Salvadoran Parliamentary Elections, 18 January 2009

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Aha! Another defeat of the neoliberal reactionaries! Latin America is the best.

Neoliberal reactionaries? That's somewhat of a contradiction. Latin American economic policy has traditionally been extremely statist, so in this case the more reactionary party won. I'm not sure we should celebrate the triumph of a Cold War era Soviet-backed terrorist group.

ARENA aren't exactly all that clean either, for all the accusations of anti-Catholicism I get I'm not supporting a group like them which has murdered hordes of priests and nuns, among others...

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I can't believe the embrace of ARENA on here. They were too thuggish for the Reagan officials who supported the Contras.

Today's political party is not exactly the same as the 1980's guerrilla organization. They have moderated far more than the FMLN.

It's a ridiculous double standard to argue FMLN is nothing but a Soviet-backed terrorist organization but ARENA have washed themselves of all past sins.

But yes as pointed out, even the Reagan administration opposed ARENA, and spent much money against ARENA's founder Roberto D'Aubuisson's Presidential campaign, opting to back the centrist candidate of the Christian Democratic Party instead. D'Aubuisson was also linked to a planned coup against a pro-Western government.

Here's a nice quote from D'Aubuisson too:

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