El Salvador

Cornelia Gräbner describes an extraordinary set of documents which capture the most intense and dangerous phase of repression in El Salvador, leading up to the 1992 Peace Accords.

Activists – especially women – stand firm in the face of an increasingly hostile regime in El Salvador, as opposition mounts against the new mining law which revokes a seven-year metal mining ban. Theo Bradford speaks to some of the leading female voices speaking out. Photography by Kellys Portillo.

Salvadorean grass roots organization MOVIR supports victims of arbitrary detention under the country’s State of Exception. A civil society organization rather than an NGO, it is an important means of resistance to a regime which aims to close off civic space. Cassia Jefferson reports

In El Salvador, prominent human rights defenders and journalists are being targeted, while individuals and organizations in receipt of foreign funding are being required to register and pay a 30 per cent tax on all funds received from abroad. Fear and self-censorship are on the increase.

The Bukele government in El Salvador, as well as locking up thousands of alleged gang members is now extending its attacks to communities and those who seek to defend their human rights and their land.

President Nayib Bukele has overturned El Salvador's seven-year-old ban on metal mining (the first such ban in the world) and renewed the assault on communities which campaign against mining. The five water defenders from Santa Marta, Cabañas, now face a new trial because of their opposition to gold mining.

Review of exceptional collection of diary pieces and writing by catholic priest and missionary Tommy Greenan, who lived and worked in Chalatenango, El Salvador, following the teachings of Oscar Romero

A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, warns that governemnt attacks on water defenders and others likely herald a return to metal mining, banned in the country since 2017. The IPS report also examines the increasing authoritarianism of the Bukele government and the new cllimate of fear it is inducing.

Five top films directed by Latin American women, in celebration of International Women's Day. Including The Eternal Memory by Maite Alberdi.

A state of emergency and ruthless action by the authorities has dramatically curtailed the activity of gangs which previously ruled vast swathes of El Salvador. But there are many innocent victims and the underlying poverty, inequality and injustice remain untouched.