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<h1 id="reader-title">El Salvador’s FMLN Warns US: Stop
Supporting Right-Wing Youth</h1>
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<p> 28 February 2017<br>
</p>
<p>El Salvador’s ruling Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front, the FMLN, warned the U.S. embassy in
San Salvador on Monday to stop supporting the country’s
right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance, ARENA,
party. <br>
</p>
<p>Socialist FMLN leaders accused the U.S. of meddling in
the country’s affairs by supporting ARENA youth working
to destabilize the incumbent government, La Pagina
reports.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, for example, U.S. Ambassador to El
Salvador Jean Manes appointed Erick Ortiz, a far-right
ARENA youth leader, to head a new U.S.-Salvadoran youth
council in the country.</p>
<p>“An embassy cannot do political work,” FMLN Secretary
General Medardo Gonzalez reminded the U.S. embassy,
HispanTV reports.</p>
<p>“We consider that it is an attitude of intrusion, of
interference, we should not politically accept this type
of interference.”</p>
<p>Gonzalez also presented evidence of “clear
coordination” between the U.S. embassy and ARENA to
recruit Salvadoran youth for anti-government,
anti-socialist campaigns. Criticizing U.S. double
standards on national sovereignty, Gonzalez said the
North American country wouldn’t like it if El Salvador
or any other country “started creating agencies to
proselytize American youth toward socialism.”</p>
<p>Manes, who has served as the U.S. Ambassador to El
Salvador since 2015, frequently calls on private
companies and institutions affiliated with ARENA to “be
part of the change” and to “raise the voices of
optimism.” “Change” and “optimism,” for Manes, means
rolling back the country’s socialist gains and
implementing neo-liberal economic policies which have
impoverished El Salvador for decades. <br>
</p>
<p>Since the FMLN took power in 2009, El Salvador has
increased government spending on healthcare, education,
housing, and free programs for youth at risk of joining
gangs. The socialist party has also implemented heavy
regulations on multinational corporations seeking cheap
labor and commodity exports. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, the Salvadoran government demanded
that Canadian-Australian mining company OceanaGold pay a
US$8 million fine for failing to adhere to environmental
standards. ARENA, promoting “economic freedom” and
environmental deregulation, sided with OceanaGold
against paying the fine. </p>
<p>The FMLN and the multinational giant are still in
arbitration. </p>
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