Schafik Handal

Shafik Jorge Handal (born 14 October 1930 in Usulután; † January 24, 2006 in San Salvador, El Salvador) was a politician in El Salvador. He was co-founder, majority leader and presidential candidate of the FMLN.

Life

Handal was born in 1930 as the son of Palestinian immigrants.

From 1959 to 1994 Handal was the Secretary General of the Partido Comunista de El Salvador, the Communist Party of El Salvador. In the 1980s he was a member of the guerrilla. He was chairman of one of the five opposition organizations, who founded the FMLN.

After the ceasefire agreement of 1992, the FMLN converted to left-wing party, worked as a coordinator in the Handal. In 1997 he was elected to the National Assembly of El Salvador. He was majority leader of the FMLN.

In the 2004 presidential election Shafik Handal was the candidate of the FMLN. He propagated politically left targets as more distant relations with the U.S., better relations with socialist-oriented countries of Latin America, including Cuba, but Venezuela and Brazil. Opponents accused him of anti -Americanism. The FMLN expressed their displeasure with the fact that U.S. representatives questioned the US relations for the case of an election victory Handals in question. The competing ARENA party sprinkled fears that the U.S. would deport after a victory Handals many Salvadorans living in the U.S. to their homeland. Handal defeated the candidate of the ARENA, Antonio Saca, with 36% of the votes cast clearly. Saca was able to win 58 % of the vote. Shafik Handal died on 24 January 2006 after returning from Bolivia, where he attended the inauguration of Evo Morales, of a heart attack.

• Politician (El Salvador)
• Salvadorans
• Born in 1930
• Died in 2006
• Man