San Salvador
Salvadorans this week voted overwhelmingly to elect a presidential candidate who vowed to preside over one of the most pro-U.S. governments in Latin America. Tony Saca of the conservative Arena party, a 39-year-old former sportscaster, defeated 73-year-old Schafik Handal, who was a guerrilla commander with the Marxist FMLN during the nation’s civil war. Handal had promised to withdraw El Salvador’s 380 troops from Iraq and pursue closer ties with Cuba. Saca said he would uphold his predecessor’s free-market policies and friendship with the U.S. Arena has now won four straight elections since 1999.
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