Leftist claims El Salvador presidency

Mauricio Funes, a member of a political party that waged guerrilla war against the government 17 years ago, has claimed the presidency of El Salvador. “This is the happiest night of my life,” Funes told a jubilant crowd at his election headquarters Sunday night. “It’s also the night of greatest hope for El Salvador.” The FMLN party’s Funes had 51.12 percent of the vote, while the ARENA party’s Rodrigo Avila had 48.87 percent with 84 percent of the national ballots counted, the electoral commission said on its Web site

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Ex-presidents of Latin America urge legal marijuana

Former presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil called Wednesday for the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use and a change in tactics on the war on drugs, a Spanish news agency said. Ex-presidents Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil made their announcement at a meeting in Brazil of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, the EFE news agency said.

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