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http/mrzine.monthlyreview.org/funes160309.html.

and competitive economy and a broad business base.

This is the essential programmatic plank on which Chavez was elected
president. Including the procapitalist framework, the appeals to
collaboration with Washington, the willingness to live with unfair
US-sponsored trade agreements and so on. The plant was simple: benefit =
the
poor at the expense of the rich to strengthen the country.

Actually making gains in this direction is what forged the full-scale =
mass
movement around Chavez, and opened the road to everything that has come
since - renationalization of oil, Latin American integration, direct
challenges to imperialist domination, and the adoption of a socialist
perspective.

Do I think this is guaranteed under Funes? Not at all. Do I think it is =
a
living possibility. Yes. It depends on whether he goes forward as =
promised,
whether his party is willing to reach out broadly beyond traditional
boundaries to mobilize the masses to defend such measures, to what =
degree
the masses mobilize to defend the measures, and, all in all, how the
relationship of forces evolve.

There are certainly no guarantees, and I think the counterforces are =
quite
strong. El Salvador is a country with a strong revolutionary tradition, =
and
perhaps -- until now -- an even stronger counterrevolutionary tradition.

In my opinion, what has happened in El Salvador is the most important
victory so far in Central America for the Latin American revolutionary
process.

I fear he could be an Allende -- I hope he has learned the lessons of =
that
experience (Allende's martyrdom is not worth much if people don't do =
that)
but I am confident he is no Duarte.
Fred Feldman






March 11 , 2009

Blaming Ch=E1vez=20
The Death Cries of the Salvadoran Right=20
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF=20

Facing a serious electoral debacle in advance of Sunday=92s presidential
election, and recognizing that it cannot win the election based on =
practical
ideas, the right-wing ARENA (or Nationalist Republican Alliance) party =
has
launched an ugly campaign to link leftist FMLN (Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front) candidate Mauricio Funes with Venezuelan President =
Hugo
Ch=E1vez.=20

There are many similarities between ARENA=92s position and the =
Republican
Party prior to the November, 2008 election.  Like the GOP, ARENA has now
been entrenched in power for a long time.  To many Salvadorans, ARENA =
seems
like a colossal dinosaur mired in the past.  Founded by right wing death
squad leader Roberto D=92Aubuisson, held to be one of the instigators of =
the
assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980, ARENA is still =
fervently
anti-Communist.  ARENA, whose colors are red, white and blue, models =
itself
on the U.S. Republican party but is even more explicitly nationalist.  =
The
hymn of the party touts El Salvador as the tomb where =93the Reds will =
die.=94

While such heated rhetoric may have appealed to some in the midst of the
country=92s bloody civil war between the right and left in the 1980s, =
ARENA
now looks increasingly bereft.  Salvadorans want practical solutions to =
the
country=92s intractable social problems and are hardly in the mood for =
more of
the same anachronistic Cold War rhetoric.

Even if ARENA were to run a novel and innovative campaign however, the =
party
would still face a huge uphill battle.  ARENA has been in power now for
twenty years.  During this time the small Central American nation has
descended into violent lawlessness with robbery and homicide rates =
flying
off the charts.  ARENA candidate Rodrigo =C1vila, the country=92s former =
head of
national police, has pledged to combat violent crime.  Only Funes =
however
has said he would purge elements of the police force linked to organized
crime.

Adding to =C1vila=92s worries, ARENA has mismanaged the economy.  In =
recent
years, the party has eagerly followed Washington=92s dictates by =
privatizing
social services and public utilities.  The outgoing administration of
Antonio Saca signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) =
with
the United States, but the deal has not led to social harmony.  The =
country
is still plagued by extreme inequality while 37 per cent of Salvadorans =
live
in poverty and can=92t pay high food prices.  This fuels the crime wave =
which
has proven so worrying to poor Salvadorans.

Funes is hardly what one might call a fire breathing leftist.  A former
media commentator, he seeks to remake the FMLN into a pragmatic =
political
party.  At rallies, he doesn't sing the party's anthem or wear its
traditional red colors, preferring to campaign in a crisp white =
guayabera
shirt.  It=92s a symbolic move designed to contrast himself with many in =
the
party who still wear fatigues and brandish pictures of Che Guevara and
Soviet flags at campaign rallies.

Meanwhile he has bent over backwards to placate the U.S. and has met =
with
State Department officials as well as members of Congress, reassuring =
them
that he is no radical.  In addition, Funes has declared that El Salvador
should not scrap use of the dollar by returning to its previous =
currency,
the col=F3n.  Funes says that =93dollarization=94 and the adoption of =
the Central
American Free Trade Agreement in 2006 have had negative effects such as
inflation and unfavorable competition for small-scale farmers but that =
it is
too late to scrap these policies.

To listen to the Salvadoran right you=92d think Funes was leading El =
Salvador
on the march towards Stalinist dictatorship.  While campaigning near the
Honduran border recently, =C1vila claimed that the Funes campaign was =
being
funded by Venezuela=92s Hugo Ch=E1vez.  =93There's a saying that =
=91Whoever pays the
mariachi decides what song is going to be played,=92=94 =C1vila =
remarked.  =93And
that's going to happen with them,=94 he added.  =93No matter what they =
say, what
they do, their campaign is being financed by Venezuela.=94

Funes himself denies having any political links with the Ch=E1vez =
government
and has said that Venezuela will not meddle in Salvadoran internal =
affairs
if he wins the presidential election.  Furthermore, the FMLN leader has
distanced himself from some of the more enthusiastic pro-Ch=E1vez =
members of
his party.  Despite Funes=92s disavowals however, ARENA has continued to =
press
on with its hysterical red baiting even though the rightist party has no
proof that Funes has received financial support from Ch=E1vez.

Both Funes and Ch=E1vez, said outgoing President Antonio Saca, were =
trying to
spread =93totalitarian projects=94 and wanted to =93stick their noses=94 =
in
anti-democratic practices.  It was =93no secret=94 Saca added =
hyperbolically,
that the FMLN received =93its ideological nourishment from Havana=94 and =
its
economic nourishment =93from some other place.=94  In yet another =
ridiculous and
over the top aside, Saca declared =93I am sure that there=92s some kind =
of
working group in Venezuela which seeks to take over El Salvador.=94
           =20
As evidence of the supposed Ch=E1vez-FMLN conspiracy, ARENA points to =
Ch=E1vez=92s
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (known by its Spanish acronym =
ALBA).
The plan, initiated by Ch=E1vez several years ago, seeks to counteract
corporately driven free trade schemes backed by Washington and to =
promote
barter trade and solidarity amongst left wing Latin American countries.
Ch=E1vez himself has been a rather bombastic critic of CAFTA, remarking =
that
ARENA was =93making deals with the devil, the devil himself.=94

As a party, the FMLN has historically opposed CAFTA and U.S.-backed free
trade while approving of Ch=E1vez=92s barter schemes.  El Salvador does =
not
produce oil, and in 2006 FMLN mayors set up a joint venture energy =
company
with Venezuela called ENEPASA.  The initiative is designed to provide =
less
expensive fuel to El Salvador=92s drivers.  The oil is sold by gas =
stations
bearing a special non-corporate, =93white flag=94 emblem.

When FMLN mayors signed the agreement in Caracas, Ch=E1vez suggested =
that
money the Salvadoran municipalities saved on energy could be used to
subsidize public transport and food prices.  Under the terms of the
agreement, cities pay 60 per cent of their fuel bill within 90 days.  =
The
rest may be paid in barter for agricultural and other locally made =
products
or in cash over a 25-year period.=20

While it=92s certainly true that Venezuela has increased its diplomatic =
and
political visibility in El Salvador over the last few years, ARENA=92s =
claims
about Ch=E1vez=92s insidious designs are uproarious.  Since the =
inception of the
ENEPASA deal, Venezuela has only sent modest amounts of diesel to El
Salvador.  Moreover, it=92s not clear whether Venezuela can continue to =
sell
discounted oil to the FMLN.  In years past, Ch=E1vez has been able to =
increase
his geopolitical standing throughout the region by providing cheap oil =
to
poor and impoverished nations.  But now, with world oil prices falling,
Venezuela may be forced to curtail its ALBA program.=20

As an issue, Venezuela is a red herring in Sunday=92s Salvadoran =
election.
But that hasn=92t stopped ARENA from launching a full frontal assault on =
Funes
for having alleged political ties to another foreign power.  It=92s a =
sign of
political desperation from a party bereft of any coherent ideas about =
how to
solve El Salvador=92s enduring social and economic problems.=20
                      =20
Nikolas Kozloff is the author of Revolution! South America and the Rise =
of
the New Left (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008)