Businessman Saca, 39, Was Backed by Bush Against Ex-Guerrilla

By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer

SAN SALVADOR, March 21 -- The candidate of a conservative, fervently pro-American party captured the presidency of El Salvador in a hotly contested election Sunday, soundly defeating a party headed by a former Marxist guerrilla.

With 83 percent of the ballots counted, Tony Saca, a sportscaster-turned-businessman, had nearly 57 percent of the vote. Schafik Handal, 73, a veteran guerrilla commander of the civil war that ended 12 years ago, won about 36 percent. The remaining votes went to two smaller parties.

Sixty-three percent of eligible voters -- a record number -- turned out for an election that offered a stark choice for the future of this poor Central American country. Saca, 39, of the Nationalist Republican Alliance, or Arena, promised to continue his party's free-market, pro-U.S. policies. Handal had pledged to move in a different direction, reviewing recent economic reforms and shifting more resources to the poor. He also wanted to withdraw El Salvador's 380 troops out of Iraq, and pursue closer ties with Cuba. U.S. officials declared during the campaign that relations would suffer if Handal won.

Saca, in a nationally televised speech Sunday night, said voters had "said yes to democracy, yes to the future, and yes to a safe country." His campaign slogan, "A safe country," appeared to refer to both his anti-crime promises and his party's claim to be a bulwark against communism.

His supporters poured into the street in front of the Arena headquarters in San Salvador, cheering, singing and waving flags in the party's red, white and blue colors.

For their part, FMLN supporters, some of them weeping, gathered at an outdoor rally in the capital. There, a somber Handal acknowledged Saca's electoral victory.

"We recognize this, but are not congratulating him . . . because Arena and Mr. Saca got this vote by using fear. And a vote of fear is a vote without liberty," the bearded former revolutionary told hundreds of followers clad in red, the party's color.

The election was fraught with Cold War overtones, as the two parties that once clashed with arms, traded slurs and accusations about the civil war. In a sign of the enduring polarization in this country, Saca's campaign team sang the party's theme song just before his victory speech, that included a line that "El Salvador will be the tomb where the Reds end up."

Handal trailed in most public opinion polls leading up to the election. But his party, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, has become increasingly popular in local elections. While Arena has presided over 15 years of peace and economic growth, many Salvadorans complain that this hasn't led to improvement in their wages or job prospects. About half the country lives in poverty, according to official statistics.

"The country is in bad shape," said Marcela Sosa, 26, an administrative assistant who cast her vote in a giant auditorium in the suburb of Mejicanos, where thousands of people crowded the streets waving the red flag of the FMLN. "Everyone says, we've had 15 years [of Arena rule]. Let's see what happens if we elect a different government."

But Sosa's sister and her boyfriend said they could not bring themselves to vote for Handal.

"In El Salvador, he represents the most recalcitrant roots of communism," said Oscar Quiteno, 43, the boyfriend, who wore a T-shirt bearing the image of Saca's smiling face.

The war was a constant theme of the campaign, reflecting the deep scars from a conflict that left 75,000 dead. On Sunday, Handal attended a memorial service for Oscar Arnulfo Romero, the respected Roman Catholic archbishop of San Salvador who was gunned down while celebrating Mass in 1980 after he criticized army abuses during the civil war. A postwar truth commission blamed the founder of Arena, Roberto d'Aubuisson, for the death.

"We are going to dedicate our vote to Monsignor Romero," Handal said.

For his part, Saca cast his vote surrounded by a crowd of supporters yelling, "Fatherland, yes! Communism, no!" Hundreds of his backers cruised around the capital in cars and pickup trucks decked with the red, white and blue flag of Arena.

Handal, the secretary general of El Salvador's Communist Party for 21 years before it was disbanded in 1994, denied during the campaign that he would dismantle the country's democratic system. But U.S. officials expressed concern about his economic proposals, which included reviewing the privatizations of Salvadoran industries and reopening negotiations on a free-trade accord with the United States. They also were wary of his warm ties with Cuba, a former backer of the FMLN. In one much-criticized incident, Handal wrote to Cuban President Fidel Castro praising his crackdown on pro-democracy activists last year.

Several U.S. officials warned during the campaign that relations could deteriorate under a Handal government. While some Salvadorans complained that the officials were meddling, many were clearly alarmed about alienating this country's principal trading partner. Arena supporters launched a campaign to convince voters that a Handal victory would lead to a cutoff in the 2 billion dollars Salvadorans receive each year from immigrants living in the United States. Handal scoffed at such charges, calling them part of a fear campaign.

Saca is a popular former soccer announcer who developed a string of radio stations and became head of the country's business association.

Handal became involved in politics at 14 when he took part in a national strike that toppled a former military dictator. A longtime communist, he had to go into exile twice because of his political activities.

© 2004