Report Cites Progress in El Salvador in First 100 Days of Funes Administration; CDA Offers Sympathy to Flood Victims

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Actions taken by the Funes Administration in its first 100 days have generated confidence, in El Salvador and internationally, in his ability to govern, according to a new report issued by the Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA).

The CDA report, titled "A New Chapter for El Salvador," examines actions taken by the Funes Administration since El Salvador went from civil war and twenty years of conservative rule to a guerrilla army-turned political party now serving in a democratically elected government.

The CDA report examines:

• The Funes transition
• The government's new dialogue with key social groups
• Confidence building with national and international elites
• The administration's new economic and social policies
• Citizen security and the rule of law
• Reform of the military leadership
• Human rights
• El Salvador's foreign policy
• El Salvador's future
  

Copies of the report (in English and Spanish) are available for download here: http://www.democracyinamericas.org/publications.

According to CDA's executive director Sarah Stephens, "Actions by the Funes government, including those to address the economic crisis, appoint a reform-minded military leadership, and his 'above politics and party' response to the crisis in Honduras, are instilling confidence domestically and internationally."

After observing the presidential elections and the Funes Inauguration, CDA visited El Salvador in July to conduct interviews for this report. CDA supplemented its research with a survey of opinion leaders from across the political spectrum in August-September 2009.

"No matter which political party runs the government, a stable, prosperous, and just society in El Salvador is profoundly important to the United States," Ms. Stephens concluded. "As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the slaying of the Jesuit priests in El Salvador, and mark a dark chapter in U.S. relations with the region, we need a new, supportive U.S. approach for reform efforts like those of Mauricio Funes that can be a model for how we deal with all of Latin America."

"As we release this report showing great progress in El Salvador, we also send our sympathies to the families who've lost loved ones and their homes in the flooding," Ms. Stephens said. "Our thoughts and hearts are with them."

The Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA) is devoted to changing U.S. policy toward the countries of the Americas by basing our relations on mutual respect, fostering dialogue with those governments and movements with which U.S. policy is at odds, and recognizing positive trends in democracy and governance.