El Salvador's presidential election puts the nation at a crossroads. Will they continue down the path of Venezuelan-style revolution, or choose a new path towards free enterprise and political freedom?

Is El Salvador the next Venezuela?

by Roger F. Noriega 

FMLN presidential candidate Cerén hailed the revolution in Venezuela, in a speech in January 2013, as “a light that will illuminate … the world.” 

The violence and lawlessness in Venezuela today is a direct consequence 

of that revolution, because the late leader Hugo Chávez smashed 

the country’s democratic institutions and rule of law so that he could 

govern arbitrarily and conceal his regime’s corruption.

Recent revelations about secret dealings by El Salvador’s ruling party with street gangsters and international narcotraffickers have many in that country worried that they may be drifting toward the lawlessness that has spawned chaos in Venezuela.

Indeed, as Venezuela’s oil aid dries up, the FMLN ( Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional) party might rely even more on the proceeds from criminal activities — putting El Salvador on the wrong side of U.S. anti-drug efforts. So, the stakes are high in the presidential run-off election on March 9.

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