San Salvador, El Salvador -- This will be Tony Saca's last week as president of El Salvador. But more than the end of a presidency, it will be the end of an era.

For the first time in the history of this small Central American nation, a right-wing president will hand over power to a left-wing leader. For the first time since the end of the civil war and since it went from a rebel group to a political party, the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, known as the FMLN, will govern El Salvador.

The founder of the right-wing party Republican National Alliance, or ARENA, Roberto D'Aubuisson must be rolling over in his grave.

ARENA governed El Salvador with an iron fist since its inception in 1989. Among its goals was to eliminate all leftists in the country and the region, as stated in the words of the party's official hymn: “El Salvador will be the tomb where the reds will end. We will save America, our dear immortal America.”

El Salvador is not an easy country to govern. Throughout its history, it has been hit hard by wars, decades of oppression, violence, poverty and inequality. The civil war that lasted from 1980 to 1992 left more than 75,000 dead and more than 7,000 missing. The amnesty law that was approved shortly after the peace agreement was signed has not helped the process of healing open wounds.

Tony Saca headed the fourth consecutive ARENA government. A friendly, good-natured figure, his rise to power was in itself a novelty in El Salvador. He was only 38 years old, had been a popular sportscaster and owned a few radio stations, but he did not have the political experience necessary to govern a politically polarized country. “I began my tenure being an ideologue, but in time things changed,” he told me in a recent interview. “If there is one thing that brings me satisfaction, it's having brought my party to the center right.”

Saca had good relations with the United States. He was the only president in the region to maintain troops in Iraq as part of the allied forces. He probably was the president who visited the United States most often, at least 10 times in five years that he can remember. Of all the heads of state I have interviewed in their offices, he must hold the record for having the most pictures hanging on his wall with dignitaries from around the world. And he prides himself on having established relations with almost all of the countries in the world.

“We had major accomplishments in the handling of the economy in the first three years,” he said of his presidency. “We also established important programs to help the poor and provide health care to many.”

But his critics dispute those accomplishments -- in particular, his successor, the man who dethroned the ARENA party after 20 years. President-elect Mauricio Funes accused the right-wing party of destroying the economy, increasing unemployment and mishandling the crucial security issue.

Last year, El Salvador earned the not-so-coveted honor of being the country with the highest number of murders per capita. According to Funes, the hard-line approach toward the violent youth gangs did not come with an effective prevention and rehabilitation plan.

Saca admits that the biggest challenge his successor will face is the failing economy and high unemployment rate. It doesn't help that the deportations of Salvadorans from the U.S. have increased in the past year, while the remittances -- the main source of income for the country -- have decreased significantly.

Tony Saca says he is more than ready to hand over power to Mauricio Funes. He says he would like to regain his privacy and dedicate himself to managing his radio empire. As he leaves office, he surely will get it from both sides. The left will accuse him of leaving the country in shambles; the right will attack him for handing over the country to the left. The truth is that Saca ends his presidency with a much higher popularity rate than his own party has had for years. It's now his successor's challenge to pick up where Saca left off and begin to right some wrongs from the past.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www .mariaesalinas.com)

© 2009 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate