Mauricio Funes

This Salvadoran journalist is the new President of El Salvador. He represents the Frente Faribundo Martí de Liberación Nacional, better known as the FMNL.

My late uncle Ignacio Uriza Castro gave the best description of the tectonic political changes going on in Latin America that I have ever heard.

Describing the state of affairs in Huitzuco, the land where my mother grew up in the twenties, thirties, and early forties, witnessing all those poor peons leaving Huitzuco searching for fair pay for their work in the US said:

Now the poor are rich, and the rich are poor.

He was poor now, and the returning peons were rich.

His grandson Ignacio Cárdenas Uriza, organized last week the first ever celebration of the Olympic triumphs of the late General Rubén Uriza Castro, his grand uncle, and my uncle.

I saw two events I cannot let pass. First a nice truck with Texas license plates, taking off after the celebration, with a bunch of kids and their parents. Second my nephew's sister in law cracking up jokes as to how they could practice escaping "La Migra", in these beautiful hills of Huitzuco, where the last event: Enduro , took place.

I just wished more Americans were there with me witnessing a New Nation being born. Not Mexican, not American, but Mexican-American. If you have never been to Mexico, you are missing a great Nation being born. Just like the Paricutín Volcano came out in no time, a new Nation is coming up from the deepest roots that this Continent of Ours can sustain.

You can read about Luis Cariño Marbán below, to learn about these roots. I feel fortunate for the invitation to this celebration by my nephew.

Welcome President Funes, and long live the FMLN !