In El Salvador, a glimmer of hope for a stronger economy.

So I forgot to link to this when the first round of voting was occurring - In El Salvador, a glimmer of hope for a stronger economy.

In stubbornly slow developing economies, like El Salvador, cultivating entrepreneurship is an essential ingredient for growth. With modest start-up costs, it is the small, even micro firms -- from one to 50 employees -- that generate most of the jobs. Yet, here, their emergence has been "absolutely stifled by the security situation," says a seasoned diplomat in San Salvador.

Real numbers are hard to come by, but it's clear that criminal demands on the country's commercial life stymy growth.

El Salvador doesn't get a "favorable" story in Fortune very often.

And there's still this interview by Elaine Freedman with César Villalona in Envio that provides a bit of a different take on El Salvador's economic performance under Funes and the FMLN.