greatreporter.com, December 31st, 2006
Area: 21,041 sq km (8,124 sq mi)
Population (2006 est.): 6,991,000
Capital:
San Salvador
Head of state and government:
President
Elías Antonio Saca
González
The death of
Schafik
Handal
on Jan. 24, 2006, was a blow to
El Salvador
's leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).
Handal
had been a guerrilla leader in the civil war of the 1980s, a peace negotiator in 1992, and the FMLN's presidential candidate in 2004. Before his death
Handal
had initiated a deal between 20 FMLN mayors and Venezuelan
Pres.
Hugo Chávez
that, when concluded on March 20, provided lower petroleum prices for Salvadoran consumers. Although
Pres.
Tony
Saca
disliked this deal, he could hardly oppose it. A week earlier, in the March 12 elections, the FMLN, highly critical of the president's close ties to the
United States
, had hoped to win control of the National Legislative Assembly. Yet
Saca
's National Republican Alliance (ARENA) won 34 of the 84 seats and, in coalition with the 10 seats of the conservative National Conciliation Party (PCN), maintained its control of that body. The FMLN scored an extremely narrow but important victory, however, in the race for mayor of the capital,
San Salvador
, won by FMLN candidate
Violeta
Menjívar
.
In March
El Salvador
became the first Central American state to implement the Central America–Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) with the
United States
amid considerable fear from the left that
U.S.
agricultural imports would further impoverish Salvadoran peasants. Remittances of about
United States
remained highly important to
El Salvador
's weak economy, helping to alleviate the country's extreme poverty. Poverty and the rising cost of living increased pressure on many Salvadorans to migrate to the
United States
. Meanwhile, the administration of
U.S.
Pres.
George W.
Bush
, facing increased expenditures in the Middle East, proposed cutting
U.S.
aid to
El Salvador
.
El Salvador
remained the only Latin American nation with troops still in
Iraq
. The disappointing performance of
Saca
's neoliberal economic program diminished his earlier popularity and forced him to become more conciliatory to the legislature as his government sought approval for large foreign loans and credits. The government continued a tough line against the widespread crime and gang violence but in the process prompted charges of human rights violations from
Saca
's critics.$2.8 billion annually from Salvadoran immigrants in the
With French assistance
El Salvador
began major expansion of its airports and seaports in order to meet the needs of the increased exports that it expected CAFTA-DR to stimulate.
El Salvador
had also established close relations with
Qatar
, envisioning greater commercial opportunities for Salvadoran products in the Middle East as well as the possibility of employment of Salvadoran workers on public-works projects in
Qatar
.
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