News from El Salvador

Some headlines from El Salvador this week:

Judge orders reopening of Jesuit massacre case.    A judge has ruled that a criminal case in an El Salvador court should proceed to determine criminal responsibility for those who ordered the 1989 killing of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.   The country's attorney general must now file new charges in a case which will involve former president Alfredo Cristiani and the military high command from 1989.

"Dollarization" won't be reversed.    The Constitutional Chamber of El Salvador's Supreme Court rejected a petition to overthrow the country's 2001 conversion of its national currency from the colón to the US dollar.  The abandonment of El Salvador's own currency seventeen years ago continues to be unpopular among much of the population.

Martinez v. Martinez in FMLN internal elections.  Hugo Martinez, El Salvador's foreign minister, has announced that he will compete against Gerson Martinez, the country's Minister of Public Works, in internal elections of the FMLN to decide who will be the party's candidate for president in the 2019 elections.   Prior to the party's March 4 electoral disaster, Gerson Martinez had been the pick of the party top leadership, but that is changing.

Abortion debate in National Assembly.   El Salvador's National Assembly is currently debating legislation to admit limited exceptions including protection of the health of the mother to the country's current absolute ban on abortion.   The remaining time before a more conservative legislature is seated on May 1 is seen as crucial if the law is going to be changed.   Pro-life and Catholic church officials have been speaking out against the legislation proposed by the FMLN, and at the moment it appears unlikely that any legislation will proceed.


Comments