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Thursday, August 31, 2006
Gangs Shut Down Two Bus Routes
Twenty two buses on two routes in Zacatecoluca, La Paz, have stopped running because they refuse to
pay the gangs $500 per week in protection money. Hundreds of bus riders have had to find other transportation to work
and school. Extorsion of bus operators is a major problem in many parts of Greater San Salvador. One bus system
owner says he has paid more than $61K during 2006.
Head of Gay Supprt Group Receives Death Threat; Offices Invaded
(From Amnesty International) Members of the Between Friends Association (Asociación Entre Amigos), including
the organization's director, William Hernández, have received death threats and are apparently under surveillance. This may
be an attempt to halt the organization's work on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in El Salvador.
At about 7.30pm on 1 June, William Hernández was threatened at gunpoint outside the office of the Asociación
Entre Amigos, in the capital, San Salvador, soon after the police officer assigned to protect him had left him for the day.
The assailant yelled threats, grabbed his briefcase and ran off.
Two days before this attack took place, the office of the Asociación Entre Amigos had been raided. On 30
May, William Hernández and another member of the organization's staff arrived at the office to find that three windows had
been broken, their files had been searched, and two threats had been written on pieces of paper and left in the office. One
note read "culeros se mueren", ("'fags' die"), and the other "esto es su merecido", ("this is what you deserve"). No valuable
office equipment was stolen in the raid, but a number of documents were taken
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
62% More Salvadorans Deported from USA
In the first eight months of 2006 the US deported 7,470 Salvadorans, up 62% compared to the 4,674 deported
in the same period of 2005. Of the deportees, 1,515 were ex-convicts; these convicted criminals create a large
burden for the government of El Salvador. Many join up with existing Salvadoran gangs.
Deportees wait to board their flight back to El Salvador.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Industrialist Gives $1,000,000 of Equipment to Hospital
A successful businessman originally from Santa Ana, Nicolás Salume, has donated a million dollars of medical
equipment to San Juan de Dios hospital in Santa Ana. The material includes modern hospital beds, hemodialysis equipment
and other medical instrumentation. Salume had previously funded a renovation of the maternity ward at a cost of $800
thousand. The Masons of Guatemala assisted in providing the medical supplies.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Greenwich, CT, man chosen as envoy to El Salvador
(From Stamford, CT, Advocate) President Bush reached into Greenwich for a fifth time during his presidency
for a diplomatic appointment yesterday, nominating investment banker Charles Glazer as ambassador to El Salvador.
Glazer,
63, who is married with three children, must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He would replace H. Douglas Barclay in the Central
American post.
"I'm honored that the president intends to nominate me to be U.S. ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador
and I look forward to my confirmation hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee," Glazer said last night.
Glazer,
a Husted Lane resident, is president and chief executive officer of Greenwich-based investment banking firm C.L. Glazer &
Co. Inc.
He stands to join ambassador to France Craig Stapleton, former ambassador to Sweden Charles Heimbold Jr. and
Thomas Foley, ambassador to Ireland, as foreign envoys from Greenwich who served during Bush's administration. Stapleton
also was former ambassador to the Czech Republic.
Glazer and Foley have been key supporters of Bush, with Glazer serving
as one of two Connecticut representatives to the Republican National Committee.
In 2004, Glazer served as sergeant-at-arms
during the Republican National Convention in New York City. He also was designated by the president's re-election campaign
as a "Bush Ranger," helping to raise at least $200,000 for the incumbent.
Glazer would join a long list of Greenwich
residents who have held major diplomatic posts. In addition to those now serving, seven other current and former residents
have headed foreign missions, including Joseph Verner Reed (Morocco); Franklin Forsberg (Sweden); Frank Shakespeare (Portugal
and Vatican City); Richard Nolte (Egypt); Evan Galbraith (France); Thomas Watson Jr. (the Soviet Union); and Clare Boothe
Luce (Italy).
Friday, August 25, 2006
El Salvador to move embassy to Tel Aviv
(From The Jerusalem Post) El Salvador announced on Friday that it would relocate its embassy in Israel from
Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
The Central American country became the only country in the world with an embassy in Israel's capital on August
16, when Costa Rica announced it was moving its embassy to Tel Aviv.
El Salvador's foreign ministry issued a statement saying that the decision was made in light of the present
situation in the Middle East.
A Political Killing -- or Not?
Alex Flores Montoya, 45, and his wife, Mercedes Peñate de Flores, 44, were killed in a drive by shooting
on Wednesday night. They were both leaders in, and former candidates for, the FMLN in Coatepeque. The leaders
of the party have demanded an in depth investigation; they believe it may have been a political killing. The FMLN is
the largest opposition party and was formed by the anti-government forces at the end of the civil war.
Fri, August 25, 2006 | link
Newsletter from El Congo -- Padre John Habecker
I visited San Marcos Anglican Village in Izalco
last month and met with Padre German Lopez, the new village priest, and Susana Barrera, who is leading the scholarship
and tutoring program in the village. (I also met with the scholarship recipients
and tutors.)
The road into the village is challenging (ß archetypical euphemism). The weather was dry, so I was able to drive
in, in the camion misionero. Padre German walks in. The police use trail bikes.
San Marcos - Izalco is the poorest of the Anglican villages; only one-fifth of the households
have a steady source of income. The rest try to make ends meet with agricultural
and domestic work, as available, and as street vendors. Most have incomes below
the official extreme poverty level of $154.70 per month. This has unfortunate
consequences in child and infant malnutrition. Thanks to ERD and a generous donor
in the US, our clinic and health program in the village is able to distribute children’s vitamins and powdered milk to those
in greatest need. Dr William Sanchez and Cristina Lopez, our health worker, track
the health of individual children and Cristina meets with the mothers for support and training in food preparation for maximum
nutrition. It is still not enough.
The answer, of course, is developing other sources of regular income for the residents. Susana Barrera and some other women from the church in San Salvador are working with
the village women to form an artisans’ coop, making and selling handicrafts. We
have hopes of helping to recover traditional indigenous crafts in ceramics and weaving for sale as souvenirs and, eventually,
as exports.
The television donated to San Francisco de Asis
in El Pital, and accompanying video tapes based on the New Testament, have proven very popular and helpful – we use them
in both adult and children’s education. I would like to use them in classes in
the public school next door to the church (we are responsible for their religious education), but there just isn’t time.
The student support (scholarship) program is going great here. The tutoring is in place and we’ll see if it has an impact at the next grading period.
San Jose in El Congo continues to develop. The church’s outreach here is focused on three areas: health, education, and community development. General health remains good; Doctor Sanchez comes every week to hold office hours,
and Cristina Lopez continues making home visits and leading groups for mothers and for adolescent girls for education in health,
nutrition, and family planning. We had two families suffer economic reverses,
but we’ve been able to help in both cases with the vitamins and powdered milk.
Education continues to be my passion. The
education program here has three goals:
1 – Get the kids into school.
2 – Keep them in school.
3 – Help them to succeed in school.
We do that through tutoring, tracking student performance, recognizing effort and success,
a pre-school (before first grade) program based on Head Start, providing needed school materials, and a small student allowance. If there are other costs (uniform, tuition), we do our best. The tutoring here is just getting under way – the need is for homework help in situations where family
adults are unable to provide it, and for work in the basics. (The public school
makes social promotions; if a student attends regularly, they are usually promoted to the next grade.)
I’ve started to meet with the director of the local public school. Just staying in touch and seeing how we can help and support his work.
Class sizes average about 50 students in grades 1 through 6, and then decline as students drop out to seek work. There are some drop outs in earlier grades, but there is really no work available
for them except in harvest season.
Our water tower is half built. Unfortunately,
work on it came to a screeching halt as soon as I left the country [on vacation leave].
The tower itself is built, but we have to put in the pipes and mount and connect the tank. The person who was supervising the project now has other employment, so finding his replacement adds to
the delay. But it will happen, on Salvadoran time.
The church and school of San Rafael in Santa
Ana were recently added to my responsibilities. The congregation has been
experiencing a decline in attendance and membership in recent years, with the school following, although not so precipitously. This is doubly unfortunate as Santa Ana is the second largest city in the country
and the church once had over 100 members and a school three times its present size.
I have spent the last month-and-a-half looking at reasons for the decline and trying to develop a plan for new growth.
It has become clear to me that I am not the right person for the long term recovery of
this congregation. Without going into all my reasoning, I am not going to drop
the work I am doing in other places to devote the time required here. So, I’m
here on an interim basis.
That said, there is still a valuable and powerful ministry to be done: the school. The school is actually a pre-school with 13 children ranging from 4 to 6 years of
age. We have an excellent teacher, an administrator, and the part-time help of
a local priest who has a practice as a veterinarian. With some changes in the
curriculum, an insistence on more parent involvement, and opening our student body to a broader spectrum, I believe we can
provide a needed ministry and perhaps the seeds of new growth in the congregation.
El Salvador Marks Day to Commemorate Fight Against Dengue
The Salvadoran government has designated August 26 as a day to focus on Dengue Fever. This year close
to 13,000 cases suspected to be Dengue have been reported. Of these 4,470 cases of classic Dengue have been confirmed
as well as 146 cases of the more severe hemorrhagic Dengue. The Ministry of Health has declared a red alert beccause of the recent increase in
cases. The problem is especially severe in the central part of the country (San Salvador, La Libertad and Sonsonate).
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
New Ambassador for El Salvador
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - U.S. President George Bush has nominated one person and appointed seven others to serve in his
Administration.
According to the White House, the President intends to nominate Charles L. Glazer, of Connecticut, to be the U.S. Ambassador
to the Republic of El Salvador. Mr. Glazer currently works as President and Chief Executive Officer of C.L. Glazer and Company,
Incorporated.
Strong Earthquake Rattles El Salvador
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - A strong earthquake rattled El Salvador on Tuesday, but no injuries or serious
damages were immediately reported.
The 5.7-magnitude quake was centered about 20 miles off the country's Pacific coast, off Playa El Espino in
Usulutan province, according to the country's seismological service.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Science Fiction Film to Be Made in El Salvador
A motion picture, provisionally titled “Los guardias de la memoria”, will be made in El Salvador in 2007.
The director, who is from Argentina, says it will be a science fiction movie and the first of a trilogy. The budget
is $100 million and the film will use a thousand extras.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Government Struggles with Budget Deficit
FUSADES (Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development) reported that 2006 will likely end with
a 3% national budget deficit. In the first half of the year pensions have increased by $25MM, subsidies to bus transportation
by $18MM, and subsidies to propane and elctricity by $55MM. The government is optimistic about improvement in the deficit.
The S&P analyst following El Salvador, Robert Siphon, points out that tax rates are rather low in El Salvador. The
government, however, recently has rejected any tax increase. (From elfaro.net)
El Salvador Maintains Embassy in Jerusalem
(From Israel National News.com) Jerusalem, once the home to embassies of 12 Latin American countries and
The Netherlands, now hosts only El Salvador following the announcement by Costa Rica's president that he is fulfilling an
election pledge and moving out of the Holy city. Costa Rica leaders said the move was made in order to improve relations with
Arab countries.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Minimum Wage Raised
The government of El Salvador has approved increases in the minimum wage in several sectors. Increases
of 10% will be implemented on the first of September in most sectors and 4% in maquiladoras, which are light assembly plants
in the free trade zones. The last increase was in 2003.
Workers in agricultural jobs must be paid at least $74.10 per month, or roughly thirty-five cents an hour
for the typical six and a hlaf day weeks. Service industries must pay $174.24 a month, industrial jobs $170.28 and maquiladoras
$157.25.
Bus fare for the typical person who takes two buses each way is now about $1.00 a day, after increases caused
by fuel. Groceries cost about what they cost in the USA. Tough to make ends meet...
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Congress Continues to Bow to Special Interests
In it's pure form CAFTA was supposed to reduce or cancel tariffs so that the people of Central America and
the people of the USA would benefit from lower prices and possibly more jobs. However, the US Congress has been busy
bending to special interests in the US. El Salvador sugar cane farmers never benefitted much because of opposition from
US sugar beet farmers from the start. And now the tariff on socks will probably go back to the pre-agreement levels
of 13%. This action is way down in the small print at the bottom of legislation on pensions (of all things). See
http://www.govtrack.us/data/us/bills.text/109/h/h4.pdf
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
The Story of Antonio
Todos los Hijos de Dios is a Lutheran congregation in Amsterdam, NY. Bishop Marie Jerge
recounted the following at the ELCA Synod Assembly in June.
"His name is Antonio. He was the elected delegate to this assembly
from Todos los Hijos de Dios. But he is not here as he has been detained by immigration and will most likely be deported.
I met Antonio last February when I visited that congregation and he spent time with me after the service to speak of his life
and experience here in the US. ... Antonio lived and worked here for 6 years. He paid taxes and social security,
though he will never see any benefits from that. He applied legally for his green card – completed all the paperwork
and paid $5000 cash to a lawyer when the time was right. On the appointed day Antonio showed up, but his lawyer did
not – taking with him the cash and the papers. That is how Antonio became an illegal immigrant. It has happened
to Antonio twice – two different lawyers. Antonio said to me, 'I don’t think I can come up with another $5000 to file
the papers yet again.' Now I know that stories differ and there are those immigrants who have crossed the borders illegally
etc. But you need to know that at least some of our folks, members of our congregations became illegal when they were
cheated by US lawyers. That is why I speak on issues of immigration and stand with the immigrant. We have
so far had no legal recourse. But I have to tell you that Pastor Swanson tells me that Antonio is in the jail in Albany
and hasn’t been deported yet. But he has not been idle. He keeps asking for Spanish bibles because he has gathered
a group in the jail to lead bible study and he keeps giving his bible away. He talks about Jesus and cares for other
inmates as a reflection of the resurrection hope that he has come to know through the Lutheran church. Please remember
Antonio when you hear about immigration on the news."
Coffee Prices Drift Down
Now why would a blog of this genre even care about commodity futures??? It is important to note that
coffee production is still a large part of the Salvadoran economy. When prices crash the workers often bear the brunt.
This is what happened in the 1930s when workers tried to speak up when wages and employment hit the skids as coffee prices
dove.
Current prices of about a dollar a pound are up by a factor of two from the trough of 2002, but down by
a factor of two from 1997.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Last Contingent to Iraq?
The seventh contingent of 380 soldiers has just been deployed to Iraq in support of the US occupation there.
President Saca, however, has recently raised the possibility that this may be the final deployment. Four Salvadoran
soldiers have died in Iraq.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
108 Die in August Holidays
In the six days of holiday leading up to La Fiesta de El Salvador del Mundo (August 6) the majority
of the deaths were from gunfire. Sixty-one were shot to death, 18 died from knife wounds, and most of the rest died
in motor accidents. The 26 who died on the roadways were up by 25% from last year. One US student from California
was drowned in a boating accident.
There are, on average, ten murders and three carjackings reported daily to the police. The majority
of murders are gang-related according to the police.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Updated Links and Pilgrimage Pages
Sat, August 12, 2006 | link
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Floods Continue
Residents of Zacamil clean up after flooding during the current wet season. Two inches of rain fell
yesterday in less than an hour, causing the evacuation of 79 families in greater San Salvador.
Wed, August 9, 2006 | link
Poorest of Poor Families Receive Chickens
Families in cantón El Carrizal, in the area of de Santo Domingo de Guzmán, have received ten chickens per
family member. The program, the Social Protection Network, is to help families begin small farms to improve their
standard of living. The cantón is among the 132 poorest areas in the country. The chicks came from hatcheries
in the USA.
Swimming Pools to be Built in Santa Tecla
Óscar Samuel Ortiz, mayor of Santa Tecla, has announced that two olympic size pools will be built in his
city, which is adjacent to San Salvador. The pools, costing $200,000, are being built with communtiy money and private
funds; they will serve the coomunity, especially elementary students.
Wed, August 9, 2006 | link
Massive Prison Escape
Thirty eight gang members escaped through a twenty inch wide hole in a cell wall at the prison in Cojutepeque,
Cuscatlán, yesterday. The escape was at 9:30 AM in broad daylight. The escapees carjacked several vehicles near
the prison to make good their escape; only two had been recaptured as of this morning. The warden, who did not notify
authorities immediately, has been suspended. This is the largest escape in the troubled history of the Salvadoran prison
system.
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Dengue Cases Spike
213 new cases of suspected Dengue fever were reported yesterday. A Yellow Alert has been announced
by the Health Ministry lasting until mid-September. On average 40% of suspected cases are diagnosed as Dengue.
The total diagnosed in 2006 has passed the three thousand level; of these 111 are of the more serious hemorrhagic
variety. There is currently no vaccine for Dengue Fever. For more information go to http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/dengue/
It's Holiday Time: Murders Rise
In the first two days of the holidays before the festival of El Salvador del Mundo 102 people have been
injured by knives and guns and 26 have died. The majority of the killings have been in the capital region with ten in
the city of San Salvador. Last year there were 79 deaths in the week of festivities.
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