El Salvador Perspectives

Today is the one year anniversary of the explosion of the Chaparrastique volcano  near San Miguel. No one was killed by the volcano, but many people fled their homes on the flanks of the volcano for short periods of time. Through much of 2014 the volcano exhibited heightened levels of internal seismic activity and would often have gases coming from its crater, but last December's eruption was not repeated. Currently the internal activity is closer to the historic normal level. Despite the recent reduction in activity, the area closest to the volcano continues under an orange alert from civil protection authorities.

The number of Central Americans deported by Mexico back to the Northern Triangle surged by 47% in 2014.  According to Guatemalan government statistics reported by El Universal , 107,199 migrants were deported by land from Mexico across its border with Guatemala.  Those deported included 43,000 Hondurans, 41,000 Guatemalans and 21,000 Salvadorans.  Almost all were trying to make the trek from Central America to enter the US. Meanwhile the US continues to deport another 20,000 Salvadorans per year, with 6 full flights of deportees arriving every week at El Salvador's international airport.      

An article on the Jaunted.com website titled   Meet the Politur, El Salvador’s Police Force Just for Tourists  describes the work of a group of police who patrol El Salvador's tourist destinations: To combat misconceptions, increase public safety, and aid the growth of tourism, El Salvador has a special department of the National Civilian Police. They're called the Politur and they're here to help.  Established about 7 years ago, the Politur are professional police officers specially trained to offer safety for tourists. Currently there are about 500 officers throughout the country, who chiefly patrol areas frequented by visitors. The Politur's jurisdiction includes areas like the national parks, airports, city centers, and major hotels.  In addition to training to proactively prevent crime, the officers attend workshops to learn the basics of many different foreign languages. There is even a required scuba diving certification they must pass, accorded a simil...

The executive action taken by president Obama to protect millions of undocumented immigrants who have children in the US will have a dramatic impact on the community of Salvadorans living in the US, according to a recent story from the Washington Post : Obama’s action may affect more Mexicans than any other group, but it is expected to have a seismic impact on Salvadoran immigrant communities, the two largest of which are in Los Angeles and greater Washington. More than a third of the estimated 675,000 illegal immigrants from El Salvador live in the Washington area.  According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, when the president’s new action is added to previous protections, nearly two-thirds of all Salvadoran immigrants will probably be legalized — a higher percentage than any other undocumented group. Immigration officials will start accepting applications in May.  For the first time, thousands of Salvadoran parents with children born in the United States, as wel...

The announcement was made yesterday that El Salvador's government will retain former mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani as a consultant on how to combat the serious crime problem in the country. The decision to hire Giuliani is described as the first agreement reached by Salvador Sanchez Ceren's Council on Citizen Security and represents one of the first agreements reached between private business interests and the government.   The cost of hiring Giuliani's expensive consulting firm will be borne by business and not by the government. Giuliani has previously been retained as a  high profile security consultant on crime in Mexico and Guatemala .