Reader's view: Election result was victory for people of El Salvador

I participated last month as an international observer of the presidential election in El Salvador, a historic event. The Arena Party, which governed during and after the civil war, was defeated. The war has been over for 17 years, but an economic war against the poor has increased. Its emphasis is on privatization and free-trade agreements.
Prior to the election, I was with a group that met with community leaders in San Isidro in one of the country’s poorest areas. I witnessed firsthand the nation’s economic reality.
I listened to the leaders talk about the effects of mining exploitation. Their concerns about mining’s long-term environmental consequences were very real. Mining had contaminated the water and people had to haul in bottled water and could no longer raise livestock. Major decisions were made by outsiders, including multinational corporations. The Arena Party promoted the land-use policies that benefitted the wealthy at the expense of the poor.
Another Arena victory would have been devastating. Opinion polls showed the candidate from the opposition Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, or FMLN, with a comfortable lead. But there was considerable anxiety because of Arena’s historic ability to manipulate elections with its vast resources and U.S. support.
Election observers were concerned about the neutrality of the U.S. government. Days prior to the election, I and other observers visited with officials at the U.S. Embassy. The State Department emphasized it was maintaining a position of neutrality and would work with whichever party won. That was a welcome policy change.
The win by FMLN was huge. Arena’s past included death squads, the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and other religious leaders, and the deaths of 75,000 civilians during wartime.
The election was clearly a victory for the Salvadoran people.
Will Sjoblom
The writer was one of more than 1,000 international observers of last month’s presidential election in El Salvador, participating as a member of Veterans for Peace.