MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New El Salvador government expected to restore relations with Cuba

Mauricio Funes will takes office on June 1rst

El Salvador President-elect Mauricio Funes plans to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba after taking office on Monday, a lawmaker allied tipped to become the Foreign Affairs minister of the new administration.

“One of the first actions will be the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, because we’re depriving Salvadoran and Cuban citizens of exchanges (in the areas of) trade, education, health and culture” local media quoted lawmaker Hugo Martinez.

He said the announcement will be made after Mauricio Funes “is sworn in as president of El Salvador”. Martinez added that the plan is to fully re-establish diplomatic ties with the island, adding that details about this decision will be announced “in due time”.

Martinez did not give advance word however of what El Salvador’s stance will be regarding the potential readmission of Cuba into the Organization of American States, a topic that is to be discussed during that regional body’s General Assembly next week in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Cuba, whose vice president, Esteban Lazo, is scheduled to head the island’s delegation to Funes’ June 1 inauguration, was suspended from the OAS in 1962 due to the revolutionary government’s alliance with the Soviet Union.

El Salvador broke relations with Cuba in 1959, after the triumph of the revolution and Fidel Castro’s rise to power.

Outgoing Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca, a conservative, has said that under his administration the Central American nation will have no relations with Cuba unless democratic reforms are carried out on the island.

Although elected by a coalition of left wing groupings and former guerrilla movements, Funes’ message on being elected sent a clear message: he described himself as Socialist but above all as a “pragmatist”, and said his reference is Brazil’s Lula da Silva, whom he visited the week after winning the election.

Martinez also did not indicate the government’s plans with respect to relations with China.

“We’re going to take our time and conduct the necessary inquiries and investigation to see what is most appropriate for the country,” he said.

Funes announced on March 18 that his incoming administration would seek to establish relations with China, but added that they will depend on the government’s talks with authorities from that country and from Taiwan, with which El Salvador has diplomatic ties.

China considers Taiwan to be a renegade province and refuses to establish diplomatic ties with countries that have official relations with Taipei.