Salvadoran President-elect Salvador Sanchez Ceren has named the first members of his cabinet, providing a look at the kind of administration he will set up upon taking office in two months’ time. While a number of FMLN heavyweights made the list, it includes a fair share of moderates and business leaders as well.

On Monday, Sanchez Ceren announced his first cabinet picks ahead of his June 1 inauguration. Of the nine people he named, five are members of the FMLN. These include ex-Justice Minister Manuel Melgar, who will serve as the president’s secretary, and Hugo Martinez, who will step down as secretary general of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and resume a position as foreign minister.

But the list includes plenty of figures outside the FMLN’s traditional party leadership. Moderate banker Carlos Caceres will stay on as Finance Minister, and business magnate Tharsis Salomon Lopez will become the next Minister of the Economy. Their inclusion is the latest in a series of gestures by Sanchez Ceren to reach out to El Salvador’s business community and dispel rumors of a hard tack to the left in a second FMLN presidency.

Read More