Wednesday, September 28, 2016
News and Views from the Global South
El Salvador
Native Plants Boost Local Diets in El Salvador
Juana Morales is cooking one of the most popular dishes in El Salvador: pupusas, corn tortillas with different fillings. But hers are unique: they are not made with the traditional corn tortillas, but use Maya nuts, a highly nutritional seed that has fallen out of use but whose consumption is being encouraged in rural communities.
El Salvador Faces Dilemma over the Prosecution of War Criminals
The ruling of the highest court to repeal the amnesty law places El Salvador in the dilemma of deciding whether the country should prosecute those who committed serious violations to human rights during the civil war.
El Salvador Pension Reform Could Take Women into Account
El Salvador is debating reforms of the country’s privatised pension system, which could introduce changes so that it will no longer discriminate against women.
Women Inmates Sow Hope in Prisons in El Salvador
Doris Zabala squats down in the field to pull up radishes. She is working on a prison farm in El Salvador, where more and more penitentiaries are incorporating agricultural work and other activities to keep prisoners busy.
Coffee Rust Aggravates Poverty in Rural El Salvador
Sitting in front of a pile of coffee beans that she has just picked, Ilsy Membreño separates the green cherries from the ripe red ones with a worried look on her face, lamenting the bad harvest on the farm where she works in western El Salvador and the low daily wages she is earning.
Native Seeds Help Weather Climate Change in El Salvador
Knife in hand, Domitila Reyes deftly cuts open the leaves covering the cob of corn, which she carefully removes from the plant – a process she carries out over and over all morning long, standing in the middle of a sea of corn, a staple in the diet of El Salvador.
El Salvador Forges Ahead in Fight Against Hunger
In the last 15 years, El Salvador has managed to reduce the proportion of hungry people living in extreme poverty by four percentage points. But they still represent 12.4 percent of the population, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The Future Tastes Like Chocolate for Rural Salvadoran Women
Idalia Ramón and 10 other rural Salvadoran women take portions of the freshly ground chocolate paste, weigh it, and make chocolates in the shapes of stars, rectangles or bells before packaging them for sale.
Draconian Ban on Abortion in El Salvador Targeted by Global Campaign
International and local human rights groups are carrying out an intense global campaign to get El Salvador to modify its draconian law that criminalises abortion and provides for prison terms for women.
Talk of Death Squads to Combat New Wave of Gang Violence in El Salvador
The resurgence of violent crime in El Salvador is giving rise to a hostile social environment in El Salvador reminiscent of the country’s 12-year civil war, which could compromise the country’s still unsteady democracy.
Taking Child Workers Out of El Salvador’s Sugar Cane Fields
The participation of children and teenagers in the sugar cane harvest, a dangerous agricultural activity, will soon be a thing of the past in El Salvador, where the practice drew international attention 10 years ago.
Salvadoran Maquila Plants Use Gang Members to Break Unions
Textile companies that make clothing for transnational brands in El Salvador are accused of forging alliances with gang members to make death threats against workers and break up their unions, according to employees who talked to IPS and to international organisations.
Newly Recognised Indigenous Rights a Dead Letter?
Nearly three years after the rights of El Salvador’s indigenous people were recognised in the constitution, there are still no public policies and laws to translate that historic achievement into reality.
LGBTI Community in Central America Fights Stigma and Abuse
Despite the aggression and abuse she has suffered at the University of El Salvador because she is a trans woman, Daniela Alfaro is determined to graduate with a degree in health education.
Rural Towns in El Salvador Join “War Tourism” Trend
The memory of a priest killed shortly before civil war broke out in El Salvador is so alive in this small town that it is now the main attraction in a community tourist initiative aimed at providing employment and injecting money into the local economy.Next Page »
