El Salvador: Church/State
Rapprochement
By Martin Barillas
The Catholic Church in El Salvador has
acknowledged that President Mauricio Funes
has made "significant steps" in democracy
during his first year in office. Without
going into political details, Archbishop
José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador said
"the changes we all want is the way to
democracy" and acknowledged that Funes, "has
taken important steps in this direction.”
"Beyond the partisan differences, progress
has been made democratically," said the
archbishop said, adding that "any government
when presenting its report on the first year
of government, will show signs of things
left unfinished and failures."
In a June 6 press conferred, Archbishop
Escobar Alas asked the people to give a vote
of confidence in government and asked the
government to stop the violence and
reactivate the economy.
President Funes, a journalist who came to
power June 1, 2009 under the flag of the
former guerrilla group of the Farabundo
Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN)
ended 20 years of right-wing governments,
preceded by a half-century of military
presidents.
Archbishop Escobar Alas noted that Funes
"has repeatedly said that he governs in
favor of the nation and highlighted the
problems of the nation."
He told President Funes “to continue working
in this democratic line, to ensure the good
of all before the good of the parties." "A
president, as he himself has said, is a
president for all," concluded Archbishop
Escobar Alas.
Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat,
who also worked as a democracy advocate and
election observer in Latin America. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
