Leftists win power in El Salvador

A LEFTIST television journalist made history by bringing a party of former guerrillas to power for the first time since the end of a bloody civil war and promised yesterday to unite the country after a bitter presidential campaign.

Mauricio Funes, a moderate plucked from outside the ranks of the rebel-group-turned-political-party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), ended two decades of conservative rule in El Salvador in Sunday’s election — and became the latest leftist to rise to power in Latin America at a time of uncertainty over how President Barack Obama will approach the region.

“This is not the time for revenge. This is time for political understanding,” he told a rally of roaring supporters early yesterday.