El Salvador

Music for Hope is celebrating its fifteenth birthday with an evening of fresh and eclectic music from jazz to trip hop, salsa and ska, organised with our fabulous new volunteers! It would be great of you could join us and be part of this unique evening of Manchester musicians supporting young musicians in El Salvador.
 
Music for Hope wants to use its lively birthday celebration to raise funds to buy new instruments for young musicians in El Salvador, while providing local communities in the UK with the opportunity to learn more about Music for Hope. It is also an opportunity to look back over the last fifteen years and celebrate Music for Hope's achievements which you have all been a part of!

To give you a taster of  what's to come ...
 
Live performances from:
 
After Hours - Easy listening music with a Latin vibe.

Peak District - A four piece band harbouring big beats and melodic treats.

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean off El Salvador late on Sunday, triggering a brief tsunami warning but causing no major damage or casualties, Reuters reported.

A small tsunami hit the El Salvador port of Acajutla following the quake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. It issued and then cancelled a tsunami alert for El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico.

For updates, visit humanitarian news website AlertNet; http://www.trust.org/alertnet/

On August 17, the government declared a National Dengue Alert in El Salvador. Over 20,000 suspected cases of the mosquito-borne disease have been registered, of which 5,390 have been confirmed - significantly higher than last year.

The Red Cross has launched an effort to carry out a media campaign, educational talks and cleaning in 60 schools and communities, distribute informative materials in shopping centres, and support the referral of suspected cases.

On June 1, a tribunal at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), housed at the World Bank, dismissed a claim by Pacific Rim, a Canadian mining company, that the government of El Salvador had violated the rules of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).

But it said it would continue to hear the case based on Pacific Rim's claim that El Salvador had violated its own Investment Law, approved in 1999 under the administration of President Flores.

Read a press release on the CISPES website.

Since 2009, the Vancouver-based company has been pursuing over $100 million from the government of El Salvador for not having granted the company a permit to mine gold in the northern region of Cabañas.

If you're wondering how the three-year-old FMLN government is getting on, what's happening with the brutal
gang wars, or how El Salvador is involved with the Venezuela/Cuba-led "ALBA" international co-operation alliance, download and read the ESNET newsletter (click on attachment button below for PDF file).

The articles are illustrated with images by photographer Kevin Hayes who spent part of 2011
in El Salvador.

The Nicaragua Network says in its latest bulletin that heavy rains have damaged infrastructure, affected crops, and raised the risk of disease in many parts of the country. Honduras and El Salvador have also been hit by storms. Here's the full report (for more news, visit www.nicanet.org):

In recent days, there have been shutdowns of public transport in San Salvador, as gangs react to the introduction of legislation to criminalise gang membership, the BBC reports. Here's an excerpt from the BBC's article...

"The street gangs - known as Maras - ordered the shutdown to put pressure on president Mauricio Funes not to sign a new law which would make membership of a gang a criminal offence.

The law, which has been approved by El Salvador's parliament, makes the Mara 18 and Salvatrucha proscribed organisations, and describes them as "social extermination groups".

But Mr Funes said his government would not be moved by intimidation and threats."

CISPES - the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador - says rumours are flying around about opposition efforts to stoke insecurity in the country.

Humanitarian news website Reuters AlertNet reports that the number of Guatemalans going hungry is set to rise as the Central American nation faces more food shortages after devastating floods washed away crops.

Agatha, the first named storm of this year's Pacific hurricane season, lashed Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador last weekend, killing at least 180 people - most of them Guatemalan - and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

Strong winds and torrential rains in Guatemala, which recorded the highest rainfall in over 60 years, triggered landslides and severe flooding, washing away fields of maize, banana, sugar cane and coffee.

"We are facing a very difficult situation. Without doubt the food crisis is going to get worse and we can expect to see more cases of malnutrition," Rubelci Alvarado, programme manager with Save the Children, told AlertNet by phone from Guatemala City.