Sep
Politics
September 2009 El Salvador News Update
CRIPDES Participates in First Economic and Social Council
Representatives from El Salvador’s social movement, business sector and officials from Mauricio Funes’s government participated in the inauguration of El Salvador’s first Economic and Social Council (CES) on September 4th.
The idea of the Economic and Social Council was a part of the 1992 Peace Accords that ended El Salvador’s civil war. However after the Accords were signed, no President put the Council into practice. Mauricio Funes’s decision to implement the council demonstrates not only his commitment to the 1992 Peace Accords, but also his commitment to dialogue and participation of all sectors of society in government decisions.
Rosa Centeno of CRIPDES and Pedro Juan Hernandez of the MPR-12 alliance are both representativeson the council for the Salvadoran Social Movement. At the event CRIPDES representatives expressed their happiness that “the government is finally taking us into account.”
Mauricio Funes Completes First 100 Days in Office
As Funes completed his first 100 days in Office in September, he continues to have a 86% approval rating, according to CID-Gallup. Although ARENA says that Funes has not completed enough the promises he made during his campaign, even the Right has had to admit that they were incorrect when they claimed that Funes would break relationships with the US, re-write the constitution and create a communist country aligned with Cuba.
Among the work that Funes has done in his first 100 days, people highlight his work to make the government more transparent, the creation of the Economic and Social Council, uncovering fraud in the previous government, eliminated quotas in the hospitals, gave out seeds and fertilizers to farmers, and work to provide school supplies to elementary and middle schools.
Journalist Christian Poveda Murdered
The photographer and cinema journalist Christian Poveda, who made the documentary La Vida Loca about the dialy life of a community of Salvadoran gang members, was killed on Friday September 3rd in Soyapango, San Salvador.
Police confirmed the murder and explained that Poveda was assassinated by gang members when he was leaving the neighborhood of El Rosario in his car.
Representative of the organization Homies Unidos, Luis Romero, called for a thorough investigation into the case, saying that Poveda had worked in rehabilitation of gang members in Soyapango, and his documentary had brought awareness about the lives of gang members in El Salvador, and that he was well liked in the region.
