals and their economy.”

bueno, funes is a former journalist who is on the moderate side of things politically. still, a victory for the fmln would break arena's stranglehold on the presidency and tip the balance of forces in central america (and latin america generally) just that much more to the left. and who knows, the organized popular forces in latin america have recently been known to push a leftist president or two a little more to the left ...

an fmln win is far from guaranteed though. in addition to unlimited funds courtesy of the salvadoran oligarchy, control of the electoral commission, and ready access to anti-fmln rhetoric by u.s. politicians, arena of course has a deep history of political violence. yeni, from sf cispes, is in el salvador right now and sent out a communication which reported the assassination of two young fmln activists last night in san salvador...

¡abajo los derechistas! ¡todo el poder al pueblo! u.s. out of everywhere!!!!!!!


vamos a la lucha : los torogoces de morazan