El Salvador -- the "Switzerland of the Western Hemisphere?"

H. Douglas Barclay, former US ambassador to El Salvador, has returned home to upstate New York and recently talked about El Salvador to one of his hometown newspapers. Here's some of what he said:

Q. What don't most people in the United States know about El Salvador?

Barclay: If it isn't the country that has the best relationship with the U.S., it's in the top two or three. They are very pro-American. It's more than a bilateral relationship. It's almost a partnership. There are one million Salvadorans in Los Angeles. And it's a partnership because there are families in both countries. They go back and invest in real estate in El Salvador.

This country (El Salvador) in my opinion can be the Switzerland of Europe in the Western Hemisphere. They have a great work force. They work very hard, they're very bright, and it's a great country.

There are number of American companies operating there. For example, Dell set up a call center that employs about 1,500 people. They sell and give customer advice to customers in the United States and Latin America. That shows you the ability they have to do a technical job and learn a second language to do it.

Read the rest of the interview here.