El Salvador presidential hopeful visits Los Angeles
In a sign of the political influence of Salvadorans abroad, Mauricio Funes — a 48-year-old television journalist who is a presidential hopeful in El Salvador — is this week meeting with expatriates in Los Angeles and will address a conference at UCLA on Friday.
More than 15% of Salvadorans live abroad, mostly in the U.S. (L.A Times source), and a large chunk of those are based in Los Angeles.
"During a stump speech [in El Salvador] Funes attacked as "immoral" a new 4-cent-a-minute tax on international phone calls. The issue is sensitive. More than 800,000 Salvadorans have migrated to the United States but keep ties to family members back home," writes Ken Ellingwood.
Funes is a newcomer to politics but has jolted El Salvador by grabbing a sizable early lead in the presidential race as the candidate of the leftist group that fought a guerrilla war in the country two decades ago.
In visits to the United States in recent months, he has met with officials to assure them that as president he would retain close relations with the U.S., particularly on issues such as regional drug trafficking and organized crime.
-- Reed Johnson in Los Angeles and Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Mauricio Funes, a television journalist and political novice holds a rally in San Salvador. If he wins in the election, still nine months away, it would be a historic breakthrough for his party, the leftist FLMN, which fought in the civil war. Credit: Edgar Romero / Associated Press
As long as he isn't another Chavez or AMLO and supports private property, I don't oppose him. Not that it's any of my business (other than being a neighbor).
Posted by: Marcos El Malo | June 27, 2008 at 10:23 AM
este hombre con grande corazon,
egual de los Salvadorian gente,
es la unicamente futuro para El Salvador
Viva El Frente/Verde
Posted by: Senor Pescado | June 27, 2008 at 05:01 AM