Schafik Handal

Schafik Jorge Handal (born October 13/14, 1930) is a Salvadoran politician. He is the son of Palestinian immigrants.

Between 1959 and 1994, he was the general secretary of the Communist Party of El Salvador. As a guerrilla leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was a member of the group that brought five opposition forces together to found the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN.)

Following the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992, the FMLN converted itself from a guerrilla army into a political party, and Handal served as its general coordinator. In 1997, he was elected to the National Assembly, serving as the leader of the FMLN's party bloc in the legislature.

He was the FMLN's candidate in El Salvador's 2004 presidential election, held on March 21, running on a leftist, calling for a closer relationship with socialist countries including Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina. Opponents claimed Handal was exploiting anti-American sentiment, while supporters alleged the United States of meddling into interior affairs, since the US threatened to take measurements against El Salvador if Handal would win. He was defeated by the candidate of the ruling conservative ARENA party, Antonio Saca, by a margin of 58% to 36%. The election saw a turnout of 70% at the polls.