El Salvador Perspectives

In the 1970's in El Salvador, the government engaged in widespread violations of human rights, with arbitrary detentions, torture and disappearances.  Then archbishop, now Saint, Oscar Romero, denounced such atrocities from the pulpit of San Salvador's Metropolitan Cathedral in his weekly sermons. That courage to speak out against the repressive government would result in slander and vilification of Romero by the ruling oligarchic regime, and would ultimately lead to his assassination. On the 43rd anniversary of Romero's martyrdom this past March 24, another bishop of the Roman Catholic church in El Salvador took to that pulpit to point to abuse of human rights and innocent persons imprisoned.  Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez preached on the abuses of the State of Exception and the timidity of the local church, so far, in responding. Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez addressing “state of exception” here, which has resulted in arbitrary detentions without right to legal counsel...

This week is Semana Santa (Holy Week) in El Salvador.   A week of religious celebrations commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and of vacations and time spent with family.  Although recent polling shows that fewer than 40% of Salvadorans now describe themselves as members of the Roman Catholic church, the cultural flavor of Semana Santa is deeply rooted in centuries of Roman Catholicism.  Here is a collection of videos to share some of the week's events in different parts of the country.  Palm Sunday procession in San Salvador: El #CentroHistóricoSS es la ruta de la fe. La procesión recorre: la iglesia El Rosario, Catedral y puntos emblemáticos. El corazón de El Salvador recibe a miles de feligreses en la primera actividad de la Semana Santa. ✝️⛪️ ¡Sin duda alguna, un día histórico!🌿 pic.twitter.com/xw1QcXwqGo — Alcaldía de San Salvador (@alcaldia_ss) April 2, 2023 Monday of Semana Santa in Sonsonate:   In Texistepeque, los Talcigui...

Going along with the prevailing sentiment in El Salvador, the archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar Alas, at his Sunday press conference indicated that the great majority of the people want, and will get, the opportunity to reelect Nayib Bukele in 2024.  From Rhina Guidos'  reporting in National Catholic Reporter: "The people have been disappointed, and now they see a light in the path ahead," which is why many overwhelmingly want the president to run again, Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas said during a Sept. 25 news conference, where his comments were taken as tacit support for President Nayib Bukele. Bukele's administration quickly disseminated the archbishop's comments via social media , posting them the following day on the front page of a government-run newspaper with the archbishop's photo and words above the fold. Reaction was swift. People "want" many things, but if they go against what the constitution says, it doesn't make it...

Reading recent articles about current events in El Salvador, I was struck by how many include religion as a theme.  Remarks by the Archbishop of San Salvador, Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas, recently caught the attention of the Associated Press, generating the headline  Salvadoran Archbishop praises government crackdown on gangs . The archbishop said in a press conference “People don't want the violence to return,.... They not only want these things maintained, they want them to advance, to end the violence" and the prelate urged the president to avoid "margins of error."      In making those remarks, the archbishop may have turned a blind eye to just how gross those "margins of error" have been producing thousands of complaints of arbitrary detentions.  In a report today titled  State of Exception Files: Hundreds Arrested for Prior Convictions or “Looking Nervous”  reporters from El Faro described their conclusions after obtaining hundreds of...

Drivers in the San Salvador area in recent months have seen the unmistakable skeleton of a gothic style church, complete with flying buttresses, rising up in a suburb of the capital city.  An ultra-conservative sect of the Roman Catholic church is building the church in the municipality of Apopa just northeast of San Salvador.  The group, named  Heraldos del Evangelio (Heralds of the Gospel), is constructing a religious center and shrine to the Virgin of Fatima  on the site at the base of the San Salvador volcano in an area known as Valle El Angel. The newspaper El Diario de Hoy recently published an  overview  of the Heraldos' plans for the church currently under construction. In addition to the church, the Heraldos hope to erect a spirituality center including include a school, a museum of sacred art, auditoriums and a space for outdoor events. Renderings of the future church from the Heraldos El Salvador website . So far the most visible element ...

This is Semana Santa (Holy Week) in El Salvador, a week of vacations leading up to the Christian holidays of Good Friday and Easter.  After a complete pandemic lockdown in 2020 and a partial restoration in 2021, Semana Santa 2022 will feel much closer to normal in the country.   El Salvador's tourism authorities say they  expect 170 thousand visitors during the week, including 35,000 who will arrive by air through the country's international airport. Visitors to tourist sites are likely to see a heavy presence of security forces as the country moves into a third week under the State of Exception.   The National Civilian Police have reported that more than 9100 persons have been arrested and accused of being gang members.   Human rights advocates and the international community continue to express their concerns about arbitrary detentions of those who are not in the gangs and conditions rising to the level of torture within the country's prisons...

Ninety years ago yesterday on January 22, 1932, mass executions of indigenous campesinos in El Salvador began after a failed uprising.  The military government in El Salvador headed by General Maximillian Hernandez massacred twenty thousand or more in an event which is known in Salvadoran history simply as “ La Matanza ” – The Massacre. Yesterday was also the day that the Roman Catholic church chose to celebrate the beatification of four of its martyrs, a formal step on the process of being declared saints of the Catholic church.  The four included Jesuit priest RutilioGrande, and two of his lay parishioners – 17 year old Nelson Lemus and the campesino Manuel Solorzano. These three were gunned down by the Salvadoran military as Grande drove towards El Paisnal to preside over a mass.   The fourth martyr beatified yesterday was Friar Cosme Spessotto , a parish priest from Italy, murdered in San Juan Nonualco, in similar fashion in 1980.  I don’t know if the chur...

On January 22, Father Cosme Spessotto, will be beatified by the Roman Catholic church in San Salvador along with the martyred Rutilio Grande.  Father Cosme, a Franciscan missionary priest from Italy. was killed on June 14, 1980 while preparing to say mass in the church where he served in the town of San Juan Nonualco.   I must confess that before the news that Spessotto would be beatified along with Grande this weekend, I knew nothing about this religious man who was one of the victims of El Salvador's conflict years.   His murder at the altar of his church came less than three months after the assassination of archbishop Oscar Romero, at a time when the death squads of El Salvador were running rampant.     From Spessotto's  Wikipedia biography : Spessotto did not speak any Spanish when he arrived in El Salvador and so had to learn the language in order to speak and connect with the locals. After three years, he was assigned to serve as the p...

On Saturday, January 22, martyred Jesuit priest Rutilio Grande will be beatified in a ceremony in San Salvador.  Grande was a Jesuit priest working with poor campesinos in the countryside near El Paisnal, El Salvador. On March 12, 1977, while driving on the road between El Paisnal and Aguilares, assassins from Salvadoran security forces killed Father Grande, as well as two of his campesino parishioners, Manuel Solorzano, 72, and Nelson Rutilio Lemus, 16. Rutilio Grande was a friend of Archbishop Oscar Romero, and this killing is said to have been one of the key events leading Romero to align his ministry with the cause of the poor and oppressed in El Salvador. On Saturday, Rutilio Grande will follow Oscar Romero towards recognition as a Roman Catholic saint in the beatification ceremony in San Salvador.   Along with Grande, Solorzano and Lemus will be beatified, as well as Cosma Spessotto, an Italian priest murdered in El Salvador in 1980 while saying mass.  (More ab...

69 Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical Christian leaders in El Salvador published an open letter to the Salvadoran public on Ash Wednesday, February 17.   My English translation follows: “I have seen the affliction of my people” Exodus 3:7 We, pastors and priests of various Christian denominations, with deep concern about the situation of sin that permeates Salvadoran politics and society in general, wish to express the truth in love to churches, and people in general, to warn them against temptations, false doctrines and political idolatries. We express our deep unease at a dangerous time when the churches are exposed to the temptations and bribes of power that seek to silence their prophetic voice when, rather, they should be attentive to Paul's exhortation: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed through the renewing of your mind, to be able to discern the will of God: what is good, acceptable, and perfect" (Romans 12: 2). We express our deep regret over...

Wednesday, December 2 marks the 40th anniversary of the cold-blooded rape and murder of 4 US churchwomen in El Salvador by a military death squad.   It was 1980, a year which saw the assassinations of archbishop Oscar Romero and many other lay and religious workers engaged in the struggle for a just society in the opening bloody years of El Salvador's civil war.  Sisters Dorothy Kazel, Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, and lay missioner Jean Donovan were slaughtered for their commitment to El Salvador's poorest citizens.  An article just published on Znet titled  Martyred Missionaries: The Lives and Legacies of Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel offers a good refresher on the lives of these remarkable women and why the Salvadoran military regime sought to eliminate them.  The crime itself, like the murder of Oscar Romero, the Jesuit priests, the children of El Mozote and so many others remains unpunished and wrapped in impunity in El Salvador...

For many years I have followed the public opinion polls conducted by the University Institute of Public Opinion (IUDOP) at the University of Central America.   The polls touch many aspects of how Salvadorans feel about their country, its leaders, and its institutions.   Throughout almost all of that time, Salvadorans have not felt good about the direction their country was headed, except during brief honeymoon periods following the elections of Tony Saca (ARENA) and Mauricio Funes (FMLN)(Saca has now been convicted of, and Funes accused, of looting millions from the country). The most recent IUDOP polling results  show a dramatic turnaround in those sentiments.  In 2017 , 48.7% of Salvadorans believed conditions in the country were worsening and only 7.6% believed they were getting better. Entering 2020, however, 65.9% of Salvadorans believe the country is improving and only 5.4% believe things are getting worse. One part of this change in attitude ...

Sunday, March 12, is the 40th anniversary of the martyrdom of Father Rutilio Grande, S.J. Grande was a Jesuit priest working with poor campesinos in the countryside near El Paisnal, El Salvador. On March 12, 1977, while driving on the road between El Paisnal and Aguilares, assassins from Salvadoran security forces killed Father Grande, as well as two of his campesino parishioners, Manuel Solorzano, 72, and Nelson Rutilio Lemus, 16. Rutilio Grande was a friend of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Father Grande would be the first of many priests to be murdered in El Salvador's bloody years of internal conflict. Thomas M. Kelly wrote in America magazine in June 2016: What Father Grande learned and lived out was a simple truth: Until the marginalized communities he served created their own agency, until they acted upon their own reality as a church community, nothing would change. An outside leader could not come in and transform poor communities. Only local lay church leaders could en...