El Salvador's President Antonio Saca is yet another shining example of an Latin American alternative to the socialistic totalitarianism style of government being promoted by Chávez, Castro, Morales and Daniel Ortega(Luckily he's not elected yet and won't be in Nicaragua in the near future). The main reason why I admire Saca's is that he's proven the marvelous uplifting nature of the free-market system and free trade during his tenure and isn't scared to point the destructive and destabilizing nature of the "Chávez model." Just take a look at the following from the Financial Times:
"“Socialist experiments, state experiments end up bankrupting countries,"” said Mr Sacha. "“We [in El Salvador] have already lived through it. We had an agricultural reform that was a disaster, we had a state takeover of the banks which was mired in corruption. The state should be small but strong. It should not get in the way."”So as long as they're individuals like Saca demonstrating the benefits of individual freedom, free-markets and free-trade, our backyard isn't lost to the forces of totalitarianism that has developed in Venezuela. Hopefully the folks in Mexico and Nicaragua will choose a similar pathway in their upcoming elections.
Mr Saca, of the centre-right Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena), said political changes in Bolivia, for example, were not the best option for growth and development.
"“I have to respect [the results of Bolivia'’s recent elections]. But you are asking me my opinion about whether I believe in that [model]; I don'’t . . . I believe in open economies, in free trade. I believe in justice."”
He also criticised Mr Chávez'’s policies of selling cheap fuel to sympathetic governments in the region, including local administrations in El Salvador that are controlled by the opposition FMLN party.
While admitting that accords between Mr Chávez and the FMLN were "not surprising"”, he said they represented a "“clear interference in the internal affairs of the country".
Mr Saca, whose administration has been a driving force behind the Central American Free Trade Agreement between countries in the region and the US, cited his country's progress .
Since the tiny Central American country of just 6.8m became the first to implement Cafta two months ago, exports have grown 12 per cent, according to the president. Meanwhile, the economy is set to grow 3.5 per cent this year, compared with 2.8 per cent in 2005.
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