“The new administration should be somewhere between moderate left and radical left,” says Uccelli of JP Morgan. Current president Mauricio Funes, widely considered more moderate than the party’s old guard, focused on social investment, including providing meals in schools and aid to women which have proven popular.
Sánchez Cerén has promised to keep these programs, and may try to expand them, says Uccelli. He has also promised to create jobs, foment small business, and employ a “mano inteligente” approach to crime, favoring strengthening the police over the military in combating transnational drug crime. University of Scranton Professor Mike Allison, who spoke with LBC in February, also says the FMLN would be more sensitive to environmental concerns and opposed to opening mining in the country, a fact which could have economic implications for the country which has suffered sluggish economic growth in recent years.I'm pretty sure that most would agree that there is not going to be a serious activation of the mining sector in the country under Sanchez Ceren and the FMLN. As I also said to Mark, the FMLN will probably be more concerned with the environmental implication of a variety of economic development strategies, not just in regards to mining.
The second Millennium Corporation Compact negotiated between the US and Salvadoran authorities calls for large investments in the coastal and maritime areas of the country in order to promote tourism and the agro-export industry. However, given the environmental vulnerability of those regions, many Salvadorans are against much of the planned development. It's not clear how committed Mauricio Funes was to striking the right balance between environmental and investor concerns, but I am pretty sure that Sanchez Ceren will be.
That might have implications for what happens to the second ~$300 million compact and is something to keep in mind.
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