El Salvador Perspectives

Photo of art work in La Palma, El Salvador, taken February 2004 I extend my wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all the readers of this El Salvador Blog. I will be travelling in El Salvador between Christmas and New Years, so there will probably not be any updates to the blog until 2006.

God keeps on saving in history. And so, in turning once again to the episode of Christ’s birth at Bethlehem, we come not to recall Christ’s birth twenty centuries ago, but to live that birth here, in the twentieth century, this year, in our own Christmas here in El Salvador. By the light of these Bible readings we must continue all the history that God has in his eternal mind, even to the concrete events of our abductions, of our tortures, of our own sad history. That is where we are to find our God. Archbishop Oscar Romero December 24, 1979 From quotations of Oscar Romero collected in The Violence of Love .

For the second time this month, bus operators on Route 29, which goes between Ilopango and San Salvador, refused to drive their routes. This work stoppage occurred after the fourth murder this month of a bus driver or conductor on Route 29. The murders are all blamed on gangs imposing a penalty for transportation companies which do not pay the "tax" imposed by the gangs. The authorities report more than 100 murders of bus drivers and conductors during the course of 2005. The bus operators are demanding that the government provide greater security on these routes.

El Salvador's National Assembly adopted a budget and approved government borrowing for 2006. The approval of the 2006 budget shows the waning power of the FMLN and the influence of the center-left legislators known as the G-14, some of whom are ex-FMLN members. With the support of the G-14, no votes of the FMLN were needed to approve the measure, even though it required a super-majority vote. Tony Saca spoke out against immigration measures making their way through the US Congress. After the US House passed a measure which increases the penalties on undocumented workers and funded building a $2 billion wall along the Mexican border, Saca described an attitude of hostility and intolerance in the US. Saca declared that immigrants had human rights, including a right to search for work, which were threatened by developments in the US. The toxic algae bloom known as red tide began to recede from the Salvadoran coast raising hopes that the ban on the sale of shellfish can soon be l...

During the recent past, when oppressive military regimes ruled in many countries of Latin America, organizations of mothers of "the disappeared", las madres de los desaparecidos , were some of most courageous voices asking what happened to their sons and husbands. They sought to hold governments accountable for kidnappings, tortures and murders. The Los Angeles Times carries a story showing that in some countries in Latin America, impunity is slowly being overcome, and the mothers are getting a little justice. But the paper points out that this is not the case in El Salvador: No one is investigating the deaths of [Alicia de Garcia's] two brothers and two sons, who were kidnapped by soldiers. No one is searching for their missing bodies. Their executioners remain free. Sometimes, Garcia and other Salvadoran mothers of the disappeared say they spot the killers on the street. "We've always worked and searched for justice," Garcia said. "Here, impunity ...

You can see images of Christmas in El Salvador at the web sites of the two major Salvadoran newspapers. Visit La Prensa Grafica or El Diario de Hoy .

The US House of Representatives voted for tough new measures against illegal immigration into the United States. The Washington Post has good coverage of the measure which is being closely watched in El Salvador because of the large number of undocumented Salvadorans in the US. On Friday, December 16, the House passed the measure toughening US immigration laws: Under the House bill, employers would have to confirm the authenticity of employees' Social Security numbers against a national database of legitimate numbers or face stiff new fines of as much as $25,000 per violation. The measure would end the "catch and release" policy for immigrants other than Mexicans who are caught entering the country illegally and then released with a court date. All illegal immigrants apprehended at the border would have to be detained, and deportation processes would be streamlined. Criminal penalties for smuggling immigrants would be stiffened, with new mandatory minimum sentences. Imm...