The U.S.-Salvadoran "partnership"

Salvadoran President Tony Saca will get a sit-down with W. at the White House next Monday. Trade, human rights, and security are on the agenda.

A propósito, two days ago, the Sunday magazine Enfoques of La Prensa Gráfica carried an interview with the U.S. Ambassador, who didn't have all that much to say about the U.S.-Salvadoran relationship, which some characterize as one of subservience. Barclay prefers to say that the two countries are partners, and should be quite proud of the fact that only El Salvador (among the countries of Latin America) has troops with coalition forces in Iraq.

But the most interesting bit for me was learning, in the accompanying article, that the very first diplomatic mission by Salvadorans following their independence from Spain in 1822 was to the U.S. to request annexation. It never happened, of course, in part because they never even reached Washington. Apparently this initiative was meant to forestall pressures to become annexed to Mexico.