Reading List

A collection of English language articles from the past ten days in El Salvador. 

The Rise of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s Authoritarian President, Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, Sept. 5, 2022.  Feature length profile of El Salvador's president tracks the ascension to total power in El Salvador of Nayib Bukele.

El Salvador's war on gangs leaves poor families reeling,  Nelson Renteria and Anastasia Moloney | Thomson Reuters Foundation, Sept. 5, 2022.  The arrests and the arbitrary detentions of persons alleged to be connected to gangs have happened primarily in poor areas of El Salvador.  The impact on the affected families is grave when someone is arbitrarily arrested.

Eviscerating human rights is not the answer to El Salvador’s gang problem, Amnesty International,  Aug. 31, 2022.   AI sums up its many concerns with human rights violations during the State of Exception.

Two Months after Wrongful Arrest, Don Paco Returned Home in a Casket, Efren Lemus, El Faro, Aug. 31, 2022.  A story of a man wrongfully arrested during the State of Exception, never seen alive again by his family.

Keeping up (dis)appearances in El Salvador, Belén Fernández, Al Jazeera, Aug. 30, 2022.  From the Salvadoran civil war through today, disappearances continue.

US Senate Poised to Finally Confirm Four Ambassadors to Central America, Roman Gressier and Jose Luis Sanz, El Faro English, Sept. 8, 2022.   El Salvador has not had a confirmed ambassador from the US since the beginning of the Biden administration.   Maybe that is about to change.

One Year Later: The Success of Making Bitcoin Legal Tender in El Salvador, Jaime Garcia, Bitcoin Mag., Sept. 7, 2022.  Bitcoin Magazine has been at Nayib Bukele's side from the beginning in his Bitcoin gambit for the country.  This is one of the many articles published on the Bitcoin Magazine site this week where you can see the Bitcoin optimists' view of the one year anniversary.

Bitcoin is Robin Hood in reverse for the Salvadoran poor, Ricardo Valenica, Unvision, Sept. 7, 2022.  And the opposing view.   

New Hampshire National Guard, El Salvador Participate in Cyber Exchange, Air National Guard, Sept. 1, 2022.  Training the country that deployed Pegasus spy software against journalists and human rights activists?   Is that such a good idea?

Shireen Abu Akleh and Carlos Dada named 2022 IPI-IMS World Press Freedom Heroes, International Press Institute, August 31, 2022.   El Faro and its founder Carlos Dada awarded again for courageous independent journalism.  

Balls of fire light up sky in El Salvador festival, Reuters, Sept. 1, 2022, Video and photos from the 100th anniversary of the Balls of Fire festival in Nejapa.

El Salvador’s largest reservoir becoming choked with garbage, EFE, Sept. 9, 2022.   The Cerron Grande reservoir, also known as Lago Suchitlan, is overflowing with plastic garbage draining in from the greater San Salvador area.