On November 27th, 2024, Bukele took to twitter to announce his support for a return to gold mining, stating that “God placed a gigantic treasure under our feet.” For El Salvador, the first country to ban metallic mining, this represents a significant and concerning policy shift. The lifting of the mining ban is widely opposed […]
Español abajo. As we welcome 2025, we want to take a moment to celebrate our successes in 2024. It was a big year here at US-El Salvador Sister Cities. We strengthened our network, hosted events, built international solidarity, and opposed injustices in both the US and El Salvador. Here are some of the highlights. We […]
(Español abajo) Check out this excerpt from El Sombrero Azul, the annual newsletter of the Binghamton-El Charcón Sister City Project. To read the entire newsletter, click here. Photo: Members of the Junta Directiva who replied to our questions: From left to right, Celia Quintanilla Valencia (Treasurer), María Concepción Barrera, and Claudia Guardado (President). The Faces […]
(Español Abajo) This fall, Sister Cities organized the 2024 Speaking Tour across the Midwest from October 6th to 27th. The topic for the 2024 tour was “Our Shared Struggle: Shaping a more just future through grassroots solidarity organizing in El Salvador and the US.” During our tour, we visited 7 cities: Austin TX, Lawrence KS, […]
(Español abajo) On November 5th, former President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the US presidential election. With 50.2% of the popular vote compared to Harris’ 48.2%, Trump’s win was a decisive comeback from his loss in 2020 (Associated Press). We know that a second Trump presidency will be felt across the country, […]
Read, Remember, Resist! Prior to traveling to El Salvador this past summer with a compañera from Philadelphia and a team from Madison, Wisconsin, I read Jonathan Blitzer’s Everyone Who is Gone is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis. Six years had lapsed since my last delegation and I felt […]
(Español abajo) Photo above: a popular education workshop with USESSC in 2018. US-El Salvador Sister Cities is pleased to announce our 2024 Speaking Tour, which will take place in the midwest from October 6-27. The tour will be accompanied by Lorena Araujo, the current president of the Association for Development of El Salvador (CRIPDES), […]
Celebration of the International day of the victims of enforced disappearances. (Español Abajo) In the context of the commemoration of the Month of Victims of Forced Disappearance, on August 30th, we supported the Human Rights Committee Pro Historical Memory of El Salvador, which called for a press conference and an ecumenical event to be held […]
(Español abajo) Last Saturday CRIPDES celebrated its 19th annual assembly, in which they celebrated 40 years of community work. The assembly was attended by the different members, representatives of the regional offices and special guests, including US- El Salvador Sister Cities. During the assembly, the work that has been done during the last year […]
(Español abajo). The Executive Hydroelectric Commission of the Rio Lempa (CEL) and Ministry of Public Works continue to fail community members with lack of safety oversight. On June 14th, heavy rains hit El Salvador, prompting a 15 day state of emergency. Although the worst of the crisis has passed, the National Civil Protection System has […]