Summary: <p>(Latin Pulse: April 30, 2009) The Latin Pulse Team brings you a special report on the historic election in Latin America. El Salvador, a tiny Central American country of 7 million inhabitants, recently elected Mauricio Funes, its first leftist president. Not unlike the evening Barack Obama was elected as President of the United States, the crowds in the capital city of San Salvador were chanting "Sí se pudo" - "Yes we did!"</p><p>The Funes party, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, defeated the rightwing Nationalist Republican Alliance, the ARENA party, who has ruled the country for 20 years. In the 1980s, the FMLN, a coalition of former Marxist guerillas, fought a bitter war against the U.S. backed Salvadoran government. Thousands were killed, tortured, and disappeared. Salvadoran voters were voting for the FMLN candidate because they wanted change. They were worried about poverty, unemployment, and raging crime, and were not impressed by the right wing's well-financed media campaign, which stressed the dangers of communism.</p><p>The U.S. government has always had a presence in Salvador's electoral process. For that reason, the FMLN publicly asked the American leadership to stay out of the 2009 election more than a year ago. It appears that they did. The next day, President Barack Obama called Funes to congratulate him on his victory.</p><p>For a long time, El Salvador has been a staunch U.S. ally. Now, the smallest country in Central America has joined the increasing number of Latino American countries that have chosen to explore a change to the left. However, with a new U.S. president warmly shaking hands with Funes, Brazil?s Lula, and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, many are hopeful about the future of Latin American-US relations.</p><p>En Español</p><p>Pulso Latino Reportaje Especial</p><p>El Salvador: Una Elección Histórica</p><p>?El equipo de Pulso Latino presenta un reportaje especial sobre estas históricas elecciones en Latino América. El Salvador un pequeño país Centroamericano de 7 millones de habitantes eligió en las urnas al primer Presidente de un partido de izquierda. Como la noche en que Obama fue electo presidente de los EEUU, la gente se lanzó a las calles de la capital San Salvador cantando ?Sí se pudo!?</p><p>El partido de Funes Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional FMLN, derrotó al partido de derecha Alianza Republicana Nacionalista ARENA, quién ha gobernado el país durante los últimos 20 años. El FMLN una coalición de ex-guerrilleros, quienes lucharon contra el gobierno Salvadoreño de extrema derecha en una guerra sostenida y financiada por los Estados Unidos durante la década de los 80. Miles de personas fueron asesinadas, torturadas y desaparecidas. Los salvadoreños votaron por el candidato del FMLN porque quieren un cambio, les preocupa la pobreza creciente, el desempleo y el crimen rampante. No se dejaron influenciar por la fuertemente financiada campaña mediática de la derecha que buscaba amedrentar insistiendo en los peligros de un comunismo.</p><p>El gobierno Estadounidense ha tenido por largo tiempo una presencia en el proceso electoral salvadoreño, por esta razón hace un año el candidato del FMLN pidió públicamente a los líderes de EEUU de mantenerse fuera de las elecciones del 2009. Parece que así sucedió. Al día siguiente de las elecciones el presidente Barack Obama llamó a Funes para felicitarle por su victoria. Por mucho tiempo El Salvador ha sido un firme aliado de los Estados Unidos, por ahora el más pequeño país de Centro América se ha unido al creciente número de países Latinoamericanos que han escogido explorar un cambio hacia la izquierda. Sin embargo con un nuevo Presidente estadounidense estrechando con gusto las manos de Funes, Lula de Brazil, y Chávez de Venezuela, muchos tienen esperanzas en el futuro de las relaciones entre Latino América y los Estados Unidos.</p><p>El Salvador Facts/Info</p><p>Background: El Salvador achieved independence from Spain in 1821 and seceded from the Central American Federation in 1839. A 12-year civil war, which cost about 75,000 lives, was brought to a close in 1992 when the government and leftist rebels the FMLN signed a U.N. brokered peace accord that provided for military and political reforms.</p><p>Area: 21,040 sq km Slightly smaller than Massachusetts</p><p>Natural resources: Hydropower, geothermal power, arable land.</p><p>Natural hazards: Known as the Land of Volcanoes; frequent and sometimes destructive earthquakes and volcanic activity; extremely susceptible to hurricanes.</p><p>Environment current issues: Deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution; contamination of soils from disposal of toxic wastes.</p><p>Population:7,185,218 (July 2008 est.)</p><p>Ethnic groups: Mestizo 90%, white 9%, Amerindian 1%</p><p>Net migration rate:3.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.) An estimated 2 million Salvadorans live in the United States</p><p>GDP: $22.28 billion (2008 est.) Labor force by sector: agriculture: 11.2% industry: 24.7% services: 64.1% (2008 est.)</p><p>Employment: Unemployment is 7% Underemployment is 43% And 81% do not earn a decent wage, per U.N. standard</p><p>Poverty: More than 53% of the population lives below the poverty line.20% lives in extreme poverty</p><p>Illiteracy rate: 17% of the population</p><p>Education expenditures: 3.1% of GDP (2006)</p><p>Military expenditures: 5% 0f GDP (2006)</p><p>2009 Elections Results: 60% of the electorate casted ballots</p><p>President: FMLN/Funes 51.3% ARENA/Avila 48.7%</p><p>Assembly 84 Seats: FMLN 35 Seats ARENA 32 PCN 11PDC 5CD 1</p><p>USA/EL Salvador Relations: The United States is El Salvador?s most important trading partner, receiving 67.3% of its exports and providing 50.1% of its imports. Economic growth will decelerate in 2009 due to the global slowdown and to El Salvador's dependence on exports to the US and remittances from the US. El Salvador leads the region in remittances per capita with inflows equivalent to nearly all export income. With the adoption of the US dollar as its currency in 2001, El Salvador lost control over monetary policy and must concentrate on maintaining a disciplined fiscal policy. In 2005 U.S. and El Salvador governments signed a bilateral agreement to establish an International Law Enforcement Academy ILEA in the region. The training focus is on transnational crimes, human rights and the rule of law with emphasis on trafficking in narcotics, trafficking in persons, terrorism, money laundering and other financial crimes. ILEA is meant to "help protect U.S. interests through international cooperation" by training police, judges, prosecutors, and other law enforcement officials. The U.S. also maintains a Military Monitoring Base in Comalapa that surveys air space traffic in the region to combat narco-trafficking and organized crime activities. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and El Salvador?s National Civilian Police jointly operate the Transnational Anti-Gang unit, which addresses the growing problem of street gangs in both countries. In January 2009, the U.S. and El Salvador signed letters of agreement committing both countries to work jointly under the Merida Initiative to fight crime and drug trafficking. In 2006 El Salvador was the first country to ratify the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). In late 2006, the government and the Millennium Challenge Corporation signed a five-year, $461 million compact to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty in the country's northern region through investments in education, public services, enterprise development, and transportation infrastructure. Sources:United Nations Development Program UNDP</p><p>http://www.undp.org/publications/</p><p>https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/es.html</p><p>http://www.usaid.gov/policy/budget/cbj2005/lac/sv.html</p><p>www.fletc.gov/</p><p>Country?s Timeline http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1220818.stm</p>
