More "good" reads on El Salvador

Seth Robbins looks at Padre Toño in How one Spanish priest went gangster in Central America. I'm still left wondering what Padre Toño got out of the deal. Was he seduced by access to El Viejo Lin? Did he get anything in return for helping with regards to facilitating prisoner transfers and access to cell phones? It sure doesn't look like the Padre was forced into cooperating with the gangs. Then why did he? The "how" question is somewhat answered but I want a little more information on the "why."

Hector Silva has the first in a two-part series for Insight Crime on Murder of Colonel's Son Raises Questions Over Role of El Salvador's Military. It's disappointing but not surprising that the Salvadoran military might still be involved in extrajudicial executions. The motive for the murder of Colonel Rivas' son does not appear to have been the work of a disgruntled employee but was he really killed because of his low-key support for finding the 1993 Amnesty Law unconstitutional and for pursuing the IACHR's sentence on Mozote? Given the constitutional conflict of a few years ago, it's not surprising that some military will kill to prevent prosecutions for civil war era crimes. However, I'm not sure how killing Rivas' son and trying to blame it on a disgruntled employee (as originally planned it would appear) would help deter the Constitutional Court from finding the law unconstitutional or convince Rivas against speaking out against the military. Maybe part II will answer that questions.

I did note the importance of the military allegedly hiring out a contract killing to a gang member. While it does appear that most of the killings in El Salvador have been done by gang members, there's a strong belief that many of the murders that they were executing were done at the behest of organized crime.

Tim linked to an Important new study on public security in El Salvador from the UCA. While I have not yet read it, you can find the English-language executive summary here.

Central American Countries Offer Plan to Curb Migration to U.S. The details have not been made public.

Finally, Preston with the MCC wants to clarify that the passage of FOMILENIO II was not held up because of Monsanto.

Just to clarify, there was never any condition related to Monsanto or genetically modified seeds. This was false information used by environmental groups to make it into a more polarizing issue: Some facts are here.