Death toll rises in El Salvador flooding

The following graphic from La Prensa Grafica provides a map showing the locations in the country impacted by the flooding and landslides (click on graphic for full screen version):

(Alternate version)

The death toll from yesterday's floods and mudslides rose to more than 130 as more bodies were found and more inaccessible areas were reached by authorities, and more than 90 are still missing. At least 1500 houses were destroyed and some 10,000 forced from their homes. President Funes has declared a national state of emergency and declared that the damages in El Salvador are incalculable. He has called for help from neighboring countries and is seeking to use some funds designated for dealing with the economic crisis to be used for the present crisis.

From the BBC Coverage:

A torrent of mud and boulders from the Chichontepec volcano hit the town [of Verapaz] near the capital, San Salvador, on Sunday, wrecking 300 homes and burying cars. Bodies covered in mud-caked sheets are being collected at a local chapel. Officially the death toll across El Salvador after days of heavy rainstorms stands at at least 130 people.

President Mauricio Funes declared a national emergency, describing the damage as "incalculable". "Today is a very sad day for the country and its government, in fact it is one of the most tragic days in memory," he said in a televised address to the nation on Sunday.

The BBC's weather centre says the disastrous rains were mainly caused by a low pressure system in the Pacific, which was linked indirectly to Hurricane Ida. Ida, which passed the country three days ago, was downgraded to a tropical storm as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico on Monday.

Verapaz, one of the most seriously affected communities on the slopes of the San Vicente volcano was also a victim of the 2001 earthquakes. This photo from EDH shows the damages in 2001 and today.

Organizations gearing up to provide humanitarian relief include:

• Lutheran World Relief
• Caritas
• World Vision.

More information and multimedia:

• Get current English news headlines on the flooding here.
• Interactive Google map with damage locations.
• Citizen reporter site of LPG
• Citizen reporter site of EDH.
• Powerful images from effects of river flooding in Aguilares.
• Collection of photos on Flickr of landslide in Verapaz.
• Collection of photos on Flickr of flooding damages in San Vicente.
• Dave's Landslide blog.
• Video news report

More on November 2009 flooding and mudslides

Five departments most affected by rains and flooding, put on orange alert by Salvadoran authorities.

The death toll has risen to at least 100 according to EDH. That would make this the worst natural disaster in El Salvador since Hurricane Stan in 2005.

Landslide near San Vicente

Some of the worst mudslides are reported in the town of Verapaz located in the folds of the San Vicente Volcano, also known as Chichontepec volcano. As 14 inches of rain fell on the area, water and mud came pouring down the sides of the volcano. According to El Diario de Hoy, there has been an 8 kilometer long landslide and entire neighborhoods are under the earth. Also in that vicinty, the river Acahualpa swept away some 30 houses from the communities Dos Puentes and La Caridad (also known as El Zope). In the department of San Vicente as of 1:00 pm Sunday, November 8, there were reported 25 deaths and 40 missing.

View Larger Map

More photo galleries of the damage:

• Flooding of the River Chilama in La Libertad.
• Images from San Vicente

Link to website of El Salvador's Civil Protection Agency

Flooding and mudslides kill more than 90 in El Salvador

Three days of torrential rains produced destructive flooding and mudslides in El Salvador killing dozens with many more missing. From the Los Angeles Times:

Torrential rains in El Salvador triggered flooding and mudslides that left at least 91 people dead across the Central American nation, officials said today.

At least 60 people were reported missing, and authorities warned that the toll could rise as rescuers reached hard-hit zones that remained cut off by floodwaters and landslides. About 7,000 people were evacuated and scores were plucked from flood zones by helicopter, Interior Minister Humberto Centeno said.

The impoverished nation of 5 million was pelted by three days of rain attributed to "a disturbed weather area" off the Pacific coast of El Salvador, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. Meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said the heavy rains were unrelated to Hurricane Ida, which earlier sideswiped the region as a tropical storm over the western Caribbean.

Salvadoran authorities reported flooding in the capital, San Salvador, and rural areas to the east. Some of the worst damage was reported in the eastern province of San Vicente, a farming region where authorities said many residents remained cut off from communication.

A radio journalist who reached Verapaz, a town of 6,000 in that region, reported seeing dozens of people desperately searching for relatives missing amid homes buried by landslides after a river spilled over its banks. Carlos Lopez, a Red Cross spokesman, said 300 homes in Verapaz were "semi-destroyed."

Lopez said hundreds more rural dwellers were cut off in the southern province of Usulutan. Many took refuge on the rooftops of their shanties. Rescue workers were having a hard time reaching the area because of landslides that blocked highways.

According to El Faro, this is the most intense rain El Salvador has received in more than a decade. In San Vicente, 355 millimeters of rain fell in 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday (14 inches), while during the destructive Hurricane Mitch in 1998, there was 600 millimeters of rain spread out over three days.

Images of the devastation:

• Photogallery of images of damage in San Vicente and Verapaz
• Aerial images of flooding.
• Images from San Salvador.
• BBC Photogallery of flooding

Look for another update here later tonight.

El Salvador to investigate the assassination of Oscar Romero

Yesterday I described the determination of El Salvador's president Mauricio Funes to make an act of public atonement on the 20th anniversary of the murder of the six Jesuits in 1989. Today, in an equally significant departure from the policies of the past ARENA governments, El Salvador announced that it would investigate the 1980 assassination of archbishop Oscar Romero, determine culpability, and make reparations.

The announcement came at a hearing of the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington, D.C. In 2000, the IACHR had ruled that El Salvador had violated basic human rights for its role in the assassination of Romero and the subsequent lack of any judicial inquiry or punishment. The ruling required that El Salvador:

1. Undertake expeditiously a complete, impartial, and effective judicial investigation to identify, try and punish all the direct perpetrators and planners of the violations established in this report, notwithstanding the amnesty that has been decreed.

2. Make reparations for all the consequences of the violations set forth, including the payment of just compensation.

3. Adapt its internal legislation to the American Convention with a view to nullifying the General Amnesty Law.

For the next eight years, the government controlled by the right-wing ARENA party did nothing to comply with this directive.

Today's hearing was a report to the IACHR on how the new government in El Salvador does plan to comply with the IACHR mandate. David Morales, the new government's human rights lawyer, told the commission that the current government is committed to comply. A commission will be established to investigate the crime, a statue is being erected to the memory of Romero, and a video produced dedicated to his memory. The Funes administration is studying the issue of reparations according to Morales, but he stopped short of committing to a repeal of El Salvador's amnesty law -- noting that such a repeal was not solely within the power of the executive branch.

Of course, there have been investigations of archbishop Romero's killing before. The UN Truth Commission dealt with the murder, as did the IACHR, and a court trial in the US granted a judgment against one Salvadoran, Alvaro Saravia, involved in the killing. However this will be the first time that an institution of the Salvadoran government will act on the assassination of the beloved Catholic pastor. It is a first blow against impunity in El Salvador. One can only wonder where this process will take El Salvador, if the investigating commission looks at the role of Roberto D'Aubuisson, founder of ARENA and sponsor of death squads, as the intellectual author of the assassination.

One thing struck me about today's hearing before the IACHR, and it pointed out the 180 degree turn of the Salvadoran government. David Morales, representing the official government position, last appeared before the IACHR as the lawyer for Tutela Legal, the human rights office of the archdiocese of San Salvador. Last time he was there as the lawyer representing the parties demanding justice for Romero from the government -- today he appeared as the lawyer for the government.

March 24, 2010 will by the 30th anniversary of Romero's killing while he said mass at the chapel of the Divina Providencia cancer hospital in San Salvador.

A first in El Salvador -- government atonement

November 16, 2009 will mark the 20th anniversary of the assassinations of the six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, by Salvadoran armed forces during the civil war. And with the change to a left-wing government comes the first acknowledgment of the country's crime. From the AP:

SAN SALVADOR — El Salvador's president says the country will award its highest honor to six Jesuit priests murdered by the army in 1989.

President Mauricio Funes says the National Order of Jose Matias Delgado awards are a "public act of atonement" for mistakes by past governments.

They will be presented on Nov. 16 to mark the date 20 years ago when soldiers killed Spanish-born university rector Ignacio Ellacuria, five other Jesuits, a housekeeper and her daughter.

The killings sparked international outrage and tarnished the image of U.S. anti-communism efforts after it was found that some of the soldiers involved received training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Funes made the announcement on Tuesday.

In September, the US House of Representatives also passed a resolution marking the 20th anniversary of one of the most infamous human rights cases of the Salvadoran conflict during the 1980s.

Funes deploys military to combat violence

The bloody statistics show the reasons for this week's action by Mauricio Funes:

Murders Up 40% in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR – The number of murders in El Salvador between January 1 and November 1 stands at 3,673, more than in all of 2008 and 40 percent more than during the same period last year, the press reported Tuesday, citing official statistics.

La Prensa Grafica newspaper based the figure on data from the National Police, the Attorney General’s Office and the medical examiner’s office.

The number of murders, which average 13.9 per day, is 40.2 percent higher than the 2,620 homicides that were tallied during the same period in 2008.

The National Police added that during last month alone there were 431 murders, 158 more than in October 2008.

Authorities warn that nearly two-thirds of the 3,184 men killed this year were between the ages of 18 and 30.

The San Salvador metropolitan area, which contains 14 municipalities, has had 419 more murders this year than during the same period last year.

Seventy-six percent of the killings were carried out with firearms.

In the face of the increase in violence, 94 percent of the residents of Greater San Salvador supported the possibility of increasing the use of army troops for security tasks, according to a survey by the firm JBS Opinion released Tuesday by the Diario de Hoy newspaper.

On Tuesday, president Mauricio Funes announced a plan to increase significantly the use of the Armed Forces to provide support to the National Civilian Police (PNC) in the fight against crime. Currently, some 1300 soldiers make joint patrols with the PNC. Under Funes' plan thousands more troops (he did not specify the exact number) will go on patrol, search for wanted individuals, provide perimeter security at prisons and reinforce El Salvador's borders. The additional troops, which Funes called an "exceptional measure" will work in the departments of San Salvador, San Miguel, Santa Ana, La Libertad and Sonsonate where the level of crime is the highest. After 180 days, the measure will be re-evaluated to determine whether to continue the military's role.

The deployment of additional troops marks the first significant step of the Funes administration on public security since he took office on June 1. Funes defended the measures declaring that "I approved the increase of support of the Armed Forces of El Salvador to the National Civilian Police as a method of guaranteeing order, internal peace and citizen security."

El Salvador -- One of the top 10 places to visit in 2010

Lonely Planet, the travel guide publisher, has released the 2010 edition of its Best in Travel report. This year, incredible as it might seem, El Salvador was listed as one of the top 10 countries in the world to visit. From the report:

El Salvador sneaks up on you: in lefty lounge bars in San Salvador, at sobering war memorials and musums, and along lush cloud-forest trails; it's a place of remarkable warmth and intelligence, made all the more appealing for being so unexpected....Ane when it comes to cities, none in Central America is smarter or cooler than San Salvador, with first-rate universities, museums and galleries, a vibrant bar and live-music scene, and an array of progressive NGOs, both local and international.

The number one country in the list was New Zealand. The other countries named in Lonely Planet's top 10 were Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Portugal, Suriname, and the USA.

Deal reached in Honduras

A negotiated solution to the crisis in Honduras appears to have been reached. Ousted president Zelaya and the de facto government will form a power-sharing government and respect the outcome of the upcoming November presidential election according to this report from the BBC. The Honduran Congress must approve the deal.

The consitutional crisis began in Honduras on June 28 of this year, when democratically-elected president Manuel Zelaya was forced out of the country by the Honduran military. In September, Zelaya snuck back into the country and has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy ever since then. The period since Zelaya's ouster has been marked by significant protests by citizen groups and repression by the de facto government.

More comments on violence amd the military

A collection of statements about violence in El Salvador and whether there should be a role for the military in patrolling the streets:

[S]even member organizations of the Central American Coalition for the Prevention of Juvenile Violence issued a communiqué rejecting the participation of the Armed Forces of El Salvador (FAES) in public security functions.

In the statement, institutions such as the Centeral American University Human Rights Institute (IDHUCA) and the Center for Orientation Training, among others, demanded that President Mauricio Funes not incorporate the Armed Forces in the National Civilian Police’s work, saying that this is unconstitutional.

They added that the previous presidents used the military to fight crime and that “this measure has been ineffective” and, in fact, homicides have risen.

Instead, they called upon Funes to strengthen the Police with financial resources and training.


These institutions disagree with the majority of officials and organizations linked to the left who have in fact supported [the use of] the Armed Forces in public security duties.

http://www.elsalvador.com/mwedh/nota/nota_completa.asp?idCat=6358&idArt=4190052

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According to the director of the [National Academy of Public Security] ANSP, the presence of the Armed Forces together with the PNC will contribute to the creation of a sense of trust in the population. He explained that objective insecurity derives from the real quantity of crimes committed in a nation and subjective insecurity comes from the perception of insecurity. According to polls, the population has expressed that it feels more secure with the military presence, then he explained that this would help lower levels of insecurity.

"To see the uniformed elements could contribute to eliminate subjective insecurity, that could help; but we do not believe that the army is going to reolve the problem of security in the country," he expressed and that the problem could be resolved with greater police intelligence, development of scientific investigation, "and that is, according to the Constitution, an exclusive monopoly of the National Civilian Police."

http://www.diariocolatino.com/es/20091026/nacionales/72939/

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Supreme Court of Justice Magistrate Mirna Antonieta Perla Jimenez stated that involving the army in the fight against crime is not the solution to said problem.

“Sending the army into the streets is going to aggravate the crime problem, therefore fight the real causes of crime. Regrettably, thousands of people are arrested in the nation each day and this has not led to lower levels of extortion, murder, robbery, injuries, because the real criminals have not been fought in the first place,” stated Justice Perla.

Similarly, Perla said that it is evident that there are [criminal] individuals who are directly linked with the structures of [state] power.

“We have seen that even the police are sheltering criminals,” she said.

http://www.diariocolatino.com/es/20091026/nacionales/72940/

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The desire to give these [public security] attributes to the Armed Forces practically ignores the history of the world, LatinAmerica, Central America and the recent case of Honduras, but especially Salvadoran history. It also ignores the military and public security recommendations made in the Truth Commission Report; furthermore, it ignores the constitutional reforms of 1992, the achievements of the social struggle won with the signing of the Peace Accords.

--The Foundation for the Study of the Application of Law (FESPAD)

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There's a lot for president Mauricio Funes to contemplate as the country yearns for safety on the streets.

Thanks to Larry Ladutke.

Remembrance through art

From Madness to Hope was the title of the UN Truth Commission report which documented the violatons of human rights which occurred during El Salvador's civil war. Now a new dramatic work with the same name is being performed at the Los Angeles Theater Center. From the press release:

The new play by William Flores, "De La Locura A La Esperanza (From Madness to Hope)" commemorates the events of the difficult struggle as the people of El Salvador waged a fight for freedom against oppression. Flores, who also directs, has assembled a cast of over 30, including actors, dancers and singers, communicating a historical record of those turbulent times through dramatic scenes, songs and traditional folkloric dances.

The show is accompanied by visual exhibits from the Museo De La Palabra Y La Imagen including: From War to Peace (Images and documents about the Salvadoran Civil War); and The Legacy of Salarrue (Paintings, images, objects and manuscripts from the private collection of El Salvador's greatest painter and writer.

There will also be an installation by artist Claudia Bernardi: Shouts From The Invisible.

The play runs through November 1.