EL SALVADOR'S ELECTION, FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE POND

The FT and the WSJ weigh in on El Salvador's recent election.

Here are the headlines, respectively:

"Voters give big win to El Salvador rightwinger"

and

"Our Friends in Salvador"

According to the WSJ, El Salvador's new president's favorite political hero is Ronald Reagan. Under Reagan, of course, the US government fomented civil war in El Salvador with covert operations and military aid throughout the 1980s in support of a military junta--trained at the School of the Americas--that terrorized Salvadorans with death squads, torture, extrajudicial executions and "disappearances" for the good part of 12 years. You know, "our friends."

In contrast, the main opposition candidate staked his bid on a platform of pulling Salvadoran troops from the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq, renewing diplomatic ties with Cuba's communist regime, and raising taxes on the rich to finance social programs for the poor.