Voting-- it brings up a lot of issues

Last weekend in El Salvador, there was a presidential election. During the voting process, no one is allowed to sell alcohol. All the bars are closed or only sell virgin drinks. The beer aisles in the super markets are covered in black trash bags. If police see anyone with beer, they take it away. In surf towns on the beach, this keeps the cops very busy. 
In the US, this alcohol ban would probably be argued as a violation of constitutional rights. However, the election ended up very close and with a civil war only 20 years in the past, worries that conflict between the parties might flare up are very real. No reason to fuel conflict with rum and cheap beer. 
Voting ended Sunday night, but the official results weren't announced until Thursday.  The election required a recount, and the winner, Salvador Sánchez Ceren, a former rebel leader, obtained victory by just over 6,000 votes (in a 3million vote election).  Mr. Sanchez Ceren represents the FMLN, the leftist party associated with the guerrillas of 1980's civil war. 
The closeness of this election perhaps shows how divided Salvadoreñas still are along lines reminiscent of their civil war. 
We are finishing our time in this country of great waves and bad food in the northeast corner-- an area known as Morazan. This area, full of farmers, is infamous for some of the worst violence and atrocities of the civil war. 
In the midst of the so-called Cold War, the leftists of El Salvador attempted to push forward land reforms and trade unions to break free from years of slavery and oppression of indigenous peoples begun by the Spanish colonists and continued by the landed gentry they left in place. Even the Catholic church spoke up against the people's oppression. The government responded by assassinating the archbishop and murdering priests. The United States, fretting about another country going socialist, pumped $6 billion into buying arms and training the military to aid the El Salvador government in fighting the guerrillas and continued slaughter of civilians and indigenous tribes.
Today, El Salvador stands out from other Central American countries because you see no people in indigenous dress-- a wardrobe that would get you murdered by your government in the 1980s. The region of Morazon should be filled with people in colorful traditional dress. They are all in normal, Americanized street clothes. 
As we drive around, I ponder what it means to be an American here. I pay taxes that fund the actions of my government.  75,000 people died and entire villages were wiped out in one decade because my country would rather these people live under a military junta (that Americans would not have tolerated themselves), as opposed to having a socialist government. Peaceful years later, the people are still democratically choosing the party that many of them died to support. 
Things besides temporary alcohol bans make traveling difficult. "My family paid for the weapons to have your family massacred-- will you please sell me a cup of coffee?" The grace with which Americans are received in El Salvador is truly amazing.