David Mejia was part of live coverage [es] given to the elections and the tallying of the votes by the Salvadoran blogosphere. He reflected on the importance [es] of the internet and the election results:

Esta vez me atrevo a decir con propiedad, el internet ha sido muy importante esta vez en las elecciones, debido a que el público joven, lo ha utilizado en vez de los medios tradicionales, y quiero felicitar a los partidos políticos por habernos tomado en cuenta en muchas ocasiones.

No hay que olvidar que El Salvador esta vez tiene que estar más unido, dejar las diferencias, aferrarse a Dios para poder tener un mejor país, ya que todos unidos lo podremos lograr, y así poder lograr el verdadero CAMBIO, no solo cambio de gobierno, sino cambio de actitud.

Juan Martel, active in Salvadoran politics and a writer at the Hunnapuh blog [es] found that the day had gone according to a fabulous script:

A las 5 PM terminó la votación en todo el país, votaron los que ya estaban en las filas, luego se comenzó a contar los votos y a llenar las actas de JRV. Millones de salvadoreños vimos a través de la Televisión como se contaban nuestros votos, lo hacían con eficiencia y mucho respeto, hubo algunas discusiones sobre la valides de algún voto, pero al final arreglaron. ¡Todo de película!…

El FMLN ganaba 17 años después de firmada la paz, el objetivo de los acuerdos de paz se cumplen por fin, el pueblo hizo posible esta victoria. ¡De película!

Los salvadoreños, nos ganamos varios Oscares por nuestra actuación este día.

The dean of Salvadoran bloggers, Ernesto Rivas-Gallont, a former ambassador from El Salvador to the United States during its civil war, looked towards the future:

Estamos frente a un cambio profundo no solo de estilo de gobierno sino que de política gubernamental. Solo esperamos que el cambio no sacuda la estructura fundamental del país y que se respete la institucionalidad. La gobernabilidad debe ser la primera prioridad del gobierno de Mauricio Funes.

Por nuestra parte le reiteramos al presidente electo nuestras felicitaciones y le deseamos éxito en la difícil tarea que tiene por delante.

A group of bloggers at the spirited-leftist blog El Trompudo [es] reflected on what the moment meant for them:

No es momento de revanchismos políticos. Momentos difíciles se avecinan. El cielo es sombrío, amenazador. Momentos difíciles esperan al mundo, y en particular a países frágiles como el nuestro. Felizmente, hay un rayo de luz que ilumina nuestra patria. Finalmente, después de casi dos siglos de sometimiento del pueblo.

Presidente Funes gobernará para todos. Seamos humildes en la victoria, ponderados, amistosos, conciliantes. A El Salvador no lo podemos salvar la mitad más uno. No. Lo salvaremos TODOS!

Emociones fuertes impiden que seamos ponderados y, quizá, hasta equilibrados en estos momentos. Hasta ahí dejaremos nuestra reflexión. Iremos a celebrar este triunfo con todas las fuerzas de nuestros corazones. Lo merecemos. Y celebraremos en nombre de nosotros, de nuestros hijos y de todos aquellos salvadorenos que ya no están con nosotros : los que murieron y los que partieron para huir sufrimientos y persecusiones.

The journalist blogger Solava looked for constructive engagement from those who participate in the blogosphere [es] and elsewhere as the new government moves forward and not blind party loyalty:

El papel del ciudadano en una sociedad democrática no encuentra su mejor expresión en la participación militante en un partido, sino en una interacción crítica hacia el gobierno, incluso si ese gobierno es del partido por el que se votó. Lo que un ciudadano no debe olvidar nunca es que las personas electas para una posición pública son servidores públicos. Están ahí, en sus puestos, para obedecer a la ciudadanía y no al revés.

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The furor in El Salvador started when the Spanish newspaper El Pais disclosed[es] that one document on the computer referred to a Salvadoran making an introduction in 2007 from the FARC to Australian arms dealers. The Salvadoran named was Luis Merino, a senior official of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) and member of the Central American parliament. The conservative press in El Salvador played up the story with prominent pictures showing Merino beside the FMLN's presidential candidate Mauricio Funes.

Bloggers in El Salvador have been writing about how this story could impact the presidential campaign of Funes. Blogger Hunnapuh wrote a post [es] which put the issue in the context of the campaign strategy of the ruling right-wing ARENA party. According to Hunnapuh, ARENA is trying to convince the “swing” voter. This is the person who is currently inclined to vote for the FMLN and Mauricio Funes, but is not a party militant and would not vote for the FMLN if convinced that “FMLN = [Venezualan president Hugo] Chavez.” But the strategy is shifting with the disclosure of the FARC computer files:

Por lo que se vé, la estrategia la han cambiado un poco dados los acontecimientos, ahora la tesis me imagino que es FMLN = FARC, pero como lo expuse anteriormente, nuestro pueblo tiene una memoria coyuntural y toda esta publicidad y cobertura mediática actuales sera pronto olvidada.

Si en realidad hay algo de verdad en todas las acusaciones, se deben ejecutar las acciones legales pertinentes de parte de los paises que se consideren ofendidos e iniciar los juicios legales que correspondan, pero si solo se queda en la pura propaganda, se demostrará que símplemente se trata de estrategias electorales.

The writer at the blog Salvadorans in the World [es] sees the repetition of the regular themes of Salvadoran politics in this story:

Y es aquí dónde las principales fuerzas políticas salvadoreñas se enfrentaran en una guerra de acusaciones e insultos. El FMLN dirá que todo esto es un montaje, un show, una estrategia más de la derecha para mantenerse en el poder. Por otro lado, ARENA volverá a repetir la misma historia, que el FMLN tiene nexos con grupos que no benefician en ningún modo al país, bla bla bla, etc. En la guerra de acusaciones e insultos, las propuestas para sacar al país adelante quedarán relegadas a un tercer o cuarto plano.

En este escenario adverso, Mauricio Funes debería dar señales inequívocas que tiene criterios propios, y más importante, que tiene suficiente independencia de los comandantes en el FMLN para pedir que se investigue a fondo las acusaciones.

Ernesto Rivas-Gallont did not believe [es] that presidential candidate Funes had done well in his initial response to the story. In Funes' initial statement after the El Pais story, Rivas-Gallont saw an unconditional defense of Merino, the FMLN leader, with Funes acting almost as an apologist for the FARC.

Con esa actitud, Mauricio ha desilusionado a aquellos que creímos en su independencia, porque estamos convencidos que un gobierno de Funes sería controlado por los mismos que hoy controlan el partido y parecen controlar al candidato.

With this attitude, Mauricio has disappointed those who believed in his independence, because we are convinced that a government controlled by Funes would be controlled by the same ones who today control the party and seem to control candidate.

El-Visitador [es] referred to the links to the FARC to support his conclusion that the FMLN was a “very dangerous entity.”

Reflecting the polarization of El Salvador's politics and parts of its blogosphere, the view of El Visitador is counter-balanced by Chichicaste [es], who has a lengthy post[es] challenging the media coverage of the FARC computers and looking at the links between El Pais, its ownership and the owners of powerful media in San Salvador. For Chichicaste, the nonstop coverage in Salvadoran newspapers and television is an sign of the fear that foreign multi-national corporations have over the prospect of a Mauricio Funes' victory.

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The facts of the case are recounted in a video interview of Katya's mother and available on YouTube. Katya's mother left her two daughters at the home of her paternal grandfather along El Salvador's coast with a promise to pick them up in the morning. Yet when morning came, nine-year-old Katya was dead — raped, beaten and murdered. Despite the presence of members of her father's family and their employees at the home, nobody claimed to have seen or heard anything. The father, grandfather and other male relatives are high-ranking officials in El Salvador's military and the National Civilian Police.

Many believe that the investigation of the crime was haphazard and incomplete, but eventually Katya's father, grandfather and two employees were charged with the crime in 2000. However all the charges against them were subsequently dismissed in legal proceedings widely criticized by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Institute at the University of Central America in San Salvador. The current attorney general has indicated no interest in reopening the case.

With the ninth anniversary of Katya's murder, Salvadoran bloggers are raising a call for justice to be done in this case. The symbol of their campaign is the logo at the top of this post.

Carlos Abrego at Cosas Tan Pasajeras [es] urged readers to participate in the organized campaign which includes signing an online petition, to take a photo of the campaign logo at locations across the world which will be added to a photo CD to be delivered to the attorney general, and to participate in a “Day of Roses” march to commemorate the little girl.

The blog Salvadoreños en el Mundo [es] carried a letter to Katya written by her mother to commemorate this anniversary. Ixquic* [es], a single mother and human rights lawyer who has written about Katya's case many times, displayed a tiny angel made of seashells found on the beach where Katya's small body was found.

Ernesto Rivas-Gallont urged readers to sign the petition and expressed the outrage of many [es], when he wrote:

¡Qué espanto! ¿Qué se puede decir de una sociedad donde existan individuos capaces de perpetrar crímenes de esta magnitud? El caso de Katya ha tomado relevancia por el cinismo de los asesinos y por su prominencia y por la prominencia de la institución a la cual pertenecen. Pero monstruos como ellos abundan en este país.

No es raro leer en nuestra prensa o escuchar en los noticieros, de padres que violan a sus hijas y, aunque no con la misma frecuencia, de padres que asesinan a sus hijos.

¿Cómo nos verán desde afuera? ¿Qué informarán los embajadores de países amigos a sus cancillerías?

What horror! What can one say about a society where individuals exist capable of perpetrating crimes of this magnitude? The case of Katya has taken relevance for the cynicism of the murderers and their prominence and for the prominence of the institution to which they belong. But monsters like them abound in this country.
It is not rare to read in our press or to hear in the news, of fathers who rape their daughters and, although not with the same frequency, of fathers who murder their children.

How will they see us from outside? What will the ambassadors of friendly countries report to their ministries?

Victor at Alta Hora de la Noche [es] wrote on his blog a personal reflection of his own fortune having a father and family who protected him during the years of El Salvador's civil war. Katya's violation at the hands of male relatives demands justice:

Que se pida que se haga justicia va mas allá de cualquier discursito barato de que lo social va a ser prioritario de acá en adelante…. Antes de pensar en esas supuestas reformas hay que limpiar lo sucio que hay en los rincones de nuestra patria. Y que se omita hacer justicia en el caso de una niña violada y asesinada, asi como se omite hacer justicia con muchos otros casos de niñas y niños violentados física y sexualmente es una enorme mancha que va a seguir empañando nuestra sociedad y en especial a quienes hemos delegado la facultad de hacer valer la justicia.

To ask for justice is done goes beyond any cheap little talk that the social good will be a priority from here onwards… Before one thinks of reforms, one must clean up the filth in the corners of our country. And failing to do justice in the case of a girl raped and murdered, as there has been a failure of justice in many other cases of children physically and sexually abused is a huge stain that will continue tarnishing our society and especially those to whom we have delegated the authority to enforce justice.

The time for justice in Katya's case is fast expiring as the ten year statue of limitations expires in 2009. To remind readers of the urgency, Salvadoran blogger Hunnapuh [es]added a countdown timer which counts down the time within which new legal proceedings must be taken.

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Discussions about the role of blogs were sparked when the conservative El Diario de Hoy newspaper ran a piece titled Cybernetic Proselytism [ES] which warned of supposed dangers from blogs including “disinforming, disorienting and denigrating,” all resulting in prejudice to democracy. In particular, the writers of the article warned that blogs were going to be used inappropriately by political parties leading up to national elections.

Jorge Ávalos, a blogger who also is a journalist employed by El Diario de Hoy, responded [ES] with with a quotation from Álvaro Rivera Larios in the digital periodical El Faro:

Pero es obvio que algunos sectores de nuestro país no ven con buenos ojos que se forme una ciudadanía crítica. Lo paradójico es que esos mismos sectores le teman a la posibilidad de que los blogs desinformen. Lo que temen esos sectores es la pérdida del monopolio informativo e ideológico que durante años han ejercido sobre la opinión pública salvadoreña, es decir, le temen a la pluralidad de informaciones y visiones que abren las nuevas tecnologías.

But it is obvious that some sectors of our country don't view happily that a critical citizenry is forming. The paradox is that these same sectors fear the possibility that blogs will disinform. What these sectors fear is the loss of their information and ideology monopoly that they have exercised for years over Salvadoran public opinion, that is to say, they fear a plurality of information sources and visions which new technologies open up.

Ávalos is one of several journalists in El Salvador who write their own personal blogs. Among others are Paolo Luers, Juan Jose Dalton, and Ernesto Rivas-Gallont. Interestingly, both Luers and Rivas started their blogs after having disagreements with the periodicals for which they were writing.

Do professional journalists bring something extra to the blogosphere? Reflecting on this question, Ávalos quoted a comment from the forum LibreOpinion.net on the value of the personal blogs of professional journalists:

Yo veo con mucho entusiasmo el hecho de que algunos periodistas estén en la blogósfera, porque nos permiten conocer puntos de vista de la noticia que ellos persiguen sin las ataduras que les impone el medio para el que trabajan. Es una labor ya no tanto de reportar sino de opinar respecto de la noticia, y tal periodista, creo yo, sí ha pasado por la etapa de investigar, entrevistar, tabular datos, etc.

I view with much enthusiasm the event of some journalists being in the blogosphere because they permit us to know points of view that they perceive without the strictures imposed on them by the media for which they work. It is a labor not so much of reporting, but of opining, with respect to the news; such a journalist has already gone through the stages of investigating, interviewing, tabulating data, etc.

Journalist blogger Rivas-Gallont is a well known figure in El Salvador. Among other positions, he was formerly the country's ambassador to the United States and is a columnist for the country's largest daily paper, La Prensa Grafica. Rivas-Gallont started his blog Conversations with Neto Rivas [ES] after La Prensa Grafica reduced the space available for his regular column in the paper, and he needed more room for his writing. Rivas-Gallont recently commemorated the one year anniversary of his blog:

Eso es lo que hace interesante y dinámico a un blog. ¡Qué aburrido y monótono sería que todos estuviéramos de acuerdo en todo! Esta publicación no es una manifestación de amor a la madre. Esta es una publicación de ustedes y para ustedes, donde todos expresamos libremente lo que pensamos, sin temor a represalia alguna. Un regalo de la libertad de expresión que, como debe ser, apreciamos en nuestro país.

That is what is interesting and dynamic about a blog. How boring and monotonous it would be if we were all in agreement on everything. This publication is not a show of a mother's love. It's a publication of you and for you, where we all freely express out thoughts, without fear of any reprisals. A gift of freedom of expression that is, as it ought to be, something we appreciate in our country.

(Journalists who write their own personal blogs are a far cry from the blogs sponsored on the website of El Salvador's largest daily newspaper, La Prensa Grafica. That paper, now features 7 blogs on its website, including blogs dealing with sex advice, sports, music and criminal defense among other topics).

Yet the editorial position of El Diario de Hoy notwithstanding, the media in El Salvador is sometimes taking notice of bloggers as opinion leaders. Blogger Hunnapuh wrote about being invited to participate in a radio program roundtable with other bloggers. He describes the session in his post, A Night on the Radio [ES]. The panel of bloggers was asked to give their take on the upcoming election campaigns and the party strategies in the country.

Salvadoran bloggers have often written about journalists. In a tragic recent example, a young Salvadoran journalist was gunned down outside his family's home in Soyapango on September 20. Salvador Sánchez was a radio journalist for alternative media including Radio Maya Vision, YSUCA, and Radio Cadena Mi Gente. Sánchez reported on a variety of topics on the radio, including the protests and arrests in Suchitoto, gang activity, and political demonstrations. The killers and their motives are unknown.

The fact that this murder victim was a journalist created a question — was he killed because of what he reported on, was he just a victim of gang violence in his neighborhood, was this an attack on free speech or just an act of criminal elements acting with impunity against a young man. Blogger Hunnapuh set out in his blog [ES] three different journalists' accounts of the murder, and then concluded:

Por desgracia la investigación está en manos de una institución policial que ha ido perdiendo credibilidad conforme la han ido politizando mas para servir a los designios del gobierno actual que a la propia ciudadanía. No podemos afirmar que Sánchez fuese víctima de Escuadrones de La Muerte, pero tampoco debemos descartar esa posibilidad.

Unfortunately the investigation is in the hands of a police institution that has been losing credibility as it becomes more politicized more to serve the designs of the current government than its own citizens. We are not able to affirm that Sánchez was a victim of Squadrons of Death, but neither can we discard this possibility.

Finally, bloggers have been and will be writing about the journalist who is a presidential candidate. Mauricio Funes, a popular journalist in El Salvador, has been selected by the left wing FMLN to head its ticket in upcoming presidential elections. Since the elections are not until March 2009, there will be plenty of cyber-ink spilled over a passionate election.

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On the 5th of July 2006, a demonstration outside the University of El Salvador turned deadly violent as a sniper shot at riot police, killing two and wounding several more. (In the Salvadoran media that day's events are now known simply as “5-J”). After a year long manhunt, the alleged sniper Mario Belloso was apprehended on July 2, 2007, with an orgy of media coverage in the Salvadoran press which has yet to end.

The aftermath of Belloso's capture has journalist blogger Jorge Ávalos concerned. Soon after the capture, he notes [ES] that ruling ARENA party officials were trying to make propaganda use of the arrest, and the press and the government seemed not to care about the presumption of innocence. On the day of Belloso's capture, Ávalos expressed his hope that the national police could act with professionalism and good forensic technique as they assembled the case.

Two days later, however, Ávalos found that the police couldn't seem to resist the temptations of the high profile case. Police officials had leaked a photo from the search of Belloso's house which showed Belloso with a ranking member of the opposition FMLN party. Ávalos commented that the police were playing a very dangerous game[ES] in their anxiousness to get such photos into the hands of the media. The consequence might be a loss of the “chain of custody” over that proof.

Looking back with a year's perspective, blogger Ixquic writes that the events of 5-J were the birth of “terrorism”[ES] in El Salvador — at least in the eye of the conservative ruling parties. With the images of the 5-J shootings still playing across the TV, the government pushed through a new anti-terrorism law. While Ixquic, a lawyer blogger, says she has no problem with a law which condemns terrorism properly understood, this new law left important terms undefined, allowing for the possibility that it could be used maliciously by a government which wanted to come up with its own definitions of terrorism.

The new anti-Terrorism law had its most controversial application yet on July 2, the same day Belloso was captured. Demonstrations to protest the water privatization policy of El Salvador's current government resulted in clashes with riot police outside of the city of Suchitoto. On that day, president Tony Saca was scheduled to travel to Suchitoto to give a speech and initiate a project for “decentralization” of water systems, which many understand as the piecemeal selling off of water systems to private businesses to run. Demonstrators blocked access on the roads leading into the city. Various units of then anti-riot police (Unit for the Maintenance of Order “UMO”) arrived to clear the roads. Tear gas and rubber bullets were launched at demonstrators, and press photographs show demonstrators throwing rocks and buring rubbish in the streets.

Marches through the streets and demonstrations which block traffic are not uncommon in El Salvador. But this time the government had a new tool — 14 of the protesters, including several leaders of the local development organization CRIPDES, were arrested and charged under the Anti-Terrorist Law. Photos and video of the protests and the arrests were quickly on the Internet and being spread to supporting groups nationally and internationally.

On July 7, the 14 arrested outside Suchitoto faced an initial hearing in the specialized Organized Crime Court in San Salvador. The organization US-El Salvador Sister Cities carried a live blog from the large group of demonstrators outside of the court who were urging that the court throw out the terrorism charges. The judge, however, ruled against the demonstrators, sending 13 of them to prison for “provisional detention” for up to 3 months prior to the actual trial on terrorism charges.

From the scene after the decision was announced:

The crowd is angry but peaceful, still outside the tribunal building. The Riot Police is still there, but there has been no aggression. Julio Portillo, (Marta Lorena Araujo Martinez’s husband) spoke to the crowd immediately following the verdict, saying that he was disappointed and outraged, and called upon all Salvadorans to work ceaselessly over the next 3 months to get the accused out of jail. Now FMLN leaders are speaking, as well.

The crowd is waiting to see where the detainees will be taken, to go with them in caravan and hold vigil outside the jail, wherever it turns out to be.

In his blog, writer Juan Jose Dalton criticized charging protesters with terrorism [ES]:

Los detenidos en Suchitoto serán procesados como “terroristas”, pero eran activistas sociales que a lo sumo lo que tiraron fueron piedras….

¿Cómo comparar a Lorena Martínez, presidenta de la organización de campesinos cristianos CRIPDES y procesada como “terrorista”, con los secuaces de Osama Bin Laden? Estamos retornando a la locura…

Those arrested in Suchitoto will be processed as “terrorists,” but they were social activists and the most that they shot was stones.How does one compare Lorena Martinez, president of CRIPDES, an organization of Christian campesinos with the followers of Osama bin Laden? We are returning to the madness [a phrase used to describe the conditions surrounding El Salvador's civil war from 1980-1992]

Similarly, blogger JC at La Terminal found that this use of the anti-Terrorism law made the word “terrorism” a farce:

Tirar piedras, quemar llantas, tapar una calle, quemarle un carro a los desprevenidos PNCs en el marco de una protesta anti gubernamental no es algo que me cause gracia, ni que me guste ni que apruebe.

Pero si una ridícula Ley da pié a que una jueza diga que eso es “terrorismo” entonces cualquier cosa es terrorismo….

Pero si ser tonto es terrorismo, yo también soy terrorista… y la jueza también.

To throw rocks, burn tires, block streets and burn a car in an anti-government protest is not something that amuses me, nor do I like it, nor do I approve it. But what a ridiculous law where a judge can say these things are terrorism, then anything is terrorism….To say their actions was terrorism is to insult common sense and to insult the victims of true terrorism acts. If what they did in Suchitoto is terrorism, then I am a terrorist… and so is the judge.

Another blogger, Victor Castro, picked up on this same theme, writing in his blog[ES] that “because I have plans to go back out and march in the street expressing my discontent with government policy X or Y, — then I am a terrorist too.”

In addition to this application of the anti-Terrorism Law, Jjmar, who is one of the original contributors at the popular Hunnapuh blog, was worried about the presence of the armed forces[ES] in the confrontation between the government and the protesters in Suchitoto:

El otro elemento de preocupación es el uso de la Fuerza Armada en incidentes de protesta popular. La fuerza armada tiene claramente definido su rol en la Constitución de la República. No tiene funciones de seguridad pública o de servir de apoyo a la PNC ante protestas populares. Además los soldados no tienen la preparación adecuada para actuar en estos casos. No es lo mismo que un antimotín dispare una escopeta con balas de goma o lance una bomba de gases lacrimógenos a que un soldado dispare su M 16 o con una ametralladora punto cincuenta contra la masa de manifestantes.

The other element for worry is the use of the Armed Forces in incidents of popular protest. The armed forces have a clearly defined role in the Constitution of the Republic. It does not have functions of public security or to serve as support to the PNC [National Police] before popular protests. Besides, the soldiers do not have adequate preparation in order to act in these cases. It's not the same thing for an anti-riot officer to fire a shotgun with rubber bullets or launch a tear gas bomb as a soldier to shoot his M-16 or a 50 caliber machine gun against the mass of demonstrators.

All of these events are playing out in El Salvador where the atmosphere is already politically polarized and will only become more so as national elections in 2009 approach.

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According to Hunnapuh, Saca is “walking with a warlike and provocative discourse which contradicts his pose as a conciliator who is open to dialog and reconciliation.” Echoing a theme seen on several blogs, Hunnapuh views Saca's proselytizing as flatly illegal and in violation Article 81 of El Salvador's Constitution which forbids political campaigning more than 4 months before the presidential election and Article 237 of the electoral code which forbids a public official from using his public office for partisan political ends.

The impending presidential campaign has prompted blogger Jjmar to write a two part series on internal divisions (ES) within the ruling conservative ARENA party. Noting that while the corporate media is ever eager to describe internal divisions in the leftist opposition FMLN, Jjmar finds there is a “curtain of smoke” over the problems and divisions within ARENA while the media is selling the image of ARENA as solid and unified.

One split Jjmar describes is between those in ARENA who believe that a campaign based on fear of the consequences of a victory by the left-wing FMLN is the best course (as it was in 2004 elections) and those who are concerned about increased polarization in the country and its impact on the business climate. Corruption is also one of their concerns:

La preocupación por la corrupción sin precedentes del actual gobierno, no solo tiene a la base la imagen, sino las ganancias. Antes los funcionarios se conformaban con “regalías”, ahora les exigen “comisiones”. Antes había funcionarios que con una botella de vino se quedaban felices y contentos, ahora piden entre el 10% y el 15% del total de la obra en licitación.

“Los Torogoces” is a group composed of members of the strong, traditional business sector of the country who meet together for breakfast on a regular basis. According to Jjmar's sources, Los Torogoces want president Saca to step down as head of ARENA and for other government officials to step out of leadership positions in the party. They fear that without de-linking the government and the party, ARENA will be burdened with the errors of the government in future elections. Las Torogoces also oppose any plan to make Rene Figueroa, the Minister of Security, ARENA's nominee for the presidency.

Carlos Abrego criticizes Figueroa (ES) for Figueroa's public statements linking the FMLN to all the crime and disorder in the country but without any proof or bringing his accusations through proper scandals. Such statements would be bad enough as simple political party propaganda, but Abrego finds them to be even more reprehensible when they come from a government minister, the minister of security. These partisan accusations, Abrego worries, lead to greater polarization an instability in public institutions.

Finally, Ixquic laments the lack of progress(ES) on reform of the electoral process. Items such as the “residential vote” (where polling places are located close to the communities where people actually live), an agreement on auditing the voting lists, and control over campagin financing and propaganda, have failed to make headway in the country. She also looks to the upcoming presidential campaign where she expects the other right-wing parties, like the PCN, to need to find a way to distance themselves from the ruling ARENA party, if they expect to enjoy success at the polls.

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Both the Salvadoran government and the US government which was supporting the regime in 1981, denied that a wholesale massacre of civilians had taken place. After the war, the UN Truth Commission validated the details as have subsequent investigations. The story of the massacre and the subsequent denials were detailed subsequently by journalist Mark Danner.

There was one voice, which spoke simply and humbly as the voice of a witness, which ultimately allowed the truth to be known. That was the voice of Rufina Amaya.

Unlike the mainline Salvadoran press, bloggers, provided an extensive tribute to Rufina Amaya. Many spoke from personal knowledge of Rufina. Journalist blogger Jorge Avalos described her as:

la mujer más humilde que he conocido. Una mujer que venció con su palabra tantas mentiras y tanta inhumana brutalidad para recordarnos el poder de la memoria y de la verdad.

Some, like Peace Corps volunteer Laura, recounted meeting Rufina and hearing her tell the story. Ixquic collected a list of links to the many blog entries which told the story. One of those links was from blogger Meg, who had written in February 2006 of meeting Rufina:

Today I met Rufina, and looked into her eyes for the first time, knowing that my own heart will remain connected to hers. I’m not sure I will ever think of the history of El Salvador again, without thinking of her. As I walked through the streets of this small town in northeastern El Salvador, I had to remind myself to take deep breaths, so that I wouldn’t cry, in encountering the reality that Rufina once lived.

Others let Rufina's witness speak for itself. In the days after her death, blogs posted the full text of narrative which Rufina had provided. And it was possible to hear and see Rufina in YouTube video.

Ultimately, many saw in Rufina Amaya a powerful symbol. Writer and blogger Juan Jose Dalton said in his blog:

Rufina nunca abandonó los alrededores de Morazán; estuvo en los refugios ubicados en la frontera entre Honduras y El Salvador; cocinó para la guerrilla y después del fin de la guerra (1992), fue una fundadora de la Ciudadela Segundo Montes, donde sus restos mortales descansarán finalmente. Queda entre los salvadoreños tu testimonio de lo sufrido, pero también como símbolo y reto permanente de la lucha por el derecho a la justicia.

Nora Mendez paid this tribute in her blog:

Rufina vivió 25 años superando el dolor día a día, sin descanso, contando su historia como la única forma que tuvo para resarcirse de aquel crimen cometido contra sus hijos, sus amigos y vecinos. Nadie le ofreció disculpas, nadie solicitó su opinión en las altas esferas del poder a la hora de evaluar la situación de las víctimas de guerra una vez finalizado el conflicto. Pero la voz de Rufina llegó por diversos medios, a los oídos de miles de salvadoreños, incrédulos unos, y otros que la comprendieron, pues también sufrieron bejámenes por el simple hecho de vivir en el campo, de ser pobres, de estar indefensos.

Finally, in a fitting tribute to the memory which Rufina Amaya sought to preserve, a post on the Chichicaste blog provided a list of the victims of the El Mozote massacre and their ages.

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Initially the reaction in the Salvadoran blogosphere was to call for restraint[ES], avoiding a rush to judgment, and calling for an in depth investigation[ES]. Jjmar wrote that no one should seek to take advantage of the murders[ES] for political gain, whether to further the political polarization in El Salvador or to gain a benefit in the 2009 election campaign.

Fears of a political motive were largely eliminated when four Guatemalan police officers were arrested for the murders three days later. The arrested police officers included the head of the organized crime unit within the Guatemalan national police. Yet there was to be another twist. On February 25th, the four Guatemalan police officers were executed in their cells in a high security Guatemalan prison. Most reports indicated that gunmen “stormed” the prison, passing through eight locked(?) doors to get to the suspects and kill them. The executions coincided with a riot within the prison, and the some Guatemalan authorities are still suggesting that the suspects were killed by rioting gang members. The discussion in the blogosphere now turned to organized crime and narco-trafficking and its hold in Central America.

Ixquic* wrote a post[ES] looking at the impotence of the Salvadoran and Guatemala states. Each has emerged from bloody years of civl war during the 1990s. In each country, the arrangements following the civil war created new civilian police forces, yet each had elements left over from earlier years contaminated with the bad habits of those times. Each country had a history of armed paramilitary groups, death squads and guerrillas, whose members had to find something to do. The post-war years saw a dramatic growth of organized crime in the countries which now controls trafficking in drugs, trafficking in persons, and kidnappings. In both countries, organized crime operates with near impunity against the impotence of the two governments.

The murders brought Soy Salvadoreño out of retirement[ES] on his blog. He had been watching the Academy Awards where the Best Picture award went to the The Departed, a movie about organized crime. In Spanish-speaking countries, however, the film is titled “Los Infiltrados.” or “The Infiltrated.” The parallels of organized crime infiltrating its way into the police struck him. As he learned about the execution of the suspects within the locked doors of a high security Guatemalan prison, Soy Salvadoreño wondered if truth was stranger than fiction.

The impunity with which organized crime was acting led Soy Salvadoreño to bemoan:

48 horas fueron suficientes para que la mafia (¿guatemalteca-salvadoreña?) planeara y ejecutara a los arrestados con la ayuda de los “infiltrados” de la policía y autoridades de Guatemala y de El Salvador …. No hay quien nos ayude, no hay quien nos proteja. No hay justicia. Vivimos en la selva

The question in El Salvador is what are the links in El Salvador to these murders. The Hunnapuh blog is running a poll[ES] asking its readers whether drug traffickers have infiltrated public officials in El Salvador and whether any particular party is more likely to be connected to drug-trafficking. Hunnapuh also made sure to remind his readers[ES] that, although US president George Bush had offered condolences for the “three gentlemen who were murdered,” referring to the ARENA politicians, there were in fact four Salvadorans murdered that night. The driver of the car, Gerardo Ramirez, was also murdered, and he had been often overlooked in the press coverage of the murders.

The events of the past two weeks have also put a strain on relations between Guatemala and El Salvador. Patrick Hall at the Guatemala Solidarity Network points out “Guatemala-El Salvador relations haven't been this frosty for a long while.” Government officials in El Salvador have been intimating that high government officials in Guatemala have connections to the crime. Meanwhile Hall also notes that journalists covering the case have been receiving death threats.

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José Wilfredo Salgado says he collected baby skulls as trophies in the 1980s, when he fought as a government soldier in El Salvador's civil war. They worked well as candleholders, he recalls, and better as good-luck charms.

The skulls were taken from corpses of the El Mozote massacre victims in Morazan province which took place in December 1981. Salgado gave an interview to the periodical El Faro, in which he denies ever making such statements, but the Washington Post reporter is sticking to the story.

Blogger Jjmar has no doubt that Salgado made the statements in question, and wonders what that says[ES] for his country that such a man can be a popular mayor of a major city and is being considered as a presidential candidate in 2009. Ixquic looks at Salgado and sees a politician with populist appeal[ES], a “Robin Hood,” who has sold himself to the electorate and the people have bought his sales job. It doesn't seem to matter whether the news about him is good or bad.

Tepezcuintly wants persons like Will Salgado, and the military leaders from the war, not to be giving interviews[ES] to the press, but to be assisting in bringing out information about the whereabouts of thousands of people still missing after the war. The plight of persons still missing was the subject of a visit to El Salvador by envoys from the United Nations on February 5. They are part of a UN working group which specializes in looking at forced disappearances in nations in conflict.

The mastermind of many disappearances and death squad killings during El Salvador's 12 year conflict between guerrilla forces and the government was former Major Roberto D'Aubuisson. That was the conclusion of a UN Truth Commission report in 1993. Fourteen years later, the ruling ARENA party in El Salvador planned to introduce a measure in the legislature to name D'Aubuisson a “Son of Highest Merit” of the nation. Salvadoran bloggers, along with NGO's and the Human Rights office of the Catholic church in El Salvador rallied to protest the resolution.
Hunnapuh's reaction was typical:

Bueno amigos, tal parece los señores de ARENA no desean que este sea el año de la paz, sino que sea el año de la verguenza, del asco, de la infamia.

Protesters converged on the National Assembly on the morning the resolution was to be considered. Many of the protesters were holding pictures of assassinated archbishop Oscar Romero, whose killing had been ordered by D'Aubuisson. (Romero's progress towards sainthood is tracked on the Positio Super Martyrio blog). Confronted with these protests, the measure was withdrawn rather than facing a vote.

Finally, Solava, writes about a different kind of criminal. He describes the cheapening of life[ES] in the overcrowded courts of El Salvador. A reckless driver can be released from criminal charges for running over and killing a child with a payment of $1000 to $1500, and this might be in the form of payments of as little as $5 per month to the family. In the situation where there are some 28,000 cases pending in these courts, the prosecutors and magistrates pressure the families into accepting these settlements, resolving both damage claims and criminal liability.

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Jjmar, who posts at the Hunnapuh blog, does not want the significance of the Peace Accords to be underestimated and describes the accords as the basis for the most important democratic political reform(es) in the modern history of El Salvador. The accords opened to doors to the growth of democracy, guaranteed political rights and opened space where the FMLN could be transformed from a guerrilla movement into a political party, and the country established a Human Rights Ombudsman. But in the socio-economic life of the country, the accords had their greatest shortcomings. The historic structures of Salvadoran society which gave rise to the armed conflict were not abolished by the Peace Accords.

For her part, Ixquic marvels that in a country as small as El Salvador there exist such widely varied opinions(es) about the the same reality. While she notes that the Peace Accords did accomplish the cessation of hostilities, there has been a failure to cement a new social, political and economic system.

Many view the treatment of ex-soldiers and guerrillas as one of the failures. Journalist Juan Jose Dalton reflects on the Peace Accords with the story of Bernardo Menjivar(es). When he was only 11, government forces invaded Bernardo's village in the mountainous province of Chalatenango and massacred the population including his mother, sister and uncles and counsin. From that point forward, he became a messenger for the FMLN guerrilla forces, passing messages from one front to another. When he was 16, he lost both legs in an explosion in a mine field. He was one of the lucky ones though. Eventually he came under the care of the International Red Cross and was later taken to Cuba where he received treatment and rehabilitation and eventually education and training.

Bernardo viewed himself as fortunate in comparison to other disabled veterans of the war, both ex-soldiers and ex-guerrillas. The promise of the Peace Accords, to reintegrate them into society with training, health care and support, has not been fulfilled according to Bernardo and Dalton.

Following the festivities of January 16 commemorating the Peace Accords, JJmar could only conclude that post-war reconciliation still had not arrived(es) for El Salvador. Members of the ruling right-wing ARENA party, including the current president and two of his three predecessors, gathered in a plaza dedicated in the past year to Roberto D'Aubuisson, founder of ARENA and sponsor of right wing death squads during the civil war years. They sang their old hymn with the line “El Salvador will be the tomb where the Reds will meet their end.” Beka Luna could only call it hypocrisy(es) when president Tony Saca went from singing these phrases, to calling for national unity, a short time later in the national celebrations.

Ixquic walked past the festival grounds where the celebrations were taking place, found them surrounded with razor wire and riot police, and posted the photos she took. One ironic photo shows protesters beyond the riot police with a banner which reads “la verdadera paz” — “the authentic peace.”

Jjmar decided that the day's events had only been the opening event(es) of the 2009 election campaigns. A fact he lamented while, for so many thousands of Salvadorans, the signing of the Peace Accords was an incomprehensible act — their concerns are to arrive home without being assaulted, to worry about the next day's meal and the rent payment at the end of the month

The commemorations of the end of the civil war brought numerous interviews and accounts from the civil war. One news story particularly incensed El Visitador. The digital periodical El Faro reported an interview(es) with Felipe González Márquez, former prime minister of Spain, who revealed that Fidel Castro had given him a detailed preview of the November 1989 offensive of the FMLN guerrillas into the streets of San Salvador. El Visitador declares that the silence of the Spanish prime minister(es) about a pending attack by guerrilla forces on the capital city was tantamount to being aware of plans for the 9/11 attacks and doing nothing to stop them.

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JJmar at the Hunnapuh blog comments on the government's patting itself on the back(es) regarding economic growth in 2007. He points out that the government's statistics of 4.7% economic growth had been discredited and that growth was only 3.5%. More importantly, the root of the growth was increasing remittances from Salvadorans who had emigrated abroad and not from economic vitality domestically. Exports were increasing, but these were also tied to the Salvadoran diaspora as “nostalgia” foods were sent to emigrants in the US and elsewhere looking for a taste of home.

Ixquic reflects the hopes and dreams (es) of many Salvadorans. She also heard the government say that the economy is growing, but notes that there does not seem to be an improvement in ordinary lives. She suggest that the lack of benefit to the ordinary person from economic growth could be the result of growing inequality of the distribution of economic resources in the country. Similarly, when the government tries to spin the country's crime problems by stating that crime has not increased in the past 12 months, Ixquic finds little comfort for the victims when crime is already at painfully high levels.

What troubles Ixquic the most, she writes, is a lack of citizen spirit and participation whether it be in politics, or justice, or civil actions. Those who do participate seem to be stuck with anachronistic ideologies and lacking in creative solutions. Although the next election is not until 2009, Ixquic already sees signs of the country becoming ungovernable as the old parties harden their positions.

Jjmar and Izquic ask for optimism temptered with realism as the new year begins, a theme picked up by journalist Juan Jose Dalton on his blog. Dalton writes:

Pienso ahora que aquella idea del poeta guatemalteco Otto René Castillo: “Hermosa encuentra la vida, quien hermosa la construye”. Es la utopía que choca contra la realidad. Puede encerrar esa frase la máxima de nuestras acciones. Lanzo mi propuesta al aire como un grito desesperado para no sucumbir.

Reconocer que estamos mal no es ser pesimista como muchos creen; mentir y esconder la verdad es un cinismo condenable. La incertidumbre no debe implicar desesperanza. Enarbolar la utopía de un mundo convivible es la meta.

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The blogger Hunnapuh looks at the level of spending(es) on the armed forces. He performs some basic math to show that persons in the armed forces above the lowest ranks are earning more per month than a teacher or a doctor. This disparity has lead Hunnapuh to campaign on his blog for the abolition of the army.

El Visitador disagrees, calling the army a necessary insurance policy(es). Without an army, he asserts, El Salvador would look like Cuba and Mexico would be ruled by Commandante Marcos, as armed rebel movements take control of Latin American countries.

On the Hunnapuh blog, a poll (es) is being conducted asking readers if they favor abolishing the army. 70% in the poll favor abolishing the army, but this may have more to do with who reads blogs in El Salvador than it does with actual popular sentiment.

Meanwhile, Tim's El Salvador Blog describes the war of words between Honduras and El Salvador over the deserted island of Conejo in the Gulf of Fonseca, and wonders whether the army is maintained for just such a dispute. Hunnapuh believes it is no coincidence(es) that, just when voices are starting to be raised about the abolition of the army, a border dispute and an affront to Salvadoran sovereignty appears.

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The blogger Hunnapuh notes that there are two operative theories(es)
about the motives for the slaying of the priest. Either he was killed by gangs operating in the region, or he was killed by a death squad because of his work in solidarity with the poor in the region of his parish. Hunnapuh sounds a note of alarm, admonishing those who would dismiss the possibility that “escuadrones de la muerte”, backed by wealthy interests, have returned to El Salvador.

Tepezcuintly, who also blogs with Hunnapuh, has no doubt(es) about the return of death squads and who is backing them. Along with similar blogs, he heaps scorn and hatred on the ARENA government and President Tony Saca. His comments are mirrored on blogs like Chichicaste(es), El Trompudo(es), and Samuel's Blog(es), which are virulently anti-government and anti-American and make their points with satire and parody.

The cutting down of trees at the El Espino estate close to San Salvador has prompted several bloggers to comment. El Espino has one of the largest blocks of forest close to the capital city, and trees are being felled to make way for a highway, a golf course and shopping centers. Aldebarán finds that this situation shows that Salvadoran society lacks a common vision(es) of what is meant by “development.” He fears that a consumption-based view of development is driving such projects without any concern for sustainability or environmental impact. Picking up that theme, Ligia at Que Joder writes that development which focuses on road-building(es) does nothing for the vast majority of Salvadorans who have no car to use the highways to get to the shopping centers (much less play golf).

In what appears to be a partial response to the outcry, the government plans to acquire a sizable block of the El Espino forest and dedicate it as a permanent preserve. But El Visitador predicts bad results(es) from the government plan. He scorns the idea that the government could do so in a competent fashion (his regular theme is a preference for private enterprise and free markets to act) and foresees the preserve being overrun with squatters and environmental degradation following.

The Spanish language Salvadoran blogosphere has expanded greatly in the past year. Soy Salvadoreño shows some of the growth in his running commentary on Salvadoran blogs(es). The Hunnapuh collaborative blog(es) has a lengthy list of Salvadoran blogs in its right hand column.

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In reaction, well-known Salvadoran artist Mayra Barraza has created a blog 100 días en la República de la Muerte (100 Days in the Republic of Death). Her project began on September 1, and each day gives an accounting of the deaths that day by violence in the country, taken from the pages of El Salvador's two leading papers, La Prensa Grafica and El Diario de Hoy.

She describes the project in her first post:

Comienzo este ejercicio con la sensación de estar haciendo algo contra el sentido común. Las personas normales no buscan la muerte. La rehuyen. Quizas buscan la vida. Yo también. Pero no puedo seguir así.

Leo el periódico todos los días. De atrás para adelante. “Porqué” me pregunta mi hijito de 9 años. Prefiero comenzar por las noticias más bonitas - le digo - las de cultura. Al acercarme a las noticias de nacionales, día tras día, me choca lo que veo: los crímenes cometidos, la sordidez de los hechos, y la ligereza con que pasan a sumarse una y otra vez al olvido.

Conversando con un amigo sobre lo que quería hacer con este blog, me hacía una interesante observación: “los muertos no los vemos, no están en la calle, están en las noticias”. Me hizo dudar, como si dispusiera a meterme a un mundo de sombras, donde no se reconoce la realidad de la ilusión. Pero allá voy, estoy dispuesta a ello. Quiero saber…

Each day she has a short snippet about each of the muders reported in the daily paper:

1. A 40 year old man was murdered yesterday….The victim had been cut up with a knife.
2. Jose H.F., 26 years old, was found dead…the body showed the impact of two bullets….

After accounting for the deaths of that day, Barraza has used the space in her blog to engage in a dialog with those who comment send her e-mail about the meaning of violence and death in the modern reality of El Salvador.

The rest of the Salvadoran blogosphere has taken notice of the project. Blogger Hunnapuh notes that this is not exactly the best way(es) to present El Salvador before the rest the rest of the world (especially since Hunnapuh would like to see a growth of tourism in his country) but acknowledges that it reflects the sad reality in which they live. Hunnapuh's only crtique of the project is Barraza's use of the conservative newspapers as her sources, which may leave out certain deaths which are politically uncomfortable for their owners.

Soy Salvadoreño disagrees(es) with Barraza's project. He finds it neither good nor original. Why, he wonders, does someone want to count deaths already reported in the newspapers? He would much prefer to see blogs devoted to responses and solutions, and notes with dismay the messages of support Barraza has received from many prominent names in El Salvador's artistic community.

In contrast, Jacintario finds the idea behind the 100 Days of the Republic of Death to be an intersting one. Defending the blog(es) against those who believe that it glorifies violence and believe that blogs should talk only about the pretty things of El Salvador, she notes that even if it is only a grain of sand, the 100 Days project is an important effort to make Salvadorans reflect on how violent death has become part of daily life in the country.

Ligia at Que Joder takes her own opportunity to reflect on the violence with an essay based on the writings of social psychologist and Jesuit priest Ignacio Martín-Barró:

La sociedad salvadoreña ha emergido de un largo conflicto armado, y ha iniciado, en teoría, un tránsito a la consolidación democrática. Pero la manera de ejercer el control social en la sociedad salvadoreña sigue siendo, por antonomasia, el uso de la violencia, practicada en todos los ámbitos: en la política, para mantener el control sobre el Estado nacional y los gobiernos locales, así como para imponer un tipo determinado de sociedad; en los lugares de trabajo, para imponer las condiciones del mismo; incluso en la familia, para el sometimiento de las mujeres y los niños y niñas. La violencia es un medio para transmitir valores y normas sociales que orientan la vida cotidiana en la sociedad salvadoreña.

(Martín-Barró was himself a victim of a violent El Salvador, when he was assasinated with 5 other Jesuits by forces linked to the Salvadoran government in 1989).

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Rocío writes in her blog about a concern that “terrorism” is not well-defined(es) in the law. Because terrorist acts under the law can be any conduct intended to provoke fear, alarm, or insecurity in the population, it may be subject to abuse. Before such a law is adopted, Rocío believes the country needs to adopt measures to improve the judicial system in the country to protect jealously the human rights of its citizens.

Blogger Ixquic also makes several points about the proposed law in her post titled Parliamentary Terrorism(es). First, Ixquic finds the need to point out that combatting terrorism is not inconsistent with international standards of human rights. In fact, the United Nations and varioius international treaties expressly condemn terror. So the creation of an anti-terrorism law is not, by itself, an act designed to impair the human rights of Salvadoran citizens.

Second, Ixquic wonders whether such a law is even needed. The deputies seem to want to have a specialized law for every problem — but the crimes in the law are already crimes under the existing criminal code. The only difference in the law is to impose higher penalties where the motive of the crime is to cause terror.

Third, Ixquic responds to the FMLN and other organizations which claim that the anti-terrorism law is actually aimed at stopping demonstrations against the government. She reviewed the law's provisions and found nothing to support those statements. The only provision against demonstrations outlaws those where the demonstrators come armed with weapons.

But Ixquic finds a greater incongruity. Even though the country has a thousand laws and a thousand specialized institutions for every problem, none of them will be effective if the government does not put in place other essential measures to prevent, investigate and punish crimes of any type. In her view, what the country needs much more urgently is an institute for forensic sciences and solid programs for the training of police and prosecutors. Instead, she laments that the legislature has spent so much time and resources on a subject (terrorism) which does not touch the Salvadoran people.

And now for the first time, debates over laws like the anti-terrorism bill can be seen on television in El Salvador. Jjmar, at the blog Hunnapuh(es), notes that the sessions of the legislature are being televised on a cable channel. This is only a small step, since most people in El Salvador do not have cable, but Jjmar notes that the people will now have a little more information when they go to elect deputies — and perhaps that is what those who opposed televising the proceedings feared most.

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