El Salvador Perspectives

El Salvador took a historic first step this week in the case of the 1981 massacre at El Mozote and the surrounding communities.    For the first time, former  officers of El Salvador's high military command sat before a Salvadoran judge to hear a reading of the crimes for which they are being accused of supervising and ordering.   Crimes like murder, rape and kidnapping in the military operation which killed as many as 1000 civilians including hundreds of children. From Reuters : A court in El Salvador notified seven former high-level military leaders on Wednesday they are being investigated for their alleged roles in the 1981 massacre of 1,000 peasants, considered the worst atrocity in the nation's bloody civil war.  The case, reopened in October, is the first since a July decision by the Supreme Court declaring unconstitutional a 1993 amnesty law that banned investigating, prosecuting, or jailing people for war crimes or human rights violations.......

El Salvador's National Assembly today unanimously passed legislation banning metallic mining, including gold mining in the country.   The new law follows a years long struggle against mining companies by environmental activists, and makes the country the first in the world to enact a nationwide ban on metallic mining.    Recent strong endorsements of the legislation by the Roman Catholic church and by the Jesuit-run University of Central America appeared to create the additional momentum needed to make the bill become law. A New York Times article on the passage of the law highlighted the environmental concerns which prompted the legislation: The risks of mining in El Salvador, however, are especially acute. The tiny country is densely populated and the second-most environmentally degraded country in the Americas, after Haiti, according to the United Nations.  “Mining is an industry whose primary and first victim is water,” said Mr. McKinley, who added that ...

Nine months after El Salvador's Supreme Judicial Court nullified a 1993 amnesty law which blocked the prosecution of war crimes committed during the country’s civil war, the online periodical El Faro now  reports that the FMLN government of Salvador Sánchez Cerén is preparing draft legislation to implement the court ruling and replace the amnesty law. The government is reportedly working with a Colombian lawyer, Juanita Goebertus, who is represented to be an expert in "transitional justice" and who worked on the peace accords signed in 2016 between the government of Colombia and the FARC guerrillas. One issue which must be addressed in this effort is the definition of what acts committed during the war are still protected from prosecution.  The ruling of the court only nullified the amnesty law as it applied to "crimes against humanity."   Acts which do not rise to the level of a crime against humanity are still protected by the amnesty law:   Los hecho...

El Salvador is blessed to have a coastline with scores of scenic beaches.   These beaches are an important source of job-creating tourism. One of those beaches is Playa El Tunco. located just to the west of Puerto La Libertad on El Salvador's Pacific coast.    The waves attract surfers, and the beautiful location attracts everyone else.  The beach area features a growing number of small hotels, restaurants and bars.   On a recent visit in mid-March,  the area was bustling with North American tourists including both surfers and others on spring break.  The area will be overwhelmed with beach lovers during Holy Week in mid-April. According to the Ministry of Tourism, the Playa El Tunco area saw an investment of $11.6 million from 2014-2016 generating a significant number of direct and indirect jobs.   Similar levels of investment are occurring down the coast from El Tunco at Playa El Zonte where four new small hotels are opening during 2017 wh...

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) recently released its 2016 report titled " Human Development for Everyone ."   The report looks at human development across the globe in the context of the UNDP's "human development index" (HDI).    The HDI is a “a composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development— a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living.” According to the most recent index, Norway, Australia and Switzerland take the podium for the highest human development. In releasing the report in El Salvador, the UNDP stated : The report "located El Salvador among the countries of medium human development with an HDI of 0.68, which has increased from 1990 by 28.5%.   It is located at position 117 of 188 countries.  When you consider inequalities, the HDI value for El Salvador declines some 22.2%, which is less than the reduction observed in Latin American and the Caribbean.   The r...

Today, March 24, is the 37th anniversary of the assassination/martyrdom of archbishop Oscar Romero.   In El Salvador,  Romero news of the past week has focused on whether or not Romero will be canonized soon by the Roman Catholic church.   The country's Roman Catholic bishops are in Rome where they expressed their interest in a prompt canonization with a trip to El Salvador by Pope Francis, as well as the beatification of Rutilio Grande.   The Pope's response? -- everything will happen on the appropriate schedule. Yesterday, human rights lawyers filed a petition with a court in San Salvador to reopen the case of Romero's assassination.   They are asking the court, now that the 1993 Amnesty Law has been nullified, to proceed judicially to establish the facts and the responsible parties surrounding El Salvador's most notorious murder.   This year is the 100th anniversary of Oscar Romero's birth.   If you want to learn more about this towering...

March 22 was the World Day for Water.    In El Salvador, it was an appropriate day to reflect on a crisis in the availability of clean water.     According to statistics from the environment ministry  (MARN), as reported in La Prensa Grafica, there has been a decline of 27% in the availability of clean water in the country over the past decade. Why has this happened, when there is a six month rainy season each year?   The problem is that the surface waters in rivers and lakes are contaminated with pollution in much of the watershed that covers El Salvador.   There is the beginning of an effort to clean up the surface waters, but it will be a long time before that effort starts to show results.  The cost of treating contaminated surface water to make it drinkable is quite high.   As a result, much of the potable water used in the country must come from wells which tap the country's underground aquifers. The country's aquifers are being dr...