Good News About US Neutrality in the Local Elections

Image by Michael R. Swigart via Flickr

According to a posting on Tim's El Salvador Blog today, the US seems to have done a decent job of remaining neutral and not interfering in the local elections of El Salvador last month.

My own observation is that the US did a reasonably good job so far in the 2009 elections in staying on the sidelines and not taking a public stance which would influence the outcome of the elections. A press release issued today by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, which attempts to portray the FMLN as winning the municipal and legislative elections despite massive US intervention, is no more than an anti-US diatribe based on events which took place in 2004 and earlier. Although the ARENA government pleaded for the US to jump into the fray on the side of ARENA, the US and Ambassador Glazer did not. Hopefully that will continue to be US policy under the new administration.

This, to me, is good news of two fronts. First, it is good news for the future and the people of El Salvador that they were in a better position to have a more open and democratic process in the past without us in the north interfering. Secondarily, it is good to hear that the popular impression that the US is only an imperialistic, power hungry country may be fading.

There is another round of elections in March for National Offices including President. Let's continue to pray for peace and a smooth electoral process including no interference from the US or other countries.

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