FMLN killing of US soldier remembered

Veterans of the fight to bring democracy to El Salvador are recalling the upcoming anniversary of the FMLN's targeted killing of SGT Gregory Fronius in 1987.

Fronius, with the 7th Special Forces Group, was training the Salvadoran military when the FMLN overran a base in El Paraiso, killing about 70. Fronius was the sole American among them. The FMLN reportedly carried out the attack for the express purpose of killing a US soldier for its propaganda value. FMLN guerrillas booby trapped Fronius' body.

The attack took place on March 31, 1987.

The FMLN carried out the killing with the help of intelligence provided by Ana Belen Montes, a Cuban penetration agent in the Defense Intelligence Agency. Montes visited the El Paraiso camp during an official visit a few weeks before the attack.

Author Scott W. Carmichael, in his book True Believer (Naval Institute Press, 2007), says that the Cuban spy directly assisted the FMLN in killing Fronius. Montes was convicted of espionage in 2002.

Gangs provide FMLN with lethal political muscle

Many of the Salvadoran gangs plaguing both El Salvador and the United States find their origins in the FMLN from its guerrilla days.

What many people don't know is that the FMLN has been using the gangs inside El Salvador as political muscle for the 2009 presidential campaign.

The Salvadoran press has been reporting it for a long time, and some FMLN people have come forward with complaints. The ARENA party has even made political ads about the problem, as this Spanish-language video shows.

Funes says he doesn't control the FMLN - the Comandantes do

FMLN Presidential candidate Mauricio Funes, the former CNN correspondent, says he doesn't control the party of the former communist guerrillas. As he says at the beginning of this video, "Mauricio doesn't command the FMLN. Those who command the FMLN are the comandantes."

This 8-minute video about Funes is in Spanish. We'll try to get English translations. Readers are welcome to add their comments or translations.

FMLN VP candidate admits he ordered the murders of his own people

Not only did he order the killings of thousands of Salvadoran civilians who opposed his communist revolution - or the murders of American military personnel in the 1980s. Salvador Sanchez Ceren admits he ordered the killings of hundreds of his own people in the FMLN.

See the political campaign ad aimed at Ceren, who is running as Mauricio Funes' running mate to be become the next vice president of El Salvador.

Readers are welcome to post translations of this video.

Millions found in Funes' offshore account

Investigators have found that FMLN presidential candidate Mauricio Funes has an offshore bank account containing at least $2.2 million - money that might have come from illegal sources.

Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez and others have almost openly funded Funes and his FMLN political party to take control of El Salvador in the March 15 elections.

"The attorney general of El Salvador will investigate a bank account of leftist FMLN presidential candidate Mauricio Funes, in which he has received deposits of more than $2.2 million in recent months," the Spanish news agency ACAN-EFE reports, citing the Salvadoran newspaper La Prensa Gráfica.

The attorney general said he would not call Funes to make a formal declaration, but that he will ask for copies of documentation of the transactions in the account.

Funes has pledged to go "fishing" for corruption to clean up the country (see graphic).

"The newspaper published a review of the movements of Funes' account and affirms that for the year it had registered a balance of $2.29 million, and charges of $2.14 million," according to the report.

VP candidate says he'll return to violence if necessary

FMLN vice presidential candidate Salvador Sanchez Ceren, one of the five notorious former comandates of the Soviet-backed guerrilla group that killed thousands of civilians in its failed communist revolution of the 1980s, says he'll still resort to armed violence if necessary.

Here are some quotes of Ceren's in this short video, in Spanish.

FMLN vice presidential candidate should withdraw after admitting to torture and murder

Admissions of murder and torture by FMLN vice presidential candidate Salvador Sanchez Ceren have resulted in a prominent Salvadoran lawyer calling for his withdrawal from the campaign.

This clip, from Salvadoran TV last December, contains the story in Spanish. Readers are invited to post translations and comments.