El Salvador Perspectives

Gregorio Rosa Chavez, auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, was recently in Boston. The Boston Globe carried some of his remarks about globalization and the markets which US companies believe are opened under CAFTA: One can start with a 2003 article by the US Department of Agriculture, titled ''El Salvador Offers a Balmy Climate for US Agricultural Exports.' Written as the United States pushed for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, it said, ''Some 20 percent of El Salvador's population regularly purchases US food items. . . . With more women joining the labor force and fewer domestic employees to assist in food preparation, the demand for convenience and fast foods is increasing. . . . ''Generally, people living in urban areas consume more bread and meats than tortillas and beans. Urban Salvadorans are very familiar with US-style food, and most US fast-food franchises have outlets in El Salvador. Food courts in shopping malls are popular and viewed...

A variety of issues have been discussed in the Salvadoran blogosphere in past weeks. Much discussion went to Jack Hitt's article in the April 9, 2006 Sunday New York Times Magazine titled Pro-Life Nation . In the article, Hitt describes El Salvador's complete criminalization of abortion which includes the prosecution and imprisonment of women who have abortions, and there are no exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother. The article produced a spirited debate in comments on Tim's El Salvador Blog where some celebrated the "pro-life" policy of the government and others condemned the idea that a government which was not addressing poverty and childhood diseases could be considered as pro-life. Meanwhile numerous liberal blogs commented on Pro-Life Nation by forecasting that it was the future of abortion law in the US if conservative groups had their way. Blog posts such as I have seen the future and it is El Salvador on the Carpetbagger Repo...

An article on the Migration Information Source web site takes at in depth look at the statistics concerning emigration from El Salvador and remittances sent home. One impact is globalization: In fact, it can be easily argued that migration is El Salvador's principal gateway to globalization. And this is due not only to the volume of remittances but also to a myriad of other economic activities that have increased because of migration. According to data from the US Federal Communications Commission, telephone calls between the United States and El Salvador rose 570 percent from 99.9 million minutes in 1992 to 669 million minutes in 2002 as families made use of increased access to land lines as well as cell phone expansion to keep in touch. Information from the US Bureau of Transport Statistics shows that air traffic between El Salvador and the United States increased exponentially from 123,846 passengers in 1990 to more than 1.3 million in 2004. The principal cities of destination ...

The Boston Globe recently ran another story about the scourge of Central America gangs. One new statistic is an estimate that gangs have depressed the economic output of Central America by as much as 25%: In recent years, the two major gangs have become far more vicious and sophisticated, forming alliances with organized crime in prison and shuttling operatives between the United States and their home countries. Their trademark beheadings, mutilations, and torture-killings of rival gangsters, informants, and other victims have made them a top priority of the FBI's criminal enterprise branch. In Central America, governments have experimented with get-tough laws, only to see crime worsen every year. Violence and extortion -- from petty ''taxes" levied on bus drivers and corner shopkeepers to tens of thousands of dollars demanded of a major soda company in El Salvador -- have scared off investors, shaving regional gross domestic product by some 25 percent, according to ...

In an article titled A Road Less Traveled , the Washington Post details the story of a Salvadoran youth, orphaned at an early age, who crossed illegally into the US and his struggle to obtain legal status in the US: Julio had crossed the border alone, yet another "unaccompanied juvenile" walking north carrying a plastic bag of clothes. He swam the Rio Grande in full view of a bridge and, minutes later, resting on a rock, got busted. The Border Patrol caught 7,000 kids like Julio last year, mostly teenage boys. Who knows how many more make it through undetected...( more )

A "lame duck" legislative session refers to a meeting of the legislature after an election and before newly elected representatives take their seats. Usually it is a time of little substance. Tony Saca and ARENA have much different plans for the rest of the lame duck National Assembly. The new National Assembly commences on May 1, and in that Assembly the FMLN will have a greater presence and the ability to block votes such as authorization of borrowing which requires a super-majority, an ability the FMLN currently lacks. In the last three days of this National Assembly then, Saca seeks to get approval of the foreign borrowing he needs to fund his Red Solidaria program, to fund a program for improving the educational system and other projects. But Saca also wants to get many more laws approved including a law for protection of witnesses, law against terrorism, laws for electoral reforms, and authorization for government wiretaps of telephones. They plan to elect magistrat...

Last week El Salvador and Honduras finalized an agreement defining the border between the countries. The border agreement marked the final resolution of the 1969 "Soccer War" between the two countries. Between July 14 and July 20, 1969, the two countries fought a bloody battle which killed as many as 5000 and displaced tens of thousands. The war is called the Soccer War because it began after a bitterly contested series of three World Cup soccer qualifying matches between the two neighboring countries. El Salvador initiated hostilities when its army moved into Honduras. After more than four days of fighting, a cease fire was called under pressure from the US and the Organization of American States. Still, a peace agreement was not signed until 1980, and it took a 1992 decision by the International Court of Justice to settle the boundary issues. Last week's agreement resolved the final controversy over the exact placement of the border. You can learn more about the...