On September 22-23, SalvaCultura news editor and doctoral student Jorge Cuéllar participated as part of a Yale delegation of indigenous students to the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples hosted at United Nations in Manhattan. As part of this excursion, Cuéllar served the role as observer of the deliberations and proceedings, and was witness to energetic and moving presentations by important political and indigenous leaders such as Rigoberta Menchu, Evo Morales, Oren Lyons, Enrique Peña-Nieto, Sauli Niinistö, among others.

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. 

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

On this inaugural post for SalvaCultura, I want to pay tribute to what happened 39 years ago in El Salvador today. Four years ago, I had the privilege to visit and study at the University of El Salvador, and learn about one of the most important events leading up the the Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992). The experience was very personal to me: my late uncle, a medical student at the time, was also an organizer and survivor of this student massacre. As a Salvadoran-American, participating in a commemoration of this event connected me to my people's historical and collective resistance to oppression. 

A little background: the massacre was a violent response by the Salvadoran Government to a student protest at the University of El Salvador in the capital, San Salvador. The protest itself was in response to state violence against protesters in the western Salvadoran city of Santa Ana a few days prior. According to various sources, there were around 100 dead and over 23 injured. This is now seen as a taste of what was to come as the civil war would subsequently erupt; a conflict that led to the mass exodus of people which included my parents and siblings. 

So, I found myself in El Salvador on the 35th anniversary of this massacre in 2010, and it was a chilling and inspiring experience to see Salvadoran students keeping the memory of history alive. Today and every year, Salvadoran university students take to the streets to commemorate the legacy of the fallen students. What is that legacy? Check out the video to find out.

-Daniel Alvarenga.