Lorena Martinez of CRIPDES speaks on the importance of the FMLN victory

Excerpts from an interview with WERU Radio:

March 18, 2009

First of all an extensive greetings to all of you.

As the FMLN slogan went, hope overcame fear, and now we have Mauricio Funes as our President.  This is a product of the work that we have been doing for many years–working with perseverance to achieve such an important result.  We believe that this work has been accompanied by international solidarity, by all the people that didn’t make it along the way, compañeros, friends, priests, the North American nuns, the Jesuits, the thousands of people that were massacred and sacrificed their lives so that this country could enjoy the happiness that we saw on March 15. 

For us, and the social organizations, this is the solidification of a chapter of struggle for social, political, and economic transformation.  We believe, as social organizations, that this will be another step, a broad opening to see our actions bear fruit—our work, facilitation, transparency, to work collectively, to search for job creation, to create the right conditions for agriculture so that these lands are cultivated and we can have the food security that is in such need in our country and so that Salvadorans can remain in this country and don’t have to continue migrating in search of opportunities in other countries. 

In this sense we believe that the opening will be broad.  We will be coordinating with this government, and backing their programs, which are programs that have been developed with civil society and social organizations.  And this enables us to see the work we have done and our expectations and goals reflected in this government´s agenda.  So we believe that we must work to consolidate the social fabric, work so that this really will be a good governmentso there is more democracy and citizen participation, and so that we have a country with equality, with social justice, and with a growing consciousness to generate new perspectives and alliances, and a new focus on youth, where youth have their own spaces as part of critical but constructive thinking for change. 

We cannot avoid mentioning that last Sunday there were strong emotions in the entire Salvadoran population, there were parties everywhere–fireworks, lights, and shouts of “we did it”.  I believe this is a shared victory, with all those peoples of South and North America, all the people of the world that have identified with the goal and perspective that there is growing hope for change.  So this week we join the happiness that other countries have experienced, and we accompany the countries that have not yet made it to this moment, but who will make it–with work and struggle we will achieve the changes that Latin America and the world deserve. 

So dance, and give a toast to all this happiness, and the hope that these efforts will grow.  I want to tell you that you should feel very much a part of this effort, because we have been working together and dreaming for many years now, and we are very thankful for this dedicated accompaniment that we have had. 

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