Latest El Salvador News

Behind all the speechmaking at the UN lies a basic, unspoken question: Is the world governable?

Sep. 21, 2023 12:45 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Work together. Go it alone. The apocalypse is at hand. But the future can be bright. The squabbles never cease, yet here are human beings from all across the world — hashing out conflicts with words and processes, convening under one roof, trying to write the next chapter...

El Salvador's leader, criticized internationally for gang crackdown, tells UN it was the right thing

Sep. 19, 2023 20:29 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele trumpeted the success of his gang crackdown during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, crediting his administration’s will against international criticism over human rights violations. Bukele said that if El...

Member of Panama's national soccer team shot and killed in Colon; 2nd in 6 years

Sep. 04, 2023 19:09 PM EDT

COLON, Panama (AP) — A member of Panama’s national soccer team was hanging out with friends in front of the building where his mother lives, when gunmen in a taxi opened fire, killing Gilberto Hernández and wounding seven others in the country’s violent port city of Colon, police and...

Patrick Hamilton, ex-AP and Reuters photographer who covered Central American wars, dies at 74

Aug. 16, 2023 21:03 PM EDT

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) — Patrick Hamilton, a combat veteran of the Vietnam War who covered civil wars in Central America as a photojournalist for The Associated Press and later worked at Reuters covering the first Gulf War in Iraq, has died after a long struggle with cancer. He...

As free press withers in El Salvador, pro-government social media influencers grow in power

Aug. 13, 2023 00:09 AM EDT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Douglas Guzmán's TikTok feed was dotted with workout routines and videos showcasing his favorite parts of his country. That changed about a year ago, as rights groups, civil society and even some officials criticized El Salvador's President Nayib...

New ferry linking El Salvador and Costa Rica aims to cut shipping times, avoid border problems

Aug. 10, 2023 17:32 PM EDT

LA UNION, El Salvador (AP) — A new commercial ferry line moving through Central America began operating Thursday, directly connecting El Salvador and Costa Rica to the exclusion of Nicaragua and Honduras. The Blue Wave Harmony sailed out of La Union, El Salvador, headed for...

A funeral home in El Salvador offers pink coffins with Barbie linings

Aug. 04, 2023 22:16 PM EDT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A funeral home in El Salvador has taken Barbie mania to an extreme, offering pink coffins with Barbie linings. It's all designed so you can be a Barbie fan till the day you die — and even after that. The pink metal coffins are on...

Former City College professor charged with raping multiple victims from El Salvador, prosecutors say

Aug. 03, 2023 19:36 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A former City College chemistry adjunct professor was arrested Thursday and charged with coaxing three women from El Salvador to come to the United States for a better life before subjecting them to rape and sexual assault once they arrived, authorities said. Jorge...

El Salvador sends 8,000 troops and police officers to comb rural province in massive anti-gang raid

Aug. 01, 2023 18:47 PM EDT

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — El Salvador sent about 8,000 soldiers and police officers to comb the rural province of Cabañas for street gang members Tuesday, in one of the most massive raids since President Nayib Bukele declared a crackdown on the gangs in March 2022. About 1,000 police...

El Salvador plans mass trials for those imprisoned in gang crackdown

Jul. 26, 2023 21:01 PM EDT

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — New rules passed by El Salvador’s congress Wednesday will allow courts to try accused gang members in mass trials, in an effort to expedite tens of thousands of cases for those detained under the country’s crackdown on street gangs. The changes to the...