This news from El Salvador: former guerrilla commander and ex-presidential candidate Schafik Handal has died of a heart attack. He was 75. Handal was a senior member of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). Formed in 1980, the group waged an armed struggle against successive US-backed right-wing governments, which were responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Salvadrons. In 2004, Handal lost a bid for the country’s presidency in an election critics charged was unfairly influenced by the Bush administration.