El Salvador Perspectives

LDM church San Salvador Throughout El Salvador one will find churches of Luz del Mundo ("LDM" -- Light of the World). That faith group, which has its origins in Mexico has started to build a major religious campus and residential development in El Salvador. It is a church which has made a practice of being close to persons in power throughout the world. In El Salvador, that has meant being close to Nayib Bukele, the FMLN, Nuevas Ideas and other political figures. But the high leader of LDM has now been sentenced to 16 years in prison in the US for sexual assaults on minor girls, and whether LDM's plans in El Salvador will come to fruition is yet to be seen. Luz Del Mundo is an unaffiliated Christian church, centered around the figure of a single man, the “Apostle of Jesus Christ”. The first Apostle in LDM was its founder Aarón Joaquín, and he was succeeded by his son Samuel Joaquín Flores, and then by grandson Naasón Joaquín García, the current Apostle. The he...

Earlier this week, El Salvador's environmental groups came together for the 22nd annual Caminata Ecológica or "Environment March".   They walked through the streets of the capital San Salvador under the theme Exigimos justicia ambiental para el cuido de nuestra casa común --  "We demand environmental justice for the care of our common home."  The march began at Cuscatlan Park in the center of San Salvador and proceeded towards the presidential palace, although barricades and riot police stopped the march short of the palace.  March leaders were not greeted by anyone from the executive branch, but could only deliver their letter at the correspondence window. ¡Exigimos Justicia Ambiental para el cuidado de nuestra casa común! @SomosAguaES fue parte de la XXII Caminata Ecológica, en el marco del Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente, para exigir el respeto de los derechos ambientales, nuestros bienes naturales y territorios. pic.twitter.com/r1p9jmDwQb — Alianza Nacion...

During his June 1 report to the nation on his first three years as president, Nayib Bukele spent a significant amount of time railing against his critics in the human rights community, both domestic and international.  Given the amount of attention Bukele gave to these human rights defenders, it makes sense to collect in one place the series of reports they have issued which catalogue the human rights abuses committed in the name of Bukele's current war against gangs.  Shortly after the State of Exception was enacted on March 27, a coalition of 70 human rights and civil society groups issued a  statement  warning about the possibility of "mass arrests of young people in vulnerable situations who are not subject to judicial control, indiscriminate searches of the population living in poverty, and prolonged periods of isolation and detention of persons deprived of liberty, as well as undue restrictions on their rights to food and health." At the conclusion of the...

Drivers in the San Salvador area in recent months have seen the unmistakable skeleton of a gothic style church, complete with flying buttresses, rising up in a suburb of the capital city.  An ultra-conservative sect of the Roman Catholic church is building the church in the municipality of Apopa just northeast of San Salvador.  The group, named  Heraldos del Evangelio (Heralds of the Gospel), is constructing a religious center and shrine to the Virgin of Fatima  on the site at the base of the San Salvador volcano in an area known as Valle El Angel. The newspaper El Diario de Hoy recently published an  overview  of the Heraldos' plans for the church currently under construction. In addition to the church, the Heraldos hope to erect a spirituality center including include a school, a museum of sacred art, auditoriums and a space for outdoor events. Renderings of the future church from the Heraldos El Salvador website . So far the most visible element ...

Two Salvadoran universities released poll results May 25 providing the opinions of the Salvadoran public regarding the current State of Exception and other aspects of the government of president Nayib Bukele.   Despite the warnings of human rights advocates and independent journalists regarding arbitrary detentions, the abuse of human rights, and the decline of the rule of law in the country, it would be fair to say that the Salvadoran public is quite satisfied with the current performance of the government.   The University Institute of Public Opinion (IUDOP) of the UCA conducted a poll to learn public sentiment surrounding the State of Exception and the accompanying roundup of more than 34,000 suspected gang members and collaborators.  The IUDOP poll results  show the Salvadoran public to be broadly supportive of those measures.  According to the poll:   89.2% believe the State of Exception has been useful in reducing the level of crime in ...

You can spend a lot of time in El Salvador's cities in traffic, particularly in San Salvador.  Growing number of vehicles on the roads in crowded cities produce rush hours which can seem to last throughout the day and challenge your ability to arrive on time. On the one hand, the growth in the number of vehicles is a positive sign of a growing number of Salvadoran households able to afford car ownership.   On the other hand, the country has to struggle with congestion and the need to adapt its street and highway system to the ever increasing vehicle total. Here is a set of statistics about traffic in El Salvador: 1.5 million .  That's the number of vehicles  registered to drive on El Salvador's roads according to the vice minister of Transportation .   That total includes slightly more than 1 million cars and 451 thousand motorcycles. 10 thousand .  The number of additional vehicles which arrive in the country each month, the majority of them bein...

( English version ) Esta es una historia de personas que han caído en los arrestos y detenciones masivas que han sido el sello distintivo del actual Estado de Excepción en El Salvador.  Hay muchas historias de detenciones arbitrarias de personas que no tienen vínculos con las pandillas del país, según sus vecinos y otras personas que los conocen muy bien.  Este es solo un ejemplo, pero destaca porque tiene muchas consecuencias para toda una comunidad y no solo para los hombres detenidos. El 13 de mayo, la Policía Nacional Civil y las Fuerzas Armadas de El Salvador anunciaron que habían arrestado a un grupo de supuestos "colaboradores" con la MS-13, acusándolos de transportar drogas y suministros, para las islas en la Bahía de Jiquilisco.  Las lanchas que ellos operaban fueron incautadas por las fuerzas de seguridad. En Pto.El Triunfo, Usulután,en conjunto con la @PNCSV , ubicamos a 4 colaboradores de la pandilla MS-13, a quienes se les incautó 3 lanchas de motor fuera d...