MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New Salvador president praises Obama and re-establishes relations with Cuba

Analysts coincide that President Funes receives a country in dire need of reforms but politically divided in almost equivalent halves.

A left-wing former television journalist, Mauricio Funes, was sworn-in Monday as president of El Salvador. President Funes heads the FMLN, the former Marxist rebels who fought a 12-year civil war against US-backed governments until 1992.

With Funes El Salvador joins other Latinamerican countries that have elected left leaning leaders in recent years: Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Argentina, Uruguay, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador and Brazil.

Several Latinamerican presidents and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were guests at the inauguration ceremony in the capital, San Salvador.

Hours later, Mr Funes signed a document restoring full diplomatic ties with Cuba, after a break of 50 years. Links with Cuba were severed because of the revolution which brought Fidel Castro to power in Havana in 1959.

But President Funes, 49, said: “Diplomatic, cultural and trade relations will be established immediately with our sister nation of Cuba”.

El Salvador had been the only remaining Latin American country without ties with Havana.

Mr Funes, who won the election on 15 March, said that as well as restoring relations with Cuba, El Salvador would remain friendly towards the US.

In his inaugural speech, Mr Funes said the “strong examples” of US President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were “proof that progressive leaders - instead of being a threat - can be a new, safe alternative for their people”.

Further on the said “the Salvadoran public asked for a change, and that change begins now”. But he also acknowledged the difficulties ahead, saying, “We don't have the right to make mistakes.”

Despite a dire economy, Funes promised an ambitious social program that would include construction of 11,000 homes, scholarships for children ages 6 to 18 and improvement in delivery of water, electricity and sanitary services to 32 poor municipalities.

Mrs Clinton said the election of Mr Funes was testament to the strength of democracy in the Americas.

The new government replaces the conservative administration of Tony Saca, who was seen as one of the staunchest allies of the US in the region. The right-wing Arena party had won every presidential election since the end of El Salvador's civil war almost two decades ago.

The conflict ended in a UN-sponsored peace accord after the loss of more than 70,000 lives.

The FMLN, or Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, was formed in 1980 as an umbrella group for five leftist guerilla organizations fighting a US-backed military dictatorship. The guerrillas and the government signed a peace pact in 1992, and the FMLN became a legitimate political party.