President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador Visits Washington

El Salvador, a small Central American country bordered on three sides by Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatamala, was recently in focus in Washington DC, as its president, Mauricio Funes, visited the US, hosted by President Barack Obama. El Salvador and America are linked in a number of cooperative endeavors – not the least of which are the significant remittances sent by the more than 2 million El Salvadorans who reside in the US to relatives back home.
President Funes, while addressing the press with President Obama, mentioned that more than 400,000 Salvadorans live in the Washington DC area alone.
Mr Funes, a journalist for 20 years, stated his expectation of an “equal” partnership with the United States that will produce continued progress in the areas of combatting drug trafficking, encouraging a healthy environment and sustainable energy projects, as well as economic strategies like entrepreneurial microloan programs similar to those found in India and Africa.
Separately, and unknown to most, El Salvador is also home to about 3000 Muslims, mostly Salvadoran nationals who have converted to Islam. The majority of the Arab population are Christian immigrants from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, many of whom wield substantial economic and political power in Latin America. 
Thirty-five year old El Salvadoran Abdul Wali Gomez, who emigrated to the US with family and subsequently embraced Islam in the US, says his conversion seemed strange to friends and family members, as many Latin Americans live amongst Christian Arabs, and have no understanding of Islam. Gomez says, however, “If you mingle Spanish Arab intellect with the African tangy taste of rhymes, and the Native Indians love of the earth, you get the beautiful people of El Salvador.”