The Salvadoran blogger from Soy Salvadoreño [es] (I am Salvadoran) wrote the following post soon after the election of Barack Obama, and linked to several of his fellow bloggers. Read the original post here and translated with permission.

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I just watched, comfortably lying down and covered (due to the cold weather that we've been having lately at night), the speech where John McCain conceded the victory to Barack Obama. I later watched Obama's victory speech. It was good, with people applauding and others crying, like Oprah and Jesse Jackson. I later saw, pieces of Salvadoran television stations interviewing Salvadoran politicians boringly saying the same thing.

I think that Obama's victory in the American elections is a milestone for that country, with a long history of racism, but also of meritocracy and of dreams that come true, I got up to read something interesting on the internet.

The Salvadoran media reported the news, but without opinions or editorials. I searched in the blogosphere and three Salvadoran bloggers already provided their thoughts on the event. I love it. I leave you with the links and some of the words that they wrote:

Victor Castro, author of the Salvadoran blog Alta hora de la noche [es] and his post “Obama. The Change.“

The main loser in this election was not McCain, but the system that the Bush presidency embodied: a polarizing and warrior message, of triumphalism and sufficiency, to use the state to favor the interests of a minority linked to the those in power. A rhetoric and actions that is not unfamiliar to the Salvadorans.

From Raul Marin, author of the Salvadoran blog Ideas no autorizadas [es] and his post “Hopes for Change“:

What is happening is that they are giving too much coverage of news that shouldn't be that surprising. Let me explain. Barack Obama arrived at the best moment in history due to three factors:

1. The most disastrous U.S. administration in the past 40 years.
2. The message of hope and of change (substantive, not in structure, WATCH this).
3. His resounding confidence and charisma.

Now, let's analyze this and if we look at it objectively, under the same circumstances we can believe in a similar change here.

But here:

1. The administration has been average of the administrations of the past 20 years. Things have worsened, but the perception is always like that.
2. The message of hope, which has turned into the battle horse for both candidates has been distorted and even altered in order to be useful, instead of being used for real change.
3. Confidence and charisma does not appear to be the same in the current candidates.

From Virginia Lemus, author of the Salvadoran blog Deliriums Tremens [es] and her post “And Standing on the Bottom Floor of a Building I Said, ‘This is Historic”:

We remember recent history in two phases: through the facts and through our direct or indirect experience of those facts.

[…]

Change is no longer the distant wish from the generation of my grandparents [and many more past generations] and begins to become something concrete. We have too much to do, but it is possible.