This has got to be the strangest week for Mauricio Funes. For 20 years as a journalist in El Salvador, he covered the civil war, the peace process and five consecutive governments headed by the right-wing ARENA party. He was known for his tough, incisive reporting, but now he is on the other side. Funes just ended his first week as president of El Salvador, and it is now he who is under the watchful eye of the media.

A couple of weeks before he was sworn into office, I sat down with him for a one-on-one interview in San Salvador. I asked him what would be the biggest change in his life upon entering the presidency. I wasn't expecting his answer: “I will have to stop reading the newspapers and watching the newscasts, and will have to depend on a daily summary given to me by my personal assistant.” How ironic. The most outspoken journalist in El Salvador will now have what the media is saying about him be filtered.

Without a doubt, Mauricio Funes will be under the scrutiny of the media, which will be closely watching his every move. He not only made history by going from journalism to politics, but because he is the first leftist to make it to the presidency in the history of El Salvador, his rise to power also represents the first time the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, known as the FMLN, won a presidential election since it turned from a rebel group into a political party after the civil war.

But we shouldn't assume that Funes' rise to power means yet another leftist government in Latin America. Funes was never a member of the leftist party, and joined only when he decided to run for president. Most analysts in El Salvador agree that he never would have made it to the presidency without the backing of the FMLN, and the rebel group would not have won the election with a different candidate. It was a marriage of convenience.

Either way, this historical election begs the question of whose lead Funes will follow. Will he be a pragmatic leftist, such as Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, or a radical leader, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez? Funes says neither one: “You never know -- instead of an axis led by Lula or one by Chavez, maybe there will be a new Central American axis led by Funes that will be pragmatic but at the same time radical in facing the problems it will have to confront.”

And Funes will be inheriting some pretty serious problems: A country marred by extreme poverty and a high unemployment rate. One of the highest crime rates in the world. The expansion of dangerous youth gangs. An increase in deportations of Salvadorans from the U.S. and a reduction in remittances.

As if that isn't enough, Funes will have to deal with the still-fresh scars from the bloody civil war that killed almost 75,000 people. Even though Funes lost his oldest brother in the armed conflict, he does not believe it is necessary to annul the amnesty law that was signed along with the peace agreement. “I know exactly who ordered my brother's death,” he claims. “With time, I have learned to forgive.”

According to Funes, the families of the victims have a right to know the circumstances of their loved ones' deaths. To that end, he would consider opening up new investigations. If he does, however, he could find himself in a bind. His vice president, a former rebel leader during the armed conflict, has been accused of war crimes himself.

During his inaugural address, the new president said his government is not allowed to make mistakes, and he is right. There is much at stake. With a new government that has never held power, a weak economy and a fragile democracy, there is very little room for errors. The celebrity journalist-turned-president will soon know what it's like to be on the side of those he so often criticized.

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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