El Salvador Perspectives

 Here is a collection of recent reporting in English about developments in El Salvador. Rain-fueled landslide in El Salvador kills 9; 1 missing  (AP, Oct. 30, 2020) -- Intense rains caused a mudslide on the slopes of the San Salvador volcano, burying homes in Nejapa. ( Reuters ) Trump and Central America: Less Democracy for Less Migration (El Faro English, Oct. 29, 2020) --  With each new journalistic or judicial investigation into high-level corruption and crime, Central American leaders have found a lifeline in U.S. ambassadors willing to scrub their public image. By dint of blackmail, the Trump administration has demanded an end to unauthorized immigration, promising in return the label of “reliable partner” and issuing blank checks to the presidents of the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America which have underwritten their attacks against the fragile democratic orders they lead. Commander of US Southern Command Visits El Salvador  (US Embassy, Oct....

This article originally appeared on the website of InsightCrime under the title  The El Salvador President’s Informal Pact with Gangs. Written by Steven Dudley - October 2, 2020 El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has vehemently denied swapping favors with gangs, but a slew of government officials and a person working directly with the government say there is an informal pact between parts of the government and the gangs. Bukele’s public insistence that his government is not working with gangs followed a report in El Faro published on September 3 . The report drew from government documents and interviews to show government representatives had met with gang members inside and outside of the prison system to foment greater trust and trade favors, among them political access for Bukele’s political party, Nuevas Ideas, in gang-dominated areas to campaign for legislative and municipal elections set for February 2021. El Faro called the talks “negotiations.” The El Faro story came just ...

In the past decade, investigative journalists have uncovered important information for the Salvadoran people about the misdeeds of those in power.  Their reports disclosed the role of the government of El Salvador in negotiating a 2012 gang truce under president Mauricio Funes, revealed  payoffs from both ARENA and the FMLN to the gangs for election support in the 2014 presidential election, reported on  corruption in the office of the attorney general , uncovered the existence of extra-judicial execution squads  within the security forces under president Salvador Sanchez Ceren, and more.      That valuable work at sites like  El Faro ,  Revista Factum ,  Gato Encerrado  and FocosTV has continued under the current administration of president Nayib Bukele.  Journalists at traditional newspapers including El Diario de Hoy and La Prensa Gráfica have also been shedding light on dealings of government officials.   For i...