El Salvador Perspectives

While I am not a fan of beauty pageants, clearly others are .   This week the 2023 Miss Universe pageant is taking place in El Salvador.  It is another of the sweeping image-making projects of which president Nayib Bukele is so fond. The Miss Universe pageant came to El Salvador once before in 1975. At that time, the country was run by an unholy alliance of an oligarchy and the military.  The country brought in a contest of beauties with sights of sun and beautiful beaches in an attempt to improve its image during a year which saw massacres, repressions and unrest in the lead-up to the approaching civil war. As the New York Post wrote today: The last time that organizers held a Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador, in 1975, rioting students staged demonstrations that ultimately ended in a massacre and plunged the country into a brutal civil war.... Meanwhile, San Salvador locals are protesting the national government having spent a reported $12 million in public f...

At the August 6 press conference to announce the creation of the International Commission against Impunity in El Salvador (“CICIES” for its initials in Spanish), security guards prevented the entrance of journalists from two online periodicals, Revista Factum and El Faro.  It struck many as no coincidence that just these two sets of journalists would be targeted by the Bukele administration.   Both periodicals have published articles asking uncomfortable questions about the Bukele administration and officials within it: Bukele returns the budget of the OIE to the shadows  (Revista Factum) The money is enough when the contracts are for the friends of Nayib .(Revista Factum) Bukele has already spent $2 million from the secret billfold of the presidency  (El Faro) Alba Petroleum gave two loans to ministers in Bukele's government (El Faro) After the event, Bukele tweeted a statement from his Secretary of Communications proclaiming that the journalists ...

All the presidential candidates had events this weekend to mark the close of their election campaigns.  Carlos Calleja, the candidate from ARENA, held a series of 15 rallies around the country in three days.   On Sunday the FMLN brought in the party faithful on buses from every corner of the country to a rally filling one of the major boulevards of San Salvador for blocks.   Nayib Bukele, the candidate for GANA/Nuevas Ideas, held a campaign rally Saturday night in front of the old National Palace.    The location was in the midst of one of Bukele's accomplishments as mayor of San Salvador -- the renovation of the historic center of San Salvador. The hatred of El Salvador's largest newspaper La Prensa Grafica for Bukele was on full display in its Monday edition.   The paper covered  the campaign closing events of ARENA and the FMLN with multiple page spreads.   The paper even covered the closing event of the tiny VAMOS party i...

Two news stories highlighted challenges to freedom of expression in El Salvador.   One story involves a new law proposed in El Salvador's legislature.   The violence prevention bill calls on the media to "self-censor" itself to avoid violent images and promote a culture of peace.   From the Financial Times : The government of El Salvador, led by President Sánchez Céren, has presented a bill to Congress saying the media “should contribute to the promotion of the prevention of violence, tolerance and the culture of peace . . . by seeking the ethical self-regulation of information and non-violent content”.   The Law on the National System for the Prevention of Violence immediately drew scorn from media outlets, that accused the government of seeking “control”....  The administration, however, says it is not seeking censorship.  The bill “contains no sanction on the media but simply talks of self-regulation”, the justice and security ministry tweeted af...