In his historic visit to Washington D.C., President of the Republic [of El Salvador] Mauricio Funes said that he received “important political support” for the new left-wing government after meeting with President Barack Obama, members of Congress and multilateral organizations. The Salvadoran leader took the opportunity to reaffirm that nothing was promised beyond the ability to work with “responsibility and pragmatism.”
President Funes expressed these thoughts at the end of his trip, while evaluating his fruitful journey, to Salvadoran journalists who were covering his U.S. visit, which began last Sunday.
Funes reiterated once again that he felt that President Obama has turned his attention to the hemisphere, mainly toward Central America.
The leader said that during his meeting with President Obama, he sensed change and an agreement on matters of importance to the isthmus, such as immigration and the generalized violence in the region.
President Obama agrees that in order to solve the issue of Central American migration, there must be support for an “integrated social policy” that would eventually eradicate structural factors that generate poverty, lack of education and health care. People are looking for these types of policies when they leave El Savador for the United States, says the leader.
The leader was emphatic when he pointed out that his actions were not a continuation of previous administrations, and he did not hesitate to mark this difference by describing his predecessors’ actions as “relations of servility, for political or partisan convenience.”
Funes ventured to predict that, with President Obama’s new vision and his trip to Washington, relations between El Salvador and the United States will be reestablished based on an equal partnership, not a relationship between greater and lesser, as expressed by the U.S. leader himself during Monday’s meeting.
This change in U.S. relations promises to generate a real alliance to solve problems in Central America, with the United States as one of the main partners.
“The sensibility that I perceive with President Obama,” said President Funes, “will permit the United States to support important projects that benefit the poor majorities not only in El Salvador, but across Central America.”
Both President Obama and President Funes believe that difficult subjects like organized crime are not solved solely with police intervention, but with social investment, and the U.S. is ready to support various programs as soon as they are set up and launched.
The certainty of the new scenario that the U.S. anticipates for the isthmus, under the leadership of President Obama, was also apparent in Funes’ meetings with congressional leaders and representatives of international agencies. Thus, the leader was satisfied with the results of his trip to Washington.
Moreover, President Funes greatly appreciated the trust that the U.S. has shown for the left-wing government, in exchange for nothing more than governance in the country and the region.
“President Obama has not asked me for anything in return,” [said Funes] in order to maintain and improve relations. Obama asked nothing in return for the leadership that the president is showing in the region, besides acting responsibly, and that is what this left-wing government is doing.
The United States is worried about actions like the coup that occurred in Honduras, he added. The leader took the opportunity to point out that his government’s policy is not one of confrontation, but agreement, such as the one reached by the Legislative Assembly and his party.
Therefore, he is not frightened that at times the FMLN [left-wing ruling party] has voted with ARENA [the conservative opposition party], even on its own bills. This is what makes a government: even negotiating with ARENA in order to achieve governance.
We won the election with 52 percent of the vote, and this means we must seek consensus, because 48 percent voted against us, said the leader.
The media are mistaken, he said, in the way they interpret differences of opinion, some even of a strategic nature, because this is natural “and should not frighten anyone.”
The leader also said that his style of government seeks to raise the level of leadership in El Salvador, which is why he invited members of the political parties to attend the meeting with the international financial organizations in Washington. It is necessary, he added, to encourage a new form of politics, which he hopes will spread throughout the Central American isthmus, though he added he is not looking to play a starring role.
Power should be exercised based on agreements, through alliances, he added.
President Funes also said supposed conflict with the FMLN is a myth, evidenced by the fact that in the most recent polls he has received the approval of over 90 percent of supporters or members of the governing party, the FMLN.
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