My first piece of journalism was a report for Pacifica on the 1999 presidential elections in el salvador... There's a great deal at stake in the elections. This year, in addition to a televised commercial declaring that a vote for the FMLN is a vote for forced deportation of salvadorans from the USA, is heightened violence against FMLN activists. Early last week, two FMLN activists were shot during the elections campaign, one has to have his penis reconstructed from the impact of the bullet. This is the kind of nonsense that normally happens between the PCN and ARENA, the warring right-wing factions. Also interesting is that while in 1999 and 2000, I participated as an elections observer, 14 independent elections observers were deported this year. If you want some background on the salvadoran situation, may I humbly recommend Resistance as Democracy, my 2000 documentary on grassroots resistance to globalization in El Salvador(details on my site). Schafik is a die hard of the FMLN left, and unlike in 1999, he provides a real alternative to ARENA. When I observed the elections, there was massive fraud, and there's no reason to think that won't happen this time. Vamos a ver.