It’s easy to make the connection between the dissemination of hip-hop in El Salvador and Salvadoran gang culture: Mara Salvatrucha, named the world’s most dangerous gang by National Geographic, has its origins in Los Angeles around the same time LA gangster rap was blowing up. However, the complete picture is more complex than that, and a new documentary titled Words of Revolution aims to shed light to the trajectory of Salvadoran hip-hop. The film showcases how Salvadorans use hip-hop to articulate the generational trauma of civil war and migration. SalvaCultura had the opportunity to chat with the filmmaker, Junior Gonzalez, and talk about the new film.

A grassroots LGBTQI organization AMATE El Salvador (Action for Memory and Support for Equality in El Salvador; the acronym also spells out “love yourself” in Spanish) is seeking to create an archive of LGBTQI Salvadoran history. The goal is to document the queer history that has always existed in El Salvador, but due to religious conservatism has been violently repressed for centuries. El Salvador currently has no hate crime legislation and has one of the highest rates of homicide in the Americas. The country fought a 12 year revolutionary struggle in the 1980s and LGBTQI people have often been left out of that history. What was it like to be out during that tumultuous era? They aim to find out and interview 10-12 veteran LGBTQI advocates and community members between November and February about their life stories.

In an effort to curb the costs of archiving and preserving materials and testimonials, AMATE is seeking the public’s help in raising $3,000 to continue their efforts.  Help create a more inclusive El Salvador. For more information, please watch their video and visit their Indiegogo page.

On August 10th, 2014 Daniel Alvarenga, founder of SalvaCultura spoke with Julio Varela of Latino Rebels on Latino Rebels Radio to discuss the child refugee crisis, the Salvadoran diaspora, and the origins of SalvaCultura. 

Daniel Alvarenga, founder of SalvaCultura will be featured Tomorrow August 10, 2014 at 7PM Pacific/ 10 PM Eastern.

Central American Experts Discuss the Root Causes of Border Crisis

Melissa Harris Perry hosted a panel of Central American experts that included Héctor Perla Jr., Salvadoran-American professor at UC Santa Cruz and the Guatemalan-born researcher, Tomás Ayuso to discuss the origins of the present-day border crisis.  This segment included a special focus on Honduras, the country with the highest outmigration of unaccompanied child refugees to the U.S. The conversation touched on the role of internal violence, police militarization, among others though the U.S.-supported 2009 Honduran coup d’état which established these political conditions went largely unmentioned. It was also emphasized that Central American states are becoming increasingly draconian and repressive in response to the escalating drug war in the region and U.S.-led initiatives like CARSI (Central American Regional Security Initiative). For El Salvador, asserts Héctor Perla Jr.:

Watch the video here.

Indigenous Guatemalans Win Against Mining Company 

Last week, Upside Down World reported on the Guatemalan government ruling in favor of indigenous people of the Sipacapa municipality. The story shows us how the Guatemalan subsidiary of transnational Canadian mining company Goldcorp Inc. was granted a mining permit in Sipacapan territory without consulting and without consent of the people who rightly occupy those lands. The Mayan Council of Sipacapa immediately organized in response to save their land from the environmental destruction that mining often brings to indigenous territories. Though the peoples of Sipacapa achieved an important victory, this is but one of many battles required against the numerous operational mining projects in Guatemala. Transnational mining is a chief regional problem in Central America.

Read the article here.

Written and curated by Daniel Alvarenga and edited by Jorge Cuéllar

A group of critical Twitter users including our own Daniel Alvarenga had an impromptu discussion on the erasure and invisibility of African identity and history among Salvadorans and other Central Americans. 

Add to the discussion by tweeting at us @Salva_Cultura

Central American Children Humanize Their Struggle Before Congress

Three Central American Children testified before the Congressional Progressive Caucus in Washington D.C. on Tuesday July 29th, 2014. The children were: Mayeli Hernandez, 12, migrated from Honduras last year in July of 2013; Dulce Medina, 15, came from Guatemala at five years of age; and Saúl Martínez, 15, from El Salvador, the most recent refugee from the group whom arrived in just April of this year. All of the children made their journey as unaccompanied minors. They shared their experiences of violence in Central America, their arduous journey through Mexico and into the United States, as well as the abuse and dehumanization they faced in U.S. immigration facilities upon arrival. Speaking directly to their time spent in the “ice-boxes” or unbearably cold holding cells without blankets or warm clothing, the children recounted how in some cases people would turn blue due to the slowing of blood circulation. Saúl Martinez had this to say, “Please don’t mistreat children the way your government has mistreated me. Finally, I want to ask you not to deport children like me because it’s very possible that you will deport them to violence and to their death.” 

Watch the full video here.

"Why Nicaraguan Kids Aren’t Fleeing to the U.S.”

San Diego radio station KPBS discusses Nicaragua’s absence from the unaccompanied Central American children debate. Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Central America, has a difficult history of war and violence yet doesn’t have masses of children heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. This article attempts to find the reasons for the Nicaraguan exception from this humanitarian crisis. The piece suggests the lower rates of criminal activity, community policing, the successes of the Sandinista revolution, and the individual decisions of many Nicaraguans to forego the American Dream for work, advancement, and stability in neighboring Costa Rica.

Read the full article here.


El Salvador Part of a United Latin American Front Against Israel

El Salvador is one of five countries in Latin America, and the only one in Central America, to recall its ambassadors from Tel Aviv. El Salvador follows the example of Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru who have done the same. It is worth mentioning that Cuba was the first Latin American country to sever ties with Israel in 1973. Venezuela and Bolivia both cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009. Argentina, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Uruguay have also condemned the Israeli assault but have not formally cut ties with the State of Israel. El Salvador, which has a sizeable Palestinian community living on its soil, continues to protest against Israel’s illegal military offensive in Gaza. The Salvadoran Ministry of External Relations recently stated, "This action is taken before the serious escalation of violence and implementation of indiscriminate bombing from Israel into the Gaza Strip that has killed children, girls, women and men.”

Read the article in Spanish here.

Co-written and co-curated by Daniel Alvarenga and Jorge Cuéllar