El Salvador Perspectives

The Washington Post broke the story two days before Christmas -- US immigration authorities are planning raids in coming months to round up Central American families and deport them: The Department of Homeland Security has begun preparing for a series of raids that would target for deportation hundreds of families who have flocked to the United States since the start of last year, according to people familiar with the operation.  The nationwide campaign, to be carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as soon as early January, would be the first large-scale effort to deport families who have fled violence in Central America, those familiar with the plan said. More than 100,000 families with both adults and children have made the journey across the southwest border since last year, though this migration has largely been overshadowed by a related surge of unaccompanied minors.  The ICE operation would target only adults and children who have alr...

Last week, the blog of Ernesto Rivas published an essay by veteran respected politician  Héctor Dada Hirezi.  The essay is titled Hacia Adonde Vamos?   (Where Are We Going? )  He is a long time figure in Salvadoran politics and perhaps one of the most respected.  Most recently Dada Hirezi  was Minister of the Economy from 2009-2012 during the administration of Mauricio Funes. The essay is a clear eyed look at the problems confronting El Salvador, but also of positive developments in the country starting with the peaceful transfer of power to the country's first leftist president in 2009.   Equally important is the development of an independent Supreme Court in the country.   And the changes are resisted by old guards on the right and the left who hold onto the power within party leadership. The essay is well worth reading (sorry, Spanish only).  (Tip of the hat to Gene for pointing me to the essay).  

A major theme in the 2015 news from El Salvador was corruption, or more specifically, the actual investigation of corruption. The corruption case against former president Francisco Flores continues, despite a recent setback delivered by an El Salvador appeals court.   Public integrity and civil society advocates were initially cheering when the trial court ruled that Flores would stand trial on charges of money laundering as well as corruption and illicit enrichment charges.   The court also ruled that private complainants could participate in the case.   Last week, the an appeals court threw out the money laundering charge .   The appellate judges also ruled that Flores could return home under house arrest rather than being imprisoned while awaiting trial.    The trial itself will take place in January 2016. Another ex-president was arrested last week.   The former president of El Salvador's national soccer federation, Reynaldo Vasquez, was ...

Today is another of those sad anniversaries that mark the passage of the years since the end of El Salvador's civil war.   Thirty-five years ago today, armed soldiers of the Salvadoran military stopped the van carrying four US churchwomen, took the women to a remote place, raped and murdered them. Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, lay missionary Jean Donovan and Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford had been devoting themselves to caring for the poor in a country spiraling into armed conflict. Their deaths became a symbol of the savage lengths to which the Salvadoran state would go to preserve its privileges of power. They joined the ranks of the martyrs of the struggle for justice in El Salvador. The UN Truth Commission Report following the war describes the basic facts: Shortly after 7 p.m. on 2 December 1980, members of the National Guard of El Salvador arrested four churchwomen as they were leaving Comalapa International Airport. Churchwomen Ita Ford, Maura Clark...

Cane cutters take a break in El Salvador A photo essay by Ed Kashi in the Guardian shows the hard lives of sugar cane workers in El Salvador and Nicaragua and describes the problems of chronic kidney disease and some of the measures to combat the illness.

El Salvador's Human Rights Ombudsman David Morales went to El Salvador's Supreme Court on Monday, November 16, the 26th anniversary of the murder of 6 Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter.   Morales was there to file a petition asking the Court to rescind its prior order on extradition of 13 military officers to Spain.   A Spanish court has issued an arrest warrant to require those officers to face justice for the Jesuit massacre, but in 2012, El Salvador's Supreme Court refused the Spanish extradition request. Morales petition probably has no more than symbolic significance.  The Supreme Court has not changed its composition and is highly unlikely to reverse itself.   Also pending in front of the Supreme Court is a challenge to the 1993 amnesty law which has so far prevented the military command from being prosecuted in El Salvador.   That challenge has been pending for years with no sign that a decision is due soon. The crimes of El Salvado...

The question I receive from readers more than any other is whether it is safe to travel to El Salvador.   This question has come with more frequency this year as headlines have proclaimed El Salvador as the murder capital of the world.   My answer to this question is always  “Yes, if you are smart about it.” It’s worth starting with the language of the most recent Travel Warning from the US State Department: Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens safely visit El Salvador each year for study, tourism, cruise ship visits, business, and volunteer work. There is no information to suggest that U.S. citizens are specifically targeted by criminals; however, crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country. US State Department Travel Warning , June 22, 2015.  In the next sentence the Travel Warning goes on to state: Since January 2010, 34 U.S. citizens have been murdered in El Salvador including a nine-year-old child in December 2013. What is...