And the next president of El Salvador is and other news

Downtown Guatemala City (2013)

Tim has an excellent round-up on some recent developments in El Salvador as we head into this weekend's winner-take-all steel cage match to determine the country's next president.

FMLN USA takes a look at recent developments in the Francisco Flores saga. Don't you feel bad for Flores? I do. We don't know everything yet but I get the impression that he's probably the least corrupt of ARENA's four presidents.

Norman Quijano hasn't been a great candidate but at least ARENA didn't select Ana Vilma de Escobar, former vice president alongside Tony Saca, who is under investigation.

This is what Senator Leahy and the US government wanted, right? Movement on tackling organized crime and corruption.

There's a lot more work to do and while most of the emphasis has been on ARENA officials linked to corruption, the next FMLN administration will only strengthen the country's institutions if they root out corrupt officials within their ranks as well.

Hector Silva has Corruption in El Salvador: Politicians, Police, and Transportistas and The United States and Central America’s Northern Tier: The Ongoing Disconnect for the Inter-American Dialogue (which I mentioned yesterday).

President Mauricio Funes and Minister of Justice and Public Security Ricardo Perdomo are sending another 5,000 soldiers into the streets and to the borders to tackle the uptick in violence. While Salvadorans have little faith in the police (see Hector above), I can't say that this is a welcome development. Funes will begin and end his term putting soldiers on the street to tackle crime.

I don't think that El Salvador and the FMLN will head down the Venezuelan path but some people are worried. And while one can chalk up a lot of the craziness to leftovers from the 1980s Reagan administration (no, I won't link to them), we don't know what the future holds. The Democrats have found a way to work with the FMLN and with ARENA so I am not too worried. However, all bets are off if Republicans retake the White House in 2016.

In non-El Salvador news, Daniel Ortega lives! No, really. Pacaya is erupting. Ex-interior minister Raúl Velásquez heads to trial. Respected Supreme Court Justice César Barrientos Pellecer commits suicide. Luis Guillermo Solis looks like he will win by a larger margin in Costa Rica than Sanchez Ceren will in El Salvador.

Finally, some good news with Vegetable Gardens Ease Poverty in El Salvador.