El Salvador Perspectives

Communications issued by El Salvador's largest gangs this weekend declare that the gangs have decided to relaunch the truce process which started in March 2012, but seemed to have largely fallen apart two years later. From Reuters : Leaders of El Salvador's major gangs on Friday said their members would no longer attack police and the military in a bid to revive a tattered gang truce and slash high rates of violence that have rocked the Central American nation.  Kingpins of five Salvadoran gangs, including Barrio 18 and its rival Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), said the agreement was reached last Sunday to relaunch a March 2012 truce that cut homicide rates by 40 percent. A report from  al Jazeera  described the communique from the gangs: "We are all victims of the situation of violence that afflicts the country, and we can't see positive results if we do not promise our determined collaboration," said the leaders.    It said gang members would also seek to avoid ...

The Constitutional Chamber of El Salvador's Supreme Court continues to issue rulings which increase the ability of citizens to participate in the democracy and lessen the power of  party leadership.   In a unanimous ruling by all five judges on Tuesday, the Chamber held that El Salvador's Law of Political Parties is unconstitutional for failing to include provisions requiring transparency in the finances of the political parties and in failing to require representative democracy in party's internal elections to choose leaders and candidates for office.   The National Assembly will now have two months to amend the Law of Political Parties to comply with the Chamber's ruling.   The ruling will not affect the choice of candidates for the March 2015 elections, however. The  Constitutional Chamber, in a series of rulings, has strengthened the voice of individual voters by allowing them to vote for individual candidates for National Assembly rather than closed l...

A group of churches in El Salvador yesterday made public their proposals to the government for working on the problem of gang-fueled violence in El Salvador.   Calling itself "IPAZ," the Pastoral Initiative for Life and Peace, the group of Protestant and Catholic churches propose a "tridimensional dialogue" between the churches, the gangs and civil society to seek an understanding for a reduction in the levels of violence and homicides.  IPAZ proposes to be the facilitator of this process. The church leaders do not describe this process as a continuation of the so-called truce process, but instead an attempt to rescue those pieces of that process which had produced positive results.   They expressed a certainty that there were various gang members who truly did want to give up lives of crime.   IPAZ stands opposed to those who would say there can be no dialogue with the gangs. IPAZ specifically does not call for the government to negotiate with the gangs or...

In Spain, they are waiting anxiously for progress on the case of Spanish priest Fr. Antonio Rodriguez (Padre Toño), arrested in El Salvador for alleged complicity with the gangs.   The periodical El Pais has the stor y:: Father Toño has been accused of bringing prohibited objects such as cellphones into prisons and of having direct ties to various Mara leaders. Both investigations are in the preliminary stages. It could take up to six months for the authorities to make a decision. On Friday, Father Toño was transferred to a prison under the supervision of the Salvadoran police’s narcotics division after spending a week in hospital with low blood pressure. His lawyers intend to appeal the judge’s decision and the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry said it was keeping up with the case, though declined to share any details.  [Father Toño's sister] Cristina has taken two trips to El Salvador to see her brother. She said Father Toño set up workshops, clinics equipped with machin...

El Salvador held close and polarizing presidential elections in March; now the country is heading into the campaign season for mayors of every municipality and for deputies in the National Assembly.  The elections will be held on March 1, 2015. Already a couple of races look interesting. The FMLN announced that its candidate for may of San Salvador will be Nayib Bukele, the popular 33 year old mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlan.   Bukele will be competing against current San Salvador mayor Norman Quijano who will be running for a third term after his unsuccessful presidential bid.  Also announced as a candidate is Walter Araujo, a former member of ARENA who quit the party and will now run under the GANA banner. Nayib Bukele Equally interesting will be the race for mayor of Santa Tecla.   Until the past year, the mayor of Santa Tecla was Oscar Ortiz, the popular FMLN politician who is now the country's vice president.   With Ortiz out of the picture, ARENA is p...

There is excitement in El Salvador among those of who have long-called for the Roman Catholic Church to beatify slain Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero.   The excitement stems from remarks made by Pope Francis during his return from his recent trip to Asia.  As usual, our friend Carlos at the Super Martyrio blog  has the most complete coverage: Francis: "Romero is a man of God" Pope Francis has spoken explicitly for the first time about his desire to see the beatification of  Archbishop Oscar A. Romero of El Salvador, saying that, “For me, Romero is a man of God” and stating that there are no more doctrinal problems standing in the way of the martyred prelate’s beatification. “It is important to do it quickly,” the Pontiff added . Francis made his remarks aboard the papal plane flying back from his trip to Korea on Monday, August 18, 2014. The Pope was asked by a reporter about the status of the beatification cause and the Pontiff responded that theologian...

Last week three judges were arrested in San Miguel, following arrests of lawyers, police, and other officials a few weeks earlier in San Miguel.   InsightCrime looks at these latest arrests in an article titled  El Salvador Anti-Mafia Judges Arrested For Ties to Organized Crime : Authorities in El Salvador have arrested three anti-mafia judges accused of accepting bribes from organized crime groups, highlighting the corruption that plagues the country's judicial system and allows impunity to flourish.  On August 12, Salvadoran authorities detained three judges from the eastern city of San Miguel who are accused of taking money in exchange for favoring criminal defendants, reported El Diario de Hoy . The Attorney General's Office identified the judges as part of a network that includes lawyers, prosecutors, police, and court employees.  The arrests came after 15 judges from the country's Constitutional Chamber approved the removal of the judicial immunity affo...