El Salvador Perspectives

I am not quite sure why, but the US State Department has recently released a slew of press releases about US aid efforts in El Salvador. They include: Northern El Salvador Prepares To Invest in Its People New Road Brings Commerce, Education to Rural Salvadorans Rural Salvadorans Receive Free Medical Care from U.S. Military El Salvador Holds National HIV Testing Day Extreme Sports Offer Salvadoran Youth Refuge from Violence UPDATE: In response to this post, I heard from sources at the US Embassy in San Salvador who tell me the State Department is experimenting with sending one of its own journalists out into the field to report on the humanitarian assistance the US provides overseas. I was told that El Salvador was chosen as an early example due to the number and diversity of programs the US government and its different departments and agencies have there.

El Salvador's National Assembly selected a new Human Rights Ombudsman (PDDH for its initials in Spanish), Oscar Luna, today. Luna was selected in preference to returning for a third term the current PDDH, Beatrice de Carillo. Luna appears to be well-qualified. He is a lawyer and notary, teaches human rights, and worked in the office of the PDDH in Santa Ana. In his pre-selection interview with legislators, Luna announced that one step he would take as PDDH is to create a school of human rights in the country. Leaders of all the political parties pledged to support Luna in his new role.

The United Population Fund issues an annual report, and the 2007 report has a supplement titled "Growing Up Urban" about the challenges of being a youth in a world culture which is increasingly urbanized. The report includes a section devoted to the story of Freddy , a former gang member in El Salvador whose story symbolizes the problem of the "maras" in the country: The first time he saw a deportee from Los Angeles, Freddy was struck by the man’s tattoos – and the respect everyone paid him. The man looked different from the others. By the 1990s, the first Salvadorean gang members had returned to the country, deported by the USA. Nobody could guess what was coming.... He didn’t go to school very often; his mother tried to send him, but he didn’t see the importance of attending classes. Most days he would just skip school and hang around. His mother was a maid, working all day in other people’s houses. His two sisters took care of him, spoiling him and turning him i...

Immigration reform legislation passed an important procedural hurdle in the US Senate today, which should allow an entire package to come up for debate and a vote later in the week. The legislation is very closely watched in El Salvador. The possibility of a temporary worker program and a "path to citizenship" for those many Salvadorans living without legal status in the US is very important for the thousands of Salvadoran families separated with family members working and living north and south of the border. For updates on the legislation's provisions, you can view the coverage by the Washington Post here .

The US and Spain are sponsoring a disaster response center for Central America which is being located at El Salvador's international airport. From a US State Department press release : In response to the recurrent natural disasters plaguing Central America, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), with support from Spain and the United States, inaugurated a regional humanitarian response center in San Salvador June 21.... U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Charles Glazer said, “We all know that Central America is vulnerable to natural disasters. We cannot prevent them. However we can be ready for them when they happen.” To be ready for the next disaster, WFP has secured a 1,500-square-meter warehouse at San Salvador's international airport to stock emergency food and supplies. Currently, the facility holds 150 tons of high-energy biscuits – enough to feed 100,000 people for five days – as well as 22 water tanks, inflatable boats, and kitchen and hygiene equipment. According to WFP ...

Friday, June 22, was the Day of the Teacher in El Salvador. La Prensa Grafica has this gallery of photos of Salvadoran teachers at work in the classroom. No group deserves more to be celebrated.

Well worth watching is the documentary, Not a Game , which details several pernicious forms of child labor found in the countries of Latin America. There is also a web site for the documentary which provides additional information. The documentary has a segment devoted to the " curileros " of El Salvador, children who work in the mangrove swamps of El Salvador, harvesting mollusks. In this dangerous work, children spend hours in the mud of the mangrove swamp gathering shellfish while smoking cigars to ward off mosquitoes and the pain of their bites. In a recent outrageous editorial , which could only appear in El Diario de Hoy , the writer opined that: Part of the campaigns against the so-called child labor is the belief that a child, or an adult for that matter, is only educated in the schools. The thousand-year old experience is that the workshop, the farm, the factories, the stores and the businesses are equally effective alternatives. The title of the editorial? Be...