UDW's Mauricio Funes interview

Upside Down World published the second part of its interview with Mauricio Funes yesterday. In one of the questions, Funes was asked how he has found the transition from journalist to presidential candidate. His reply:

I was used to confronting power. But now I am confronting a much darker power, one that is much more blind and irrational. As a journalist my work signified a threat to the status quo. But the powers that be shut down my ability to continue to carry out my journalism work; they undermined economically the companies that I worked for.

Now as a candidate the situation is different, because as a candidate I am confronting a blind, intolerant, autocratic and excluding power that is very afraid of different parties taking a turn in office. It is very afraid of the alternative being built for exercising public power, especially at the level of the presidency. And it is willing to do anything and use any method to block that alternative.

The transition from journalism to being involved in politics as a candidate has not been difficult in the sense that I was committed journalist and now I have made a commitment as a candidate to transform the unjust structures of the country. However, as a candidate, I am facing a much more blind power because my candidacy represents a larger threat to the status quo, a larger threat to the established political power structures, than my journalism represented. And that’s why I’m confronting a much more authoritarian and excluding power than I did when I was a journalist.

Read the rest of the article here. Read the first part of the interview here.