Mass Media a Key Ally In ARENA Destabilization Campaign

by CISPES

In the wake of El Salvador’s tight March 9^th Presidential elections, the country’s national commercial media, always notoriously conservative, have become active agents in spreading confusion and misinformation generated by the ARENA party in its quest to undermine El Salvador’s democratic institutions. The media’s complicity in ARENA’s campaign to contest the election results and generate political instability have drawn sharp criticism from across Salvadoran civil and political society.

Democracy Now! CISPES Report on tense results of March 9 presidential election

From Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/10/leftist_ex_rebel_holds_narrow_lead

Both candidates have claimed victory in El Salvador’s presidential election after a preliminary count showed the vote was too close to call. The race pitted the governing party’s Salvador Sánchez Cerén against the right-wing candidate Norman Quijano. Sánchez Cerén, a former rebel commander, was running to replace Mauricio Funes, marking the first time an FMLN candidate succeeds another after decades of right-wing governments. Sánchez Cerén was seen as the favorite coming in but the latest results show him ahead less than 1 percent. We go to El Salvador to speak with Laura Embree-Lowry of CISPES, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador.