AMERICANS HAVEN’T PAID much attention to El Salvador since the 1980s, when the country was being torn apart by a civil war and the Reagan administration was trying to balance its support for the anti-Communist military regime with a push for free elections. In those days, the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (known by its Spanish acronym, FMLN) was waging a bloody guerrilla campaign. Today, the FMLN is a legitimate political party with heavy representation in the Salvadoran National Assembly. By this time next year, it may control both the Assembly and the presidency–which should alarm anyone who cares about the success of democracy in Latin America.

Indeed, there is a genuine risk that El Salvador could become another satellite of Hugo Chavez, whose radical “Bolivarian Revolution” has eroded political and economic liberties in Venezuela and attracted followers elsewhere. Legislative and municipal elections are due in January; a presidential election will follow in March. Polls show that the FMLN boasts a sizable lead over the ruling National Republican Alliance party (known as ARENA).