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December 12, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that only 30% of Salvadoran businesses are ready to face the market forces that CAFTA will open on January 1, 2006. Most suffer from poor infrastructure, are not competitive, and lack the financing, access to credit, and skilled labor for success.
December 2, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports the new UNDP report finds that remittances have reduced poverty by 6.7%.
December 1, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that Salvadorans living in the US earn an average of 6 times more than those in El Salvador, and that they live 10 years longer. The same UNDP report notes that the 2.5 million Salvadorans in the US represent a "human development hemorrhage" for their home country, depriving it of skilled workers.
El Diario de Hoy sites the new UNDP Human Development Report which describes El Salvador's economic development plan, focused on the financial sector and maquilas, as inappropriate. It also signals problems with high consumption versus investment and savings as well as poor regulation and competition in the privatized telecommunications, electric, and financial sectors.
November 30, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that the ARENA party has proposed a new antiterrorism law that would increase penalties and expand the definition of terrorism to include the occupation of buildings -- a common social protest tactic. All of the opposotion parties have responded negatively to the proposed law.
Diario CoLatino reports that the legislature approved the instalation of the ILEA -- a US-run police academy -- in El Salvador. The opposition fears that the ILEA will continue the work of the infamous School of the Americas.
November 28. 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that 937,000 Salvadorans are underemployed, representing 35% of the economically active population. A lack of education and training have contributed to this situation.
November 25, 2005
Diario CoLatino reports that the son of Felix Ulloa will soon present a law suit against Nicolas Carranza for the assassination of his father, rector of the University of El Salvador, in 1980.
November 19, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that retired colonel Nicolas Carranza was found guity of crimes against humanity and of allowing torture and extra-judicial killings. The Tennessee jury has ordered him to pay a fine of $6 million and he could lose his US citizenship.
The US government seeks to revoke a law that has given Salvadoran immigrants without papers special protection since 1982. The revocation of this law would likely lead to an increase of deportations.
November 18, 2005
El Diario de Hoy reports that Tropical Storm Stan damaged a total of 8,400 homes.
US President Bush has begun a process to cancel TPS, the Temporary Protected Status the US has given to more than 200,000 Salvadoran immigrants. TPS currently allows them to work legally in the US.
November 16, 2005
Diario CoLatino reports that the defense has rested in the Nicolas Carranza trial in Memphis, TN. Carranza, the head of several of El Salvador's security forces and an associate of Roberto D'Aubuisson, stands accused of human rights abuses and crimes against humanity.
November 8, 2005
Diario CoLatino prints an interview with researcher Leonel Gomez where he accuses ex-president Cristiani with atrocities during the civil war and today's bankers with involvement in drug trafficing.
An Oxfam report has found that the communities most effected by Hurricane Stan remain without food or health security.
November 7, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that inflation for the last 12 months has reached 5.9%.
El Faro reports that the $355 million in damages caused by the recent disasters will have an impact in El Salvador's human development, according to a CEPAL report.
October 26, 2005
Diario CoLatino reports that recent flooding in the Bajo Lempa region caused more than $1.25 million in damages to crops and livestock.
Police detained a group of marchers from the Bajo Lempa who were en route to the presidential palace to demand that the government respond to the disaster in the region.
October 25, 2005
Diario CoLatino reports that the Interamerican Human Rights Commission is protesting the Salvadoran government's failure to follow its recommendation related to investigating the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, indemnifying his family and the Catholic Church, and nullifying the amnesty law.
October 24, 2005
Diario CoLatino reports that Archbishop Saenz Lacalle and Human Rights Omsbudsman Beatrice de Carrillo have both denounced the political manipulation of emergency relief. It appears that certain individuals and municipalities are receiving preferential treatment, especially those associated with the governing ARENA party.
October 19, 2005
El Diario de Hoy reports that fishing and shrimp farming in the Bajo Lempa region were seriously damaged by recent flooding, with damages of $625,000 and $425,000 respectively.
October 18, 2005
El Diario de Hoy reports that 34,000 people around El Salvador remain in shelters following the flooding from Stan and the ongoing volcanic activity around Ilamatepec.
October 13, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that during the flooding as many as 72,000 people around El Salvador took refuge in shelters. Of these, approximately 44% had returned home by Wednesday.
In the Bajo Lempa region, flood waters have destroyed corn and other crops.
El Diario de Hoy reports that in the Bajo Lempa region more than 2,500 families in 33 communities suffered flood damage. Many have lost their crops and their livestock.
Remittances have risen 11% compared with last year. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have generated employment and higher wages, fueling more remittances.
October 11, 2005
Diario CoLatino reports that the communities of the Bajo Lempa (Jiquilisco) are pleading with the central government for support. Thus far, the only food and medicine the 2,800 families in shelters have received has come from churches and international organizations. They also accused the CEL hydroelectric dam of discharging too much water and the government of not finishing the levies that would have prevented the flooding (and of poor construction on the levies that were completed). What help that has arrived seems to have been politicized: ARENA Party campaigners have passed out food with propaganda at some shelters.
El Diario de Hoy reports rains and flooding have caused massive transportation problems in Guatemala and Mexico. This in turn has doubled and trippled the cost of imported fruits and vegetables from those countries to El Salvador. It could take two weeks or longer to install provisional bridges, for example, to replace those destroyed by the storms.
La Prensa Grafica reports that the Salvadoran government turned away a Venezuelan delegation of 10 doctors and 26 disaster specialists. The Armed Forces claims that the delegation, which came in response to the disaster, did not fulfill a unnamed international disaster protocol necessary to enter the country.
October 10, 2005
El Diario de Hoy reports that the death toll from Stan has risen to 71, with more than 53,000 people evacuated. Schools will remain closed through at least Wednesday as heavy rains continue. 86 schools have been damaged or destroyed by the disaster while 190 are serving as shelters throughout the country.
In western El Salvador, the authorities fear that Ilamatepec volcano may soon have a massive explosion.
Diario CoLatino reports that the rains have left more than 500 dead in Guatemala.
October 7, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that an earthquake measuring 6.2 struck the Salvadoran coast today. With the ground saturated by water, the earthquake caused many mudslides.
October 6, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that Tropical Storm Stan has killed 65, left 54,000 evacuees, and caused $1.4 Billion in damages in El Salvador alone. Guatemala has also suffered heavy losses, with Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras also suffering losses.
Evacuees from the Bajo Lempa now deal with illnesses related to the flooding, including rashes, headaches, and swarms of mosquitos that have bred in the flood waters.
30 municipalities around the country have reported that many shelters still lack food, potable water, clothing, and other basic necesities for evacuees.
El Diario de Hoy reports that yesterday President Saca decided to seek international help with the disasters El Salvador faces. The Interamerican Development Bank has offered $200,000.
In Isla de Mendez, floodwaters have made it impossible to reach the 500 community members by land.
October 5, 2005
La Prensa Grafica reports that evacuees from the Usulutan side of the Bajo Lempa are taking refuge in San Marcos Lempa, El Playon, and Jiquilisco. The mayor of Jiquilisco, David Barahona, notes that they have few food supplies for the evacuees. He added that 1,200 families had been evacuated in Jiquilisco, with others remaining isolated in Ciudad Romero (100), Las Mesitas (62), and Babilonia (40).
On Tuesday, after several days of flooding and volcanic activity, the legislature declared a state of emergency and three days of mourning.
October 4, 2005
El Diario de Hoy reports that El Salvador faces two disasters. The eruption of Ilamatepec Volcano in Santa Ana has led to two deaths and 7,500 evacuated people. Tropical Storm Stan has caused flooding and landslides around the country, leading to 44 deaths and 16,000 evacuees.
Diario CoLatino reports that the Usulutan side of the Bajo Lempa has flooded because of incomplete levies along the river. Local emergency response organizations complain that the national government has not responded to the emergency and that food supplies are low.