El Salvador: New president brings new hope
The election of Mauricio Funes to the presidency of El Salvador has bolstered our partners working for peace and social justice in the country
Detractors from Funes have criticised the election results as a victory of Marxist guerrillas, but we believe Funes’ progressive agenda challenges this view, sets the new president in the mould of US leader Barack Obama, and gives a new chance for hope for the organisations’ work on peace and justice.
Clare Dixon, CAFOD programme manager for Latin America, says: "Mauricio Funes’ election can only be good news for organisations and communities working from their faith to create a better life for themselves and future generations.
"Our partners see this change of leadership as a potential for long-needed social progress. There is a new feeling in the country today among many of the people who work for CAFOD and the people they in turn work with.
Our partners see this change of leadership as a potential for long-needed social progress
"It is as though El Salvador has had its 'Obama moment'."
Immense challenges
Challenges facing the new government are immense, as El Salvador is still ravaged by civil war and a culture of state-impunity that has blocked the way to meaningful peace for years.
The hovels and shacks of the country’s underclass live next door to ostentatious shopping malls - a striking symbol of the unresolved social and economic inequalities.
Funes has close connections with our partners as he studied and worked at the Jesuit-run University of Central America, which encompasses the Archbishop Romero Pastoral Centre and the Human Rights Institute (IDHUCA).
Far from being a hardline Marxist, this is a president-elect who, on the day of the elections, chose to have breakfast with the Poor Clare sisters, and pledged to follow the example of Archbishop Romero in his option for the poor
Media: For interviews with CAFOD spokespeople and our partners, contact Pascale Palmer on ppalmer@cafod.org.uk +44 20 7095 5459 +44 7785 950 585
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