The New Brand of Jesuit Universities

Autumn Jones looks at The New Brand of Jesuit Universities for The Atlantic. It had the potential for an interesting article but, in my opinion, it falls flat. To be fair, though, maybe it is just the Jesuit institutions that they highlight that fall flat.

In the likeness of Martin and Colbert, Pope Francis uses modern media to address points of tension in the Catholic Church. Having held the institution’s highest office for nearly two years, the pope’s approach is quite different than that of his predecessors. His strategy is, in many ways, "rebranding" the Church for a new audience and providing an updated image for its most ardent constituents—the very same thing Jesuit universities are doing across the country.

What is left at stake for both Pope Francis and Jesuit universities is whether this rebranding attenuates the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church. As a branch of Catholic education, Jesuit universities are required to fall in line with the Church as a whole and with the requests of the local bishop. Yet, similar to secular colleges and universities, they are also places where young adults are encouraged to think critically and to explore variations in religious ideology. The balance of mission, identity, and modern times—and whether that balance negates the central principles of Jesuit and Catholic education—is what lies at the root of the tensions present for these schools.

Of the 251 Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S., 28 are run by the Society of Jesus. The Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, was founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1540 and is the largest male religious order of priests and brothers within the Catholic Church. Though St. Ignatius didn’t originally intend to establish schools for the broader public, the Jesuit order quickly became recognized throughout the world for its achievements in education, community service, and the sciences. From the get-go, the Jesuits started compiling a number of documents to outline the kind of education the order would provide. These documents would later become the foundation of what’s known as Ratio Studiorum, the official plan of Jesuit education, published in 1599.

I'm not going to go into everything, but Jesuit and Catholic universities and colleges confront myriad problems similar to other institutions of higher education (cost, increasing reliance on part-time work, board members disconnect from what it means to be a university, societal pressure for universities to provide their graduates with a near guaranteed job, and so on) and others that are more unique (maintaining religious identity among increasing secularism throughout the US - not just students but faculty and administrators, fewer clergy available on campus not just to teach but to manage large, complex institutions, relations with the local bishop and the Newman Society, and so on).

That's all fine in the article although I believe the author could have been clearer distinguishing between challenges to higher-ed at Jesuit institutions and higher-ed institutions in general.

In surveying the 28 Jesuit institutions, Jones narrows in on Regis, Rockhurst, St. Joseph's and Gonzaga. Other than Gonzaga, perhaps (at least that's my impression), let's just say that those are not the most competitive Jesuit Universities out there today. Here are the Jesuit universities that make the cut on the top 201 in the 2015 US News & World Report rankings

21. Georgetown University

31. Boston College

58. Fordham University

76. Marquette University

99. Saint Louis University

106. Loyola University Chicago

106. University of San Francisco

While Jesuit universities do confront similar problems in many ways, the rankings tell me that the article should more accurately reflect how weaker Jesuit and Catholic universities are confronting the 21st century.

Father Martin and Pope Francis are in some way "rebranding" the Church but they are more accurately doing what Jesuits have historically done by abiding by the principle to “meet people where they are." They are extending invitations to individuals to become closer to God. However, it is disappointing that the solutions posed by the individuals identified in the article do no such thing. "Rebranding" of their Jesuit universities entails hiding or removing their Jesuit and Catholic identities.

At a time when Jesuits are more popular than they have been in some time with Fr. Martin in the US and Pope Francis globally, Rockhurst University in Kansas City removed the word "Jesuit" from the university's tagline to hide its Jesuit tradition. At least they kept "Catholic" in some of their materials.

Regis University, on the other hand, wants to drop Catholic and play up Jesuit as if you can be Jesuit without being Catholic.

"We hide the word ‘Catholic’ from prospective students," said Traci McBee, who helps oversee fundraising efforts at Regis University. "We focus on the Jesuit piece rather than the Catholic piece. We’re able to transform a little quicker because we are not waiting for the archbishop to give us permission. We don’t have to ask the Pope when we want to make changes."

So in reaching out to donors that have already completed an education at Regis, they want to hide who they are from their alumni? I'm more with Gonzaga's McCulloh who says "the Jesuits are completely and wholly a part of the Church." You shouldn't run away from the need to convince people that you cannot be Jesuit without being Catholic. Hopefully, Regis' development office isn't spearheading this radical change.

What Regis and Rockhurst are doing seems completely at odds with what Fr. Martin and Pope Francis are doing. They are hiding their Jesuit and Catholic identities from prospective students (ethics in advertising?) and alumni (sorry, forget about your four years here) rather than embracing them.

I'm a little biased. I attended a Regis High School in New York City and Fairfield University in Connecticut. I now teach at the University of Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania - all Jesuit institutions. In my opinion, universities can be successful not in spite of their Jesuit and Catholic identities but because of them.

Signing a peace settlement guarantees neither peace nor justice

In 2012, I thought that two of the most important developments to emerge out of Latin America were the start of peace negotiations between the FARC and the government in Colombia and the gang truce the MS-13 and the 18th Street gangs and the government of El Salvador.

I'm sure there were other important events, maybe even more important, but the Colombian civil war had been going on for several decades, had cost the lives of nearly 300,000 people, and led to the displacement of millions. Colombia should be a leader in Latin America and the conflict was holding it back from realizing its true potential.

Two years later and after a few hiccups, the negotiations are still on track and WOLA just released an update with At Year’s End, It’s Clear: This Peace Process Is For Real.

A month ago, the FARC had another military captive, a far bigger prize: a Colombian Army general who wandered right into the guerrillas’ clutches. This time, though, the FARC let him go after just two weeks. Gen. Rubén Darío Alzate will spend Christmas at home with his family.

Why did the guerrillas’ behavior shift so radically? Again, they are in peace negotiations with the Colombian government. But this time, unlike 2001, they really don’t want them to end. A government suspension of the talks forced the guerrillas to choose between holding a general and continuing to talk peace. They chose peace.

While the FARC guerrillas are still rather strong, there seem to be so many parallels with the conflict in Guatemala. The duration and intensity of the conflicts are similar. Kidnapping that could have derailed the peace process occurred in both. Military and political elites attempting to undermine the peace process and push for all-out victory against a severely weakened foe or, at best, pushing for a negotiated surrender rather than more comprehensive reforms. A successful peace process and post-war are important to not only the people of Colombia but the entire region. Hopefully, the rapprochement between the US and Cuba is another good sign for the talks which have been taking place in Havana.

The second event was the February 2012 truce between El Salvador's two main gangs. Given that El Salvador's murder rate was above 70 per 100,000 at the time, several hundred thousand people were connected to the gangs in some way, and the weakness of the country's political institutions, I thought that dialogue and some sort of negotiation with the gangs by the government was an understandable and potentially positive development. I was never entirely confident that a total truce would hold but I thought that the Salvadoran government and international community would be able to use the opportunity to reintegrate and rehabilitate as many gang members as possible and to devise a more comprehensive government approach to the sources of the country's problems, of which gangs are just one. There was also the possibility that a successful truce in El Salvador, the place where it all began, would spread to gangs in Honduras and, to a lesser extent, Guatemala.

As 2014 closes in El Salvador, there are few signs that a truce exists. After decreasing from ~70 homicides per 100,000 in 2011, the rate settled in around ~40 in 2012 and 2013. Even with an increase in disappearances and, possibly, extortion, it was still a significant drop in violence. However, it looks like over 3,800 people will be murdered this year, 50% more than last year, and the rate should surpass 60. Gangs are at war with each other once again and the gangs and police are at war with each other. Nearly 40 police officers have been killed so far this year and over 100 gang members have been killed in shootouts with police. Several news stories also give the impression that security officers or other groups are engaged in extrajudicial executions of gang members.

There have been some successful reports of gang members receiving an education and jobs at bakeries and what not. The truce also seems to be still in effect in some areas such as Soyapango, Ilopango, Santa Ana, Sonsonate and San Vicente. With a more comprehensive plan, competent leadership, and domestic and international support, I know - that is asking a lot, the truce could have been more effective and reached a greater number of Salvadorans.

While a Salvadoran truce looks to be entirely in the past as the FMLN government scrambles for a new plan, the Colombian peace process is not yet a done deal. And as we have learned from the other peace processes in the region, especially Guatemala and El Salvador, signing a peace settlement guarantees neither peace nor justice.

Anniversary of Guatemalan peace accords in shadow of amnesty

Emi MacLean writing at the International Justice Monitor and Jo-Marie Burt at NACLA take a look at recent events in Guatemala as we head to the re-start of the Efrain Rios Montt trial set to begin January 5th.

Jo-Marie and Emi review previous decisions by various Guatemalan courts that have led to the present state of affairs in Guatemala. They, like many others, fear that the courts might soon overturn previous amnesty decisions which would prevent the start of a new trial. Guatemalan and international law would seem to make it impossible to allow amnesty in the case of genocide and crimes against humanity but stranger things have happened.

Should that occur, there would most likely be some international condemnation of Guatemala and a renewed effort to move the trial abroad. Guatemalan elites might prefer international condemnation for applying amnesty in the case rather than international condemnation for a ruling confirming that they committed genocide and crimes against humanity. For those against the trial, they are confronted with a lose-lose decision.

For the victims, I hope it does, but I've been pretty pessimistic about the trial actually restarting in January.

The Guatemalan Government and the URNG officially ended the thirty-six year conflict with the signing of The Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace on this date in 1996.

The year in Oscar Romero (2014)

I hope everyone has been having a Happy Holidays. I just returned from a few days in Boston and will be leaving soon for a few more days in NY and NJ. I'll probably still be posting but, for now, go check out Polycario's Super Martyrio round-up of 2014's most important stories concerning Oscar Romero. Here are the first three. Check in at Polycarpio's blog for the rest.

1.“Positio Super Martyrio” Submitted to Congregation for the Causes of Saints

The biggest story this year happened out of public view, but its significance for Romero’s beatification cause cannot be understated.  It was certainly the most significant thing ever reported on this blog.  Late in the year, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the postulator of Archbishop Romero’s sainthood cause, formally submitted the “Positio Super Martyrio”—the “Position Paper on the Martyrdom,” a book-length study of Romero's life based on the documentation from the diocesan phase and other sources, which contains all the information on which the ultimate decision will be made.  This is truly the point where we can actually say “case closed;” nothing further to be added or detracted.  Decision looms.   [MORE] 

2. Pope Francis Comments on the CausePope Francis is believed to be a tremendous supporter of the canonization, quietly prodding the process along behind the scenes.  Although he is considered to be a loquacious Pontiff, the Holy Father has been assiduously mum on Romero—until August when, flying back from Korea, he was asked directly about the cause.  “For me, Romero is a man of God,” said the Pope, putting the kibosh on the old accusations that Romero was an activist.  After the Pope hinted that the postulators should move swiftly, the final papers advancing the cause were submitted within a couple of months (see item #1 above). [MORE]

3. Salvadoran Church takes the leadWhen the acknowledgments are passed out for the successful conclusion of Archbishop Romero’s beatification process, a large portion of the credit should go to the Salvadoran Church.  In August, the Church inaugurated a “Romero Triennium,” counting down the 3 years until the 100th anniversary of Romero’s birth and going public with the goal of having Romero canonized by then.  The church even sent a high ranking delegation of bishops to ask Pope Francis for his blessing.  To think that there was a time when only one man in the bishops’ conference was friendly to Romero!  [MORE]

Belize murder rate to increase 20% in 2014

With the year nearly over, Belize's murder rate is likely to increase approximately 20% in 2014.

Official statistics compiled up to yesterday show that there have been 120 murders so far for 2014. That is compared to 99 in 2013. That puts Belize's murder rate per hundred thousand at 33.6 - which will still likely put this country in the global top ten for murder rates - except this time closer to ten than one.

The highest one year total in terms of the number of homicides was in 2012 when the country recorded 145. While overall crime increased in 2014, arrests decreased rather significantly.

In terms of homicide rates, Belize will be ahead of Honduras and El Salvador but slightly worse than Guatemala. Given the size of Belize's population, however, I don't think that it is really fare to compare it to neighboring countries with millions of people.

US groups call on new US Ambassador to Guatemala to promote justice

Several individuals sent a letter to the new US Ambassador to Guatemala Todd Robinson in October. Usually, I'm not a big fan of these letters, but I like this one. It recognizes many positive ways in which the US engages with Guatemala today and call for a series of mostly reasonable ways in which the US can continue and/or extend its support.

The U.S. Embassy can play a key role in addressing human rights concerns in several areas: promoting justice and accountability; strengthening mechanisms for dialogue; addressing land rights conflicts; supporting human rights defenders; and re-assessing security policy and U.S. foreign assistance. We hope the U.S. Embassy can expand its commitment to the promotion of human rights under your leadership. 

Neither the left nor the right seem to hold the US Embassy in high regard in Guatemala. I'd be happy if the US simply continues what it has been doing these last few years - supporting victims of the armed conflict in court and in their communities; supporting judicial and police reform through the MP's office, CICIG, police training; pushing for greater respect for human rights defenders and workers.

At some point, though, the Guatemalan government is going to have to want to do these things themselves.

Did the FMLN undermine US-Salvadoran relations for short-term electoral gain?

According to CISPES,

The US government will no longer share confidential financial information with El Salvador in response to former president Mauricio Funes’ public revelation of a report that incriminated former Salvadoran president Francisco Flores in a multi-million dollar corruption scandal. “A decision has been made to stop the flow of confidential financial information from the Treasury Department to El Salvador,” pending further discussions, US Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte announced on December 5th.

Was it worth it? President Mauricio Funes publicly revealed private information from the US that alleged serious misdeeds by former President Francisco Flores. He did so in late 2013. The news shook El Salvador and nearly propelled Salvadoran Sanchez Ceren and the FMLN to a first round victory over Norman Quijano and the FMLN. It is possible that the FMLN would have lost the runoff election without the damaging information that the US had provided the Salvadoran government.

However, Funes' release of the information damaged relations with the US. The US often shares sensitive financial information with other governments when it's investigating money laundering, embezzlement, and other crimes. However, like any other investigation, the premature release of that information can damage ongoing investigations and perhaps damage the livelihoods of people who might not have been guilty in the first place. Remember, the people are targets of an ongoing investigation.

And what we've seen in El Salvador is that it does not appear that Flores was alone in illegally taking money from the government's coffers. Funes might not only have damaged relations with the US, relations that were already difficult, but he might have undermined investigations that look like they would have brought most of ARENA's top leadership down.

Political Tolerance Declines in Panama

Orlando Perez takes a look at Political Tolerance Declines in Panama in the latest AmericasBarometer Insights.

On December 20, 1989 United States military forces invaded Panama with the stated goal of removing General Manuel Antonio Noriega from power and establishing a democratic regime. Twenty five years later, Panama’s political system has made significant strides toward democracy. Five free and competitive national elections, all won by a candidate representing a party out of power, have solidified the country’s electoral system.

A successful demilitarization process transformed the politicized and powerful Panamanian Defense Forces into a civilian‐controlled national police force. The transfer of the Panama Canal and its successful management by Panamanians established sovereignty over the country’s most important asset. Furthermore, investment in infrastructure projects such as the expansion of the Panama Canal has led to a decade of extraordinary economic growth (see Pérez, 2011).

However, problems such as corruption, weak and inefficient judicial institutions, and unequal distribution of economic growth remain as significant impediments to democratic consolidation. In addition, evidence from the AmericasBarometer indicates that the political culture of democracy in Panama has deteriorated since the invasion.

Political tolerance has decreased rather significantly since 2004 but really nosedived during the Martinelli years. On a zero to 100 scale, where 100 equals the highest level of tolerance, tolerance decreased from 51 to 32. The only country that score lower than Panama is Guatemala.

Overall Central America looks pretty terrible. Each country is in the bottom half of the region in terms of political tolerance with Belize scoring the best at 49.9. Low tolerance is troubling as it means that Panamanians and Central Americans have little tolerance for people and political leaders who hold different political views than them. While sometimes understandable, I won't name names, it is not healthy for democracy.

Twenty-five years after the Panama invasion

From the AP

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega is nearly forgotten, languishing in a steamy jungle prison near the interoceanic canal while the country enjoys democracy and economic prosperity a quarter-century after the strongman was toppled by a U.S. military invasion.

The U.S. intervention known as Just Cause began 25 years ago on Saturday, on Dec. 20, 1989, and ended with Noriega's surrender to American drug agents on Jan. 3.

Much has changed in Panama since then, with six consecutive presidents democratically elected in the nation of 3.5 million people. Its economy has become one of the fastest growing in Latin America, rising at an average rate of about 8 percent annually amid a multi-million-dollar real estate and construction boom. The United States peacefully transferred full control of the canal to Panama in 1999.

On Saturday, President Juan Carlos Varela became the first Panamanian leader to attend a ceremony to remember victims of the invasion. He announced the government would form a commission to consider demands put forth by their families, such as declaring the date a national day of mourning.

Panama has clearly come a long way since the US invasion 25 years ago that led to the removal of former strongman Manuel Noriega and the country's transition to democracy. But their remain wounds from the invasion that have not been addressed and wounds from the political and economic development of the last two plus decades that has not benefited all Panamanians equally enough.

You can read what I wrote for Al Jazeera about Panama in A forgotten invasion, a forgotten dictator (2011) and Chipping away at democracy in Nicaragua and Panama (2012) as well as what Orlando Perez wrote on Panama has come a long way Mr. Biden (2013).

The political demography of U.S.-Cuba relations

Greg and John Weeks have post on The political demography of U.S.-Cuba relations for the Washington Post's Monkey Cage. In it, they look at demographic changes in the US and Cuba to help explain the timing of this policy reform.

President Obama’s announcement Wednesday of executive action on U.S.-Cuba policy was huge. By reestablishing diplomatic relations, expanding travel and trade, and encouraging investment, it reverses decades of policy. The president’s proposed measures do not end the embargo, which is a congressional prerogative, but they are wide ranging. What explains the timing of such a momentous shift? Political demography can offer a very useful analytical lens.

Good work professors. My only criticism is that the post would be better with tables and figures (not exactly something at which I am proficient).

Surfing to the rescue in coastal El Salvador

Ten days ago, I made mention of toxic waste that was supposed to be sent from El Salvador to Poland. However, Poles protested and the waste was turned away.

Surfer Today has an article on the community from which the waste originated (San Luis Talpa: from pesticide-contaminated town to inclusive surf city). Its mayor has sought to diversify the local economy away from sugarcane and to provide young people with an after school activity that will provide an attractive alternative to gangs - surfing.

Mayor Salvador Menendez has recognized that you cannot just ban toxic pesticides. By doing so, you are going to kill jobs in the sugarcane industry. Starting in the first few months of 2014, he decided to promote surfing in San Luis Talpa, to diversify the local economy away from sugarcane.

Because El Salvador has traditionally promoted right-hand point breaks over beach breaks, very few surfers went to San Luis Talpa before 2014. San Luis Talpa municipality has about eight kilometers of coastline, with three main beach breaks: El Pimental, La Zunganera, and Amatecampo.

Fortunately, all these beach breaks have been spared from the pesticide contamination as they are located about ten kilometers from the sugarcane fields. And there are no big hotels in the area discharging sewage into the ocean like in other surf spots from La Libertad region.

The timing of Mayor Salvador Menendez could not have been better to promote surfing in his town. El Salvador right-hand point breaks have become victims of their own success; they are getting crowded over time. So for anyone, being national or foreigner that is looking to surf in uncrowded beaches with minimum hotel development, San Luis Talpa is an excellent choice. It is widely accepted that beach breaks can handle crowds better than point breaks.

For foreign surfers that are always pressed with time, San Luis Talpa beach breaks are ideal. They are located no more than 15 kilometers away from the International Airport. There is no other country in Central America with an airport that close to a high-quality surf spot. For national surfers that have traditionally looked down on beach breaks, it is awakening time.

Looks like a win-win all around.

"Gangs are the 21st-century death squads" in El Salvador

David Boeri with WBUR has a series looking at how gang violence in forcing people to flee El Salvador for the safety of Massachusetts in Brutal Gang Violence Reigns In El Salvador. I don't remember hearing this one before and I don't know how accurate it is but

Many of the murders stem from the brutal violence of criminal gangs at war with each other and with El Salvador itself. I ask the chief medical examiner, Jose Miguel Fortin, if there is a distinguishing sign when murders are committed by gangs.

Yes, he says. When a head is found but no body, he says, that’s a gang murder. When there is a body, but it’s been dismembered, that’s a narco-trafficking murder. And when the body was dismembered while the person was alive, that’s a Mexican narco-trafficking murder.

Then there is this one that

When you count gang members, the inspector says, you should add mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and cousins. Rival gangs think the same way: When one joins, the whole family joins. And so they are marked, and marked forever, according to gang mentality.

The inspector tells me that the woman who died a week earlier first lost a son. He was shot to death by MS-13. Next gang members came for her son-in-law. They killed him too. Then they came back for the woman’s daughter. They shot her three times in the stomach.

“I pleaded with the mother,” the inspector says. “‘They’re going to kill you. They’re going to kill you.’ “We told her several times, ‘You have to go away.’ And now she’s dead.”

At the thought that she ignored his advice, the inspector adds: “It seems like people are resigned to their death; they know it’s coming for them.”

Okay, this one I knew. However, I was reading about Salvadoran death squads during the 1980s last night. Now that classes are over I get to do some light reading at night. Here is what one source told US officials in January 1981.

this group of six "enormously wealthy former landowners who lost great estates in Phase I of the agrarian reform" [these landowners were living in Miami at the time] had the following strategy:

"To rebuild the country on a new foundation it must first be destroyed totally, the economy must be wrecked, unemployment must be massive, the Junta must be ousted and a 'good' military officer brought to power who will carry out a total 'limpieza' [sic] (cleansing), killing three or four or five hundred thousand people, whatever it takes to get rid of all the communists and their allies."

Collective punishment in El Salvador is nothing new. What the gangs are engaged in today is little different from what the right-wing death squads were doing during the 1970s and 1980s, even into the 1990s. As a college student from Chalatenango is quoted as saying in the article, “First there were the death squads and now the gangs, which I think are much worse....Gangs are the 21st-century death squads.”

And obviously the civil war era deaths squads were simply following what they had considered successful historical precedent for dealing with subversives - the 1932 Matanza. It's not just machismo culture and drug trafficking that leads to high levels of violence in Central America. And it is not just the civil war and the failure of the peace accords that have contributed to the conditions today. El Salvador had one of the highest homicide rates in the world in the 1960s, prior to the escalation of revolutionary and right-wing violence.

Increasing food insecurity in Central America

On Friday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned the 2.5 million people in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador had been forced into conditions of food insecurity.

The drought in the three countries is “turning into a creeping humanitarian crisis”, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian agency, told reporters in Geneva.

Subsistence farmers, farm labourers and low-income families were especially at risk, with young children and pregnant women considered the most vulnerable, he said.

A full 80% of farmers in the worst-hit areas of El Salvador had reported losing all of their crops, while 75% of maize and bean crops in Honduras and Guatemala had failed.

The lack of rain has also resulted in the death of thousands of cattle.

“In the coming months, food insecurity is expected to get worse as families deplete their food stocks,” Laerke warned.

In Guatemala, the government had already declared “a state of public calamity” in 16 departments back in August, and by October 30,000 families had depleted their food stocks.

“These families are today in deep distress,” he said.

In the so-called “dry corridor” in the east of the country, it was estimated that one in four households were suffering from moderate to severe malnutrition.

The Honduras government meanwhile had found already back in September that the drought had left nearly 20,000 children malnourished.

Every time I get slightly optimistic about the near future of Central America, some news story comes along and wallops me back to reality. Central America is one of the world's most vulnerable regions when its comes to the effects of climate change. Unstable weather patterns lead to drought and flooding, often at the same time. Roya is devastating the region's coffee crops. I'm not sure if the region has stopped shaking after last week's series of earthquakes and tremors.

Hopefully, the $460 million that the Honduran government will receive from the International Monetary Fund to be invested "largely" on "infrastructure” projects will help.

These will include upgrading Puerto Cortés, the construction of the Amapala port and completing the280 km ‘Dry Canal’ connecting Amapala island in the Pacific with Puerto Castilla, a container port on the Caribbean.

In addition, funds will also be allocated for social programmes and improving some state run companies.

“These new funds will support the economy; we have been offered a facility to undertake a series of important projects for the country to help us in our goals of becoming competitive, because now we are not competing with the region, but with the world,” said the Government in a statement.

In the past, I've said that one of the challenges that the US has in delivering large-scale assistance to Honduras (and Guatemala) is that they do not qualify for a Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact. The MCC is the vehicle through which the US will provide several hundred million dollars to El Salvador (FOMILENIO I and II). While this $460 million might be totally separate with no connection to the MCC at all, I can't help but think that this is a bit of a workaround.

Promoting dialogue between civil war adversaries in Guatemala

When I was in Northern Ireland two years ago, I learned about several programs that brought together people from several sides of the conflict, victims and and perpetrators, victims and victims, and so on. The programs emphasized sharing experiences. When people asked me whether there were programs in Central America and South America that emphasized dialogue, I really couldn't come up with any.

Truth and justice were more the keywords in Latin America rather than reconciliation and forgiveness. Transitional justice processes in Latin America involved truth commissions of various shapes and sizes, amnesties, financial reparations, monuments and peace walls, and trials.

A program in Guatemala, however, is looking to change that.

Finding Guatemalan former enemies who are now willing to speak with each other publically is therefore extremely challenging. But at the end of November, DW Akademie organized the podium discussion titled "?Tu verdad? No, la Verdad" ("Your truth? No, the truth itself"). It brought together Julio Balconi, a retired general and former minister of defense, and Gustavo Meoño, once the commander of the insurgent "Guerilla Army of the Poor" (EGP), and now the director of the National Police Historical Archive (AHPN). For two hours the one-time foes spoke about the atrocities committed during the conflict. It was a controversial discussion, but at the end, the two men offered a gesture of reconciliation: they hugged.

This historic event drew nationwide media attention: some 40 journalists attended the dialogue, including staff from the national television stations TV Antigua and Gautevisíon, and reporters from rural areas. Balconi and Meoño discussed the wounds of the past and coming to terms with the brutality. Moderated by Luis Felipe Valenzuela, a journalist with the radio channel, Emisoras Unidas, the discussion demonstrated that dialogue is crucial and a prerequisite for reconciliation. "We see things differently," Balconi stressed, "but now we're at least talking to each other."

This isn't the first time that General Balconi has engaged publicly with those aligned with the guerrillas. Dirk Kruijt published a book on El guerrillero y el general : Rodrigo Asturias y Julio Balconi sobre la guerra y la paz en Guatemala that has been sitting on my shelf for the last few years. Hopefully, the dialogue can lead to some progress.

In 2012, I participated in a conference in El Salvador on memory and history concerning their civil war. The organizers were able to convince an individual from the armed forces who was in charge of that institution's archives to participate in a panel where he shared with the audience what materials were available for civilians to access and utilize in their research. It was a positive step forward, although not without its controversy. Unfortunately, I don't know what, if any, progress has come out of that initial encounter.

Fleeing the gangs of Honduras for Brooklyn

Alberto Arce has another disturbing story with In Honduran Schools, Gangs are in Control.

Gang prevention police distribute US-funded pamphlets on manners and anger management in about two thirds of the 130 public schools of Tegucigalpa. Gang members, meanwhile, circulate catalogues of their girls offering sexual services for sale.

It can't exactly be said that street gangs are recruiting in Honduran schools because gangs in Honduras don't need to recruit. In a country of limited opportunities, more schoolchildren want to join the violent Mara Salvatrucha, 18th Street and other newly formed gangs than the illegal bands can absorb.

Meanwhile, John Leland picks up on what happens when children escape the violence of Honduran schools for the safety of Brooklyn with Fleeing Violence in Honduras Teenage Boys Seeks Asylum in Brooklyn. Two boys left the violence and death of San Pedro Sula to reunite with their dad who was living in the US after they had heard that minors would be allowed to stay in the country.

In New York, there were adjustments to make. The streets and language were alien. Their father had started a new life, with a wife and a son; his apartment, a studio, was barely big enough for the three of them, let alone the addition of two adolescent boys. Mr. Rodriguez worked in an auto body shop, earning $800 a week — enough to support them, he said, since he had previously been sending money for the boys to Honduras. His wife, from El Salvador, stayed at home.

For many families, reunification comes with tension and recriminations. But if there are stresses in Alejandro’s home, neither he nor his father let on.

Their dad is eligible for relief following President Obama's executive order while the two boys that are adjusting to life in New York have filed petitions for asylum. Fortunately, it sounds like the boys have a good chance of acquiring some manner of staying with their dad in Brooklyn.

33rd anniversary of El Mozote massacre in El Salvador

Thirty-three years ago, the US-trained Atlacatl Battalion in El Salvador killed 800 people, mostly women and children, in the northern Morazan province. It was a terrible massacre in what was a terrible war, especially when referring to acts committed by the Salvadoran security forces. Most people who have taken a Latin American politics course have read Mark Danner's The Massacre at El Mozote which is a pretty strong indictment of the US.

However, it is mostly an indictment of our naivete in trying to train a Salvadoran military dedicated to slaughter. Yes, the Atlacatl was US-trained, but by December 1981 none of that training seems to have sunk in. Here's Danner:

The Americans landed at the brigade command in San Miguel to refuel and to receive their first briefing. "The brigade commander was expecting us," Greentree said. "In San Miguel, that was Flores" — Colonel Jaime Ernesto Flores Grijalba, the over-all commander of Operation Rescue. Also present, Greentree believes — he is not absolutely certain — was Domingo Monterrosa. The officers gave the Americans "a sort of after-action report, saying which units were where," Greentree said. "As I recall, the Atlacatl was the main combat unit, and they talked about this hammer-and-anvil nonsense. We were dismayed, because the Atlacatl was supposed to have developed new tactics, but now they were back to the same old shit — you know, insert a blocking force and then carry out a sweep." The message about El Mozote — the version that the Salvadoran Army had presumably already provided the defense attaché's office — was, in effect, that the Army had fought hard to dislodge a large company of guerrillas from the town, and though perhaps a few civilians had been killed in the crossfire, soldiers certainly had not carried out a massacre.

Colonel Flores was not particularly happy to see the Americans, and it was clear that his attitude was shared by the other officers they encountered that day. As McKay — who is now a colonel attached to nato headquarters in Brussels, and was given permission to speak publicly about the events at El Mozote by the Defense Department — told me, "In general, we had very little cooperation when we went to Morazán."

What the Salvadoran military did in El Mozote went against everything that the US was trying to instill in them - professionalism and "modern" counterinsurgency tactics. That might still have led to criminal acts (I sure think so) but we didn't turn them into a murderous force.

The US Government did a miserable job attacking journalists who had uncovered the truth. It did a horrible disservice to itself when it covered for the Salvadoran military and government. However, one often leaves with the impression that the US trained the Salvadoran military to massacre peasants. As we look back to La Matanza in 1932, we know that's not the case.

When one continues the story, there is also a bit of excitement when the ERP uses the "captured" radio to lure Domingo Monterrosa to his death. While they certainly wanted a bit of revenge, it was also clear that they wanted to kill him because he had drank the cool-aid and adopted more modern counterinsurgency techniques which involved working more closely with the local population to provide for their needs. He was dangerous because he was winning their hearts and minds and not causing greater numbers of Salvadorans to join the guerrillas.

Our history in El Salvador and the region is bad enough without stretching matters.

El Salvador's Sanchez Ceren going down the road of Venezuela's Chavez

It looks as if Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren is looking to fill the shoes of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren traveled to Cuba for "his periodic medical checkup" after suffering health problems on Monday in Mexico, the Salvadoran government said Wednesday.

"Sanchez Ceren, after suffering a slight decompensation in his health, which we will report in good time, on the recommendation of his medical team traveled to Havana, Cuba, with the aim of moving up his periodic medical checkup, which is being conducted ... normally," the Governability and Communications Secretariat said in a brief statement.

Salvadorans are six months into their new government and while this may turn out to be nothing, Sanchez Ceren's abrupt travel to Havana to check up on his medical condition can not be encouraging. There is nothing ordinary about leaving a meeting in Mexico unexpectedly after feeling sick and then leaving your foreign minister in charge. Mauricio Funes also disappeared for medical reasons during his presidency.

During the campaign, the 70-year old Sanchez Ceren was always seen with a Cuban doctor by his side. Maybe I am being a bit ageist, but the full-time demands of the presidency are not a young man's game.

You can't stop them, you can only hope to contain them

Tim Rogers (@nicadispatch), Manuel Rueda (@ruedareport), Kevin Gray (@kevinmgray15), and Jared Goyette (@JaredGoyette) take a look at the increasingly controversial investments of China in Latin America with As Chinese Push into Latin America, Nicaraguans Try to Hold the Line for Fusion.

Their report centers upon efforts by Nicaraguans to defend their land against the Ortega government and its Chinese partners to build the region's second interoceanic canal. The canal is unpopular because of its potential environmental and social effects as well as the mysteries surrounding everything about it.

Today, Dec. 10, the residents of Obrajuelo will join thousands of other mostly impoverished Nicaraguans in a nationwide march on Managua to protest the mysterious canal project, which will be built, owned and operated by an enigmatic Chinese billionaire who has only visited Nicaragua three times and still can’t pronounce its name. With groundbreaking only two weeks away, nobody outside a secretive Sandinista-Chinese cabal knows who is paying for the project, how much it will cost, or what the environmental impact will be.

It's a good story that brings attention to China's growing economic interest in the region. However, I am left wondering about the answer to several questions.

While China has been increasing its investments in Latin America for the last several years, it has been doing the same elsewhere in the world, no? Is there something special about China's operations in Latin America?

According to Margaret Myers, the Inter-American Dialogue’s program director for China and Latin America, China's multinationals are no more abusive than any other country's multinationals. Given what I read a few years ago, China had a pretty poor record with its investments in Africa and the Middle East. Have they changed their business practices? Is the difference why they have a better reputation in the Americas (if true) driven by the industries that they are investing in versus those that they invest in in Africa and other parts of the world? Are Chinese business practices in the Americas better because the governments of Latin America require them to be? Chinese involvement in the region isn't at the top of my agenda so maybe these answers are commonly known.

The remainder of the article looks at some of the local push back against Chinese investments in Peru, Ecuador, and, to a much lesser extent in Venezuela (also could have included Costa Rica).

Inside the 'world's most dangerous' hospital

The BBC recently ran a disturbing investigation into what it called Inside the 'world's most dangerous' hospital. According to the BBC, the Federico Mora Hospital hosts 340 patients, including 50 violent and mentally ill criminals.

A hospital in Guatemala has been described by campaigners as the world's most abusive and dangerous mental health institution. Former patients say they were raped while sedated, and the director himself admits - while being filmed undercover by the BBC - that patients are still being sexually abused.

Wherever I look I see motionless bodies lying on the crumbling concrete floor of a barren courtyard in the burning sun. The patients appear to have been heavily sedated. Their heads have been shaved and most are dressed in rags with nothing on their feet.

Others are totally naked, exposing their dirty skin covered in their own faeces and urine. They look more like concentration camp prisoners than patients.

For the last few years, Disability Rights International (DRI) has been working to bring a legal case against the Guatemalan government to have the hospital closed down. I'm not sure if that is the solution but I assume that they have concluded that the hospital is beyond saving.

In some ways, the hospital is in such dire conditions because the government lacks the financial resources to properly support its operations. That seems to be the case for most public hospitals in the country.

However, it is also clear that the population that is served at the hospital by successive administrations, not just Otto Perez Molina, is not a priority.

Strange toxic news out of El Salvador (and not into Poland)

According to the AP, Poland is rejecting toxic materials from El Salvador that they had originally agreed to dispose of after local communities expressed concern.

The 69 tons of liquid and solid waste, and contaminated earth, from a pesticide plant in El Salvador is en route by sea, where it was to be burned at the SARP Industries plant in Dabrowa Gornicza this month.

Environment Minister Maciej Grabowski said after talks at the ministry that the plant director decided against accepting the waste.

Grabowski pointed to protests by residents, who argue that the presence and the processing of the waste will add to the already polluted air of the industrial, coal mining town.

"Despite the security of the processes at the plant, it has not been possible to dispel the concerns of public opinion," Grabowski said.

In El Salvador, the waste had been linked to a high incidence of kidney disease in the town of San Luis Talpa, where it was found.

The majority of San Luis Talpa's 27,000 inhabitants suffer chronic kidney disease, and at least 54 deaths from the ailment have been registered. The Health Ministry in El Salvador has linked agriculture chemicals to incidence of the kidney disease.

Couldn't help but think of El Salvador's resistance to gold mining when I read this article.

TV series on the Salvadoran civil war

Mexico's Argos, El Salvador's Meridiano89 and Spain's Filmanova have plans for six hour-long episodes on the Salvadoran civil war, focusing on some of the war's highest profile killings including Oscar Romero's 1980 assassination and the murders of six priests and two companions at the UCA in 1989. Mexican actor Diego Luna is set to star in the series.

One of the neat things about the series is that they are filming in El Salvador. While much has remained the same since the FMLN won the 2009 presidential elections, I can't see this series being shot in El Salvador had ARENA still occupied the presidency. I also like seeing a Salvadoran production company involved.

Filming is set to begin during the second half of 2015, after which time Salvadorans will have commemorated the 35th anniversary of Romero's assassination and perhaps heard from the Vatican on his beatification.

The series is so far entitled Cortando el puente (Cutting the bridge).

US reissues travel warning for El Salvador

The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens that crime and violence levels in El Salvador remain critically high. This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning dated April 25, 2014, and includes updated information on crime and security in El Salvador.

Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens safely visit El Salvador each year for study, tourism, cruise ship visits, business, and volunteer work.  There is no information to suggest that U.S. citizens are specifically targeted by criminals; however, crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country. Since January 2010, 33 U.S. citizens have been murdered in El Salvador including a nine-year-old child in December 2013.  During the same time period, 366 U.S. citizens reported having their passports stolen, while others were victims of violent crimes.

The US State Department reissued its warning for citizens living in or traveling to El Salvador on November 21st. From what I can tell, the US first issued a travel warning for El Salvador in January 2013. I didn't agree with the timing of or the comparison in the initial warning. However, at this point, I'm not sure what it will take for the US government to lift the travel warning.

El Salvador is among the most violent countries in the region and the world as measured by homicide rates and is likely to remain there for several years. One or two years of improved conditions isn't going to make the travel warning go away - nor should it.

Just remember that El Salvador is a wonderful country where thousands of Americans live and travel to, often without any problems at all.

Seems like a no-brainer, but what do I know?

Guatemalan law currently allows marriage beginning at the age of 14 but congress is now discussing raising the minimum age to 18 years. The UN offices in Guatemala support the initiative

Early marriage "limits the healthy and proper development of children and adolescents," because "it restricts their rights to health, education and undermines their development opportunities," especially restricting their rights to health, education and undermining their development chances in general...

"In many cases marriage at a young age is forced, which is a violation of human rights, one of the most widespread forms of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls," he said.

The United Nations believes that reforms discussed the Guatemalan Congress on this subject will help bring national legislation to international agreements and conventions that the country has ratified to guarantee the rights of children and women.

 "This is a first step that will help transform other harmful to the development of children and adolescents, such as early marriage, pregnancy or forced marriage practices," he said.

Take a look at this article on adoptions in Guatemala by Erin Siegal McIntyre on The Limits of Jurisdiction. It's a little long but worth it.

The same goes for this Politico article on How the Border Patrol became America’s most out-of-control law enforcement agency.

I haven't finished reading either article but I might use them for my spring class on Human Rights in Latin America.

Impunity in Honduras Highest in Central America at 96%

This week, a delegation of the Inter American Human Rights Court visited Honduras, and human rights organization have started to present different reports including one proving that impunity for criminal cases has reached the rate of 96 percent. Impunity in the case of human rights trials rate is even worse, 98 percent.

In the three year period from 2010 to 2013, 27,272 homicides were reported in Honduras, while there were only 1,009 court convictions.

Too many recent conversations had revolved around, it's bad but is it just bad or Honduras bad?

Click here for the depressing news.

They deserved to be raped and murdered because "The nuns were not just nuns; the nuns were political activists"

December 2nd marks the 34th anniversary of the rape and murder of four US Churchwomen by the Salvadoran National Guard - Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, lay missionary Jean Donovan and Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford. Like many Salvadorans, the women were killed because they tried to live a life of solidarity with the poor at a time when that got you labelled a communist.

Many Salvadorans and Jesuit universities commemorated the martyrdom of eight people at the UCA last month, an event that helped bring about an end to the civil war. From some of what we understand about the Jesuit murders, US officials could not believe that the Atlacatl Battalion that we had just spent a decade training and the High Command that we had been supporting were stupid enough to carry out such an attack. While we also wanted to support our Cold War allies in their fight against the communist FMLN, there was also a disbelief that led US officials to obstruct investigations into the murders.

Nearly ten years earlier, the Salvadoran Nation Guard, most likely under orders from the High Command, raped and killed the four US women. The response of US government officials in Washington to their murders was truly reprehensible as they blamed the victims for being raped and murdered by the Salvadoran military.

Here is how Secretary of State Alexander Haig responded to questioning concerning the tragic events

“Perhaps the vehicle that the nuns were riding in may have tried to run a roadblock — or may have accidentally been perceived to have been doing so — and there may have been an exchange of fire,” said Alexander Haig, the secretary of state under President Reagan.

It was the gun toting nuns' fault.

US Ambassador to the United Nations and another reason to kick Georgetown, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, made her feelings known.

"I don't think the government (of El Salvador) was responsible. The nuns were not just nuns; the nuns were political activists. We ought to be a little more clear-cut about this than we usually are. They were political activists on behalf of the Frente and somebody who is using violence to oppose the Frente killed them"

The churchwomen deserved to be raped and murdered because they were working with the poor. Even if we want to be kind to Ambassador Kirkpatrick, she seems to be arguing that it is okay for people who are against the FMLN to rape and murder those who are in any way associated with the organization, even if they happen to be Catholic US citizens.

The Carter administration cut off aid to the Salvadoran military following the murders. However, they resumed the aid weeks later as the FMLN launched its first final offensive in January. While President Carter seemed to have been outraged by their murders, he wasn't ready to "lose" another country to anti-American forces. Iranian and Nicaraguan revolutions and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had each occurred one year earlier, and Iran was still holding US hostages. The Guatemalan guerrillas still on the offensive.

We are screening Justice & the Generals Wednesday night on campus, a film that covers the initial murder investigation, the trial of the Guardsmen, and later attempts to bring justice to the military leaders who ordered the murders, men who were living comfortably in Florida. You can learn about the case in the video above, here, and here.