  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Not One Murder More
Hundreds of women took to the streets of San Salvador yesterday to call silently for an end to violence
in the country.
Sat, November 26, 2005 | link
Friday, November 25, 2005
59 Families Receive New Homes
Fifty nine families who lost their homes as a result of Hurricane Stan earlier this year have received new
ones in a program that plans to replace two thousand homes nationwide.
Ex-Salvadoran Colonel Is Ordered to Pay for Crimes Against Humanity
From the New York Times:
A federal jury in Memphis yesterday (18Nov) found a former military colonel from El Salvador responsible
for crimes against humanity during that country's civil war in the 1980's and ordered him to pay $6 million in damages.
The nine-member jury found that the colonel, Nicolás Carranza, had "command responsibility" for the torture
of a Salvadoran who was forced to confess falsely to killing an American military adviser, Lt. Cmdr. Albert Schaufelberger,
in 1983.
Colonel Carranza was the vice minister of defense, El Salvador's second-highest military commander, from 1979
to 1981, and in 1983 he was head of the Treasury Police, the most notoriously violent of the country's security forces.
Mr. Carranza, who moved to Memphis in 1985 and is now an American citizen, testified that he was a paid informant
for the Central Intelligence Agency for two decades, including the years that were the focus of the trial. His tie to the
agency was corroborated at the trial by the American ambassador to El Salvador at the time, Robert White.
The verdict was a victory for human rights groups that have been seeking to prosecute foreign military commanders
linked to rights violations, especially from the wars in Central America, who have settled in the United States.
Twenty Five Years Anniversary of Murder of Four American Churchwomen
Next Friday, December 2, will mark 25 years since the rape and murder in El Salvador of four American
churchwomen, including two Maryknoll nuns, a crime that shocked the nation and caused many to question American policy in
Central America.
Five Salvadoran National Guardsmen were convicted of the murders in 1984. But the victims' families and Maryknoll
continued to call for former leaders of the Salvadoran military to be held accountable.
A United Nations-sponsored Truth Commission report concluded the abductions and killings were engineered by
"higher-ups." The Salvadoran conflict raged for 12 years, and more than 100,000 people were killed.
In 2000, two retired Salvadoran generals, both living in Florida, faced a civil trial in Miami, but a jury
could not determine whether they had control over the troops who committed the murders.
The four churchwomen worked with refugees and children. But no one was safe at the time from being considered
communist sympathizers.
(From The Westchester (NY) Journal News) http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051125/NEWS02/511250342/1017
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/s_389768.html
A personal note: This event was probably the second time I focussed on El Salvador. One of the murdered laywomen
was a good friend of a friend of mine in Cleveland, OH.
Dios todopoderoso, mira con piedad las tristezas de tus siervos por quienes oramos.
Narcotraffic Continues to be a Challenge in Central America
Fri, November 25, 2005 | link
Tourism Increases More than 50%
Tourism added $464 million to the Salvadoran economy through the third quarter of this year. This
is an increase of 50.6% compared to 2004. The majority of the tourists come from Central America. The USA was
first among other countries, with almost 200,000 visitors. Each tourist spends, on average, $93 a day.
Apologies
I have been out of the country for work and quite busy recently. I'll get back to posting here.
Army Returns to the Street
Salvadoran President Antonio Saca has deployed the army into the streets of parts of San Salvador for policing
activities. Earlier this month they were utilized in San Miguel, in the eastern part of the country. The army
has generally not been seen among the populace since the end of the civil war in 1992. An informal poll in La Prensa Gráfica seems to indicate the majority of those responding support Saca.
Monday, November 7, 2005
Concern over Violence in El Salvador
The National Civil Police (PNC) showed its worry Monday in the face of spiralling violence affecting El
Salvador, where 55 out of 100 murdered people are youth under 30.
Authorities also emphasized that during 2005 women´s murders rose by 55 percent, or 300 dead females, which
is 108 more than in 2004.
Possession of arms in most Salvadoran houses is one of the aggression´s causes, according to the PNC, which
has seized 3,140 illegal weapons.
Meanwhile, an investigation carried out by experts in Central America titled Public Insecurity: The Business
of Violence, specified that one in ten Salvadorans over 13 has a weapon.
The study calculated in that nation there were more than 400,000 weapons of war in the hands of civilians
and only 1,450 were properly registered.
Twenty Five Years
It's been almost twenty-five years since the four Maryknolls were assassinated in El Salvador.
The link is to an article that recently ran in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
President Saca Says FTAA is Not Dead
(From Dow Jones, 11/4/05) El Salvador's President Antonio Saca Friday firmly opposed statements by his Venezuelan counterpart,
Hugo Chavez, that the idea to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas was dead, and said the planned free-trade area from
Alaska to Argentina will become a reality.
"We did not come here to attend the burial of the FTAA," Saca said at a press conference during the Summit of the Americas
held in the Argentine city of Mar de Plata. "Our position is of a total and absolute support of the FTAA. The spirit of integration
will prevail."
Saca comments came in a stark contrast to those of Chavez little earlier.
"Today the FTAA is dead and we are going to bury it here. We are here to change the course of history," the Venezuelan
president said as he stepped off his plane to attend the summit of 34 Western Hemisphere leaders held here Friday and Saturday.
Chavez wasn't talking for all Latin American presidents, Saca said.
Failed Effort to Create Free Trade Zone for All of the Americas
(From the Wall Street Journal, 11/7/05) President Bush in Brazil yesterday attempted to salvage something positive
from the Summit of the Americas that ended in disarray Saturday in Mar del Plata, Argentina, the Financial Times reports.
Mr. Bush met President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a closed meeting at the Brazilian president's private residence and they
each made strong expressions of mutual respect and of willingness to cooperate on a range of issues. But it was clear that
the divisions over the way to proceed on free trade that dominated the Mar del Plata summit remained, the FT says, adding
that the divisions appeared to highlight shortcomings in U.S. policymaking on Latin America. The Mar del Plata meeting ended
inconclusively after the 34 heads of state present failed to agree on a final declaration -- a result seen as a victory for
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who led protests against any form of U.S.-led cooperation. The summit had been expected
to discuss issues such as employment and poverty, but instead all attention focused on a failure to move forward on negotiations
for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, first proposed at the first Summit of the Americas in 1994.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
