Inside the auditorium party faithful were weaving in conga line formation to Latin rhythms as a loud speaker belted out the mantra -- Tony! Tony! all this in preparation for candidate Saca’s arrival.

stream Saca speech

stream music

Born in Santa Tecla El Salvador in 1943, Roberto D'Aubuisson would become one of the most important, and despised, figures in Salvadoran history. A member of the powerful military tanda which graduated from the Salvadoran military academy in 1963. D'Aubuisson studied intelligence in the United States. He became the protégé of National Guard commander Jose Alberto Medrano, a leader of the far-right within the military. D'Aubuisson rose to the position of third in command of ANSESAL, the Salvadoran intelligence agency. He left the military in 1979. Upon his retirement, he kept part of the secret agency's archives which contained information on hundreds of civilians linked to the political left

Run time 12:58

It’s official: privatization guru Tony Saca is ARENA’s presidential candidate for the March 2004 elections. Saca, who started out his career as a sports commentator, rose to become the president of the Salvadoran National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP). Under his leadership, ANEP oversaw the privatization of the port of Acajutla and the national railway system. In August 2002, ANEP demanded the privatization of the public health system, which sparked the nine-month healthcare strike. Saca is a notorious free-trader, a supporter of CAFTA and the FTAA, and has stated that among his political heroes are "Ronald Regan, George Bush and George W. Bush." ARENA hopes that Saca’s lingering popularity from his days as a sportscaster will be enough to propel him to victory; however, a recent poll gave the FMLN a nearly ten-point lead in the historic ARENA strongholds of Cabañas and Cojutepeque.

http://www.cispes.org/english/Updates_and_Analysis/updates_cont.html

Run time 3:01

“A Kinder Gentler Fascist”

Salvadoran President Francisco Flores, at a press conference in Miami: "Choosing between ARENA and the FMLN isn’t like choosing between Democrats and Republicans, it’s choosing between two completely different systems of life."

Salvadoran President Francisco Flores, at a press conference in Miami: "Choosing between ARENA and the FMLN isn’t like choosing between Democrats and Republicans, it’s choosing between two completely different systems of life."

FRIENDSHIP AUDITORIUM Los Angeles 12/14/03

the “privatization guru” -- a firm believer in karma?