Washington Meddles in El Salvador's Recent Presidential Election

Interview with Burke Stansbury, program director, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Since the U.S.-supported war in el Salvador against a popular rebel movement, led by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, ended more than a decade ago, news about the Central American nation has all but disappeared from the U.S. media. But Washington's influence in Salvador has remained strong. ARENA, the party that has ruled El Salvador since 1989, has been tied to many of the massacres that occurred during the war, as well as to the 1980 assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and four American churchwomen.

After the civil war ended, the FMLN transformed itself from a guerrilla army to a political party, and had recently won the largest number of seats in the national assembly. Many observers believed that the FMLN had a chance to capture the presidency in elections held March 21. But after the votes were counted, the ruling ARENA party had won by a margin of 57 to 36 percent.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Burke Stansbury, program director at CISPES, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. He explains how the FMLN lost momentum in the final days of the campaign and what an FMLN victory would have meant for El Salvador.

Contact CISPES by calling (212) 465-8115 or visit their website at www.cispes.org.

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