SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — A charismatic former TV journalist promised to build strong ties with President Barack Obama and promote investor confidence Monday as he took El Salvador into uncharted territory by being elected its first leftist president.
Behind Mauricio Funes is a party of former Marxist guerrillas that fought to overthrow U.S.-backed governments in the 1980s and whose rise to power has raised fears of a communist regime in the war- scarred Central American country.
Funes, who gave up journalism less than two years ago to become the presidential candidate of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, sought to quell those concerns after his historic victory Sunday.
“Nothing traumatizing is going to happen here,” he said in an interview with local Megavision television. “We will not reverse any privatizations. We will not jeopardize private property. There is no reason at this moment for fear.”
The FMLN, formed from five rebel armies in 1980, is the second former enemy of the United States to take power democratically in Latin America’s lurch to the left.
In 2006, Nicaraguans elected Daniel Ortega, two decades after his Sandinista government fought U.S.-backed Contra rebels, and his relations with Washington have remained tense under the Obama administration.
About 75,000 people were killed in El Salvador’s 12-year civil war.
Ex-guerrillas will almost certainly form part of the Funes government, including Vice President-elect Salvador Sanchez Ceren, a rebel-commander-turned-congressman.
Funes, who takes office June 1, promised in his victory speech that strengthening ties with the United States would be a priority.
The Obama administration congratulated him Monday.
“We look forward to working with the new government of El Salvador,” said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. “It was a very free, fair and democratic election.”
