Is there a third way?

There was a very good economic presentation today by an economic advisor for the leftist party here, the FMLN. For some background, the FMLN was the name of the leftist guerrilla uprising during the civil war, and after the peace accords they turned in their arms and became the second largest political party after the hyper-conservative ARENA, which has ruled the country for at least the past 25 years.

The thing I couldn´t help thinking about was a consistent problem that I feel is gripping Latin America. On the one hand, you have the United States and its neo-liberal allies (like ARENA), who are pursing an extreme form of capitalism. They are pushing a degree of privatization and deregulation that is surely a cause of the flood of immigrants that cross our border every day. These countries aren´t really even pushing free trade though, because of the subsidies that the United States has for agriculture and light manufacturing, which make up over 50% of Salvadorean exports.

On the other hand, the second most powerful leader in the Americas is arguable Hugo Chavez. His reliance on protectionism, bloated public sector, and political oppression hardly offer a decent alternative to neo-liberal policies. I worry that if the FMLN were to come into power, they would quickly fall under the influence of Chavez and Castro. While this is in many ways preferable to ARENA, it is hardly the best choice for the Salvadorean people. Why isn´t there a third way?

There needs to be a new party in El Salvador that rejects both of these approaches to economics, trade, and foreign policy with the US. It needs to embrace America as a friend and essential to the Salvadorean economy, but not as puppet ignorant and uncaring of American exploitation of third-world economies. It needs to provide Salvadoreans with the education they need to do more than grow coffee, make T-shirts, and migrate to the US for work. At the same time, it must be lean enough to be supported by the small tax base that El Salvador can provide. Is there another party that is pushing this moderate agenda? Perhaps I should do more research into El Salvador´s other parties.