Orlando Velasco, mining activist from El Salvador

Transnational Movement “Encachimbados” Brings Occupy Protests to El Salvador

The privileges granted to foreign companies through the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), has recently yielded a torrid legal battle in El Salvador. The Salvadoran government faces two lawsuits for a total of almost $200 million for refusing to grant permissions to companies to carry out open-pit metallic mining in several regions throughout the country.

Every Time a Gavel Slams a Prison Goes “Ka-ching!”

Private, for-profit correctional institutions rely on a steady stream of immigrants to keep their wallets fat with taxpayer money

FMLN Swept from Public Security Cabinet, Replaced by Officials and Military Officers Close to the US

This cabinet change has been extremely controversial. The PNC is a civilian institution that was created by the 1992 Peace Accord negotiations that ended the Salvadoran Civil War with the intention of removing the Armed Forces from any role in public security, specifically because of the long history of human rights violations by the military.