Pro-FMLN congressman calls for US neutrality

A congressman who sympathizes with the FMLN has issued a statement signed with 32 of his colleagues calling for "neutrality" in the Salvadoran elections.

The FMLN's main American front group, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), is publicizing the effort.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) led the campaign, sending the letter to President Barack Obama. The letter, according to CISPES, rejected previous US "intervention" in El Salvador - a reference to President Reagan's successful efforts to battle the FMLN into military defeat in the 1980s. (In the video, Grijalva mis-names his own country in Spanish, calling it the "United States of North America.")

According to its website, CISPES has been working since February to get congressmen to sign the letter demanding "neutrality," in a bid to prevent Washington from using its influence to persuade Salvadorans not to vote for the FMLN.

Speaking in Spanish on a CISPES video, Rep. Grijalva calls on the US not to intervene in the elections, and expresses solidarity with the radical regimes of Bolivia and Venezuela.