HURRAH! AND SHAME ON US!

The victory of the FMLN candidate for president, Mauricio Funes, in Sunday's election marks a huge step forward in the democratic processes that have been developing since the end of the civil war in 1993. It is also part of a continent-wide phenomena of the public abandoning their faith in the conservative, free-market, trickle down ideologies which have guided the Americas for the last decades and reaching out to the social democratic ideas of a state that has at least as much concern for providing education and health care to the public as it does for protecting the interests of capital.

At the same time, it should not be forgotten that this victory for the people and for democracy came at heavy expense, not only in El Salvador but throughout the continent. But, El Salvador will serve just fine as an example. More than 30 years ago, the labor unions, students and emerging middle class of El Salvador asked for democratic reform in their country. The response of the ruling elite was repression and when the protests against the ruling elite's intransigence did not let up, repression became full out war against its own people. This would not have been possible except for the support of the United States in dollars, military aid and military advisors placed in the country to train up a brutal military and police force responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths and the displacement of thousands of refugees to neighborhing countries. In the end, the government of El Salvador and the United States, under pressure from the international community had to sign a peace agreement which essentially guaranteed the reform that was originally demanded two decades prior.

The end result, in El Salvador, is a liberal alternative to the heavy handed, one-sided rule of the conservative elites which will have to prove its ability to govern the same way that governments around the world in democratic countries do - by producing good results for the public. The cost was tremendous because of the shameful support given by our country to those who resisted the inevitable.

The FMLN victory does not ensure the left with a free hand in El Salvador, it only guarantees them some possibility to demonstrate their ability to govern. What the victory should teach the United States and all others who are watching is that using violence to repress laudable human aspirations does not serve to detain these aspirations from being realized, it only destroys lives. El Salvador should be a reminder that war is not an answer to the legitimate aspirations and demands of a people who want only to exercise their rights and have their dignity respected.

It can be hoped that the Obama administration will do all that it can to encourage these govenments of El Salvador to remain true to their political platforms instead of continuing the Bush administration's policies of opposing those governments that do not bow down to US desires. It will make a huge difference for Latin America, for us and for the world if we get it right this time.