Central America
Salvadoran heroes who provided aid in Turkey return home
February 19 |
After nine days away from home, the Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) El Salvador and the Humanitarian Rescue Unit (HRU) of the Armed Forces, made up of 111 rescuers, military and health personnel, who carried out search and rescue work in Turkey, returned to Salvadoran soil.
This nation was strongly affected last February 6 by two earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 on the Richter scale, and El Salvador was one of the first countries to send rescue support.
The Salvadoran heroes landed on their return flight on Saturday afternoon at the San Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport, where they were received by the authorities of the Ministries of the Interior, Defense, Health, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and the directors of Civil Protection and Firefighters.
“Thank you, a great job, it is a pride to work with you, it is a pride to have you at home, welcome heroes”, were the words of the Minister of the Interior, Juan Carlos Bidegain.
He added that thanks to the work done, El Salvador was able to demonstrate in Turkey that it has highly prepared teams that have now been placed among the elite USAR teams around the world.
“We are the ones who are grateful to you, what you have done, what you have done is incredible, what you have done is wonderful,” said Bidegain.
For his part, Erick Vázquez, lieutenant of the USAR-EL SALVADOR group, in his report to the authorities, highlighted the rescue of two people alive.
“We have done a job with all the logistics involved, we went to put into practice everything we learned. We had the joy of performing two rescues, a minor and a woman of approximately 30 years of age, we are proud to have done it”, celebrated Vázquez.
He explained that during their stay in Turkey, from February 9 to 17, they worked in 15 buildings, in which the canine unit and the rescuers did the work they were assigned to do, earning the respect and admiration of USAR groups from the rest of the world.
“Leaders of other USAR groups around the world have told us that we have positioned ourselves among the best, along with France, Germany and Egypt, among others,” Vazquez said.
The recognition given by the leaders of other USAR groups was also shared by Defense Minister Rene Francis Merino Monroy.
“I want to highlight the level of the two search teams of El Salvador [USAR and UHR] to provide assistance to other countries,” said the official.
At the same time he added: “We have in El Salvador a response team that can highly prepared to help foreign countries”.
Merino Monroy congratulated the USAR and UHR team of the Armed Forces for putting the name of El Salvador on high and fulfilling the mission entrusted to them.
“The mission that was entrusted to them, to the USAR and UHR group of the Armed Forces, to rescue lives was fulfilled, in addition to reviewing and cleaning each of the buildings in which they worked,” said the minister.
Turkey’s ambassador to El Salvador, Gül Büyükerşen, also received the heroes and expressed her gratitude for the support of the Salvadoran teams, as well as to President Nayib Bukele’s willingness to help from the first moment.
“President Nayib Bukele was one of the first leaders who spoke with my president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, by phone (after the earthquakes),” said the diplomat.
In addition, he stressed that “El Salvador may be a small country (in territory), but it has a big heart”.
Central America
Final report submitted to Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate former deputies who diverted funds through front NGOs
September 29 |
The Legislative Assembly informed that this Thursday a final report and a complaint was submitted to the Attorney General, Rodolfo Delgado, to investigate former deputies who illegally diverted public funds to non-profit organizations, associations and foundations through front Non-Governmental Organizations.
Said report was submitted by the lawyers of the Special Commission investigating the destination of funds allocated to NGOs.
“The report we are presenting is the accumulation of an investigation process initiated in the Assembly, which has already concluded. In it, indicative elements have been compiled, such as disbursements to NGOs, without any type of requirement”, explained Mario Machado, lawyer who supported the Commission.
Machado added that these NGOs “did not have balance sheets, up to date credentials or project liquidations and yet they received amounts of money. An analysis was made and it was identified that, from 2011 to 2020, $279 million was diverted to them.”
According to the investigation conducted by the commission, the previous legislatures granted $279 million to 20 organizations between 2011 and 2020, and it was found that part of those resources were allocated to entities with partisan ties. Some of these belonged to Congresswomen Lorena Peña and Milena Calderón de Escalón.
“It is important to highlight that, during the study, organizations were found that have carried out relief actions and others that were definitely founded for quasi-criminal purposes”, Machado added.
Central America
Young Salvadoran migrant died trying to board train in northern Mexico
September 29 |
In a tragic incident, a young Salvadoran migrant lost his life on Wednesday after attempting to board a moving train in the State of Coahuila, in northern Mexico. The young Salvadoran, identified as Raul Alfredo “N”, 22 years old, tried to board the train in order to get closer to the northern border with the United States, but this risky feat caused him to lose his life.
The news was communicated by the Secretary of Government of the State of Coahuila, who detailed that along with the Salvadoran, Tito Dale “N”, 23 years old, originally from Honduras, also died.
According to the authorities, both young men died while trying to board the train. The two bodies were found on the side of the train tracks in the municipality of Escobedo, near the Hermanas ejido, where a railroad passes in the direction of Piedras Negras, according to information gathered by TV Azteca.
“Today morning (Wednesday) elements of the State Public Security Secretariat (SSP) found the bodies of two migrants, who lost their lives while trying to board the moving train, at kilometer 42 of the railroad track, at the height of the Hermanas ejido, in this municipality,” reported the government of Coahuila.
Mexican authorities urged migrants not to board the train when it is in motion because they run the risk of falling onto the tracks and being run over and killed, and also assured that this means of travel is very common among undocumented persons seeking to reach the U.S. border.
Central America
El Salvador is the first country in the Americas in terms of tourism growth
September 26 |
The momentum of the Salvadoran waves was the beginning of an unprecedented tourism takeoff in the history of El Salvador, which was consolidated at the close of 2022 with more than 2.5 million international visitor arrivals, a figure that even surpassed the dynamics that the country maintained in 2019 before the COVID- 19 pandemic.
The country’s good performance attributed to the Surf City anchor strategy, international positioning actions, the potential of tourist destinations, the positive figure of President Nayib Bukele in the world, and state security strategies implemented through the Territorial Control Plan (PTC) were reflected in the latest measurement of the World Tourism Barometer of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
The projection of international visitors by the end of 2023 is 2.9 million. Photo: El Salvador Newspaper.
The measurement reflected that El Salvador is the fourth nation in the world with the best performance in the growth of international tourist arrivals with 32% until July 2023, compared to what it registered in the same period of 2019.
The country is only behind the dynamics reflected by nations such as Qatar, which reports an increase of 95 %; Saudi Arabia with 58 %; and Albania with 56 %, when compared to its pre-pandemic metrics.
In this order, El Salvador also becomes the country with the best performance in the American continent and the Western Hemisphere surpassing important destinations and countries of tourist tradition, noted President Bukele through the social network X, formerly Twitter.
“El Salvador is the fourth country with the highest tourism growth in the world and the destination that has grown the most in the entire Western Hemisphere,” the president celebrated.
The new security conditions have been an incentive to attract more foreigners to visit El Salvador. Photo: El Salvador Newspaper.
The list also highlights the performance of Andorra whose reception of international tourists increased by 31%; Armenia with 30%; Ethiopia with 28%; Colombia and Jordan with 23%; U.S. Virgin Islands with 22%; Tanzania and Liechtenstein with 19%; Curacao with 18%; while Honduras and Dominican Republic grew by 17%.
The barometer highlights that international tourism has continued to recover from the worst crisis in its history, as overall international tourist arrivals reached 84 % of pre-pandemic levels between January and July this year.
“By the end of July, international tourist arrivals reached 84% of pre-pandemic levels and 700 million tourists traveled internationally between January and July 2023, up 43% from the same months in 2022,” UNWTO noted.
At the beginning of this year, Mitur estimated that by 2023 more than 2.9 million foreign visitors would enter the national territory, however, data closed up to August account for more than 2.2 million arrivals, and a greater boom is expected with events such as: the Miss Universe pageant, scheduled for November; and two surfing championships in the months of September and November, among other activities.
“According to our projections we are not going to have any low season month, but rather visitors are going to keep coming thanks to surf tournaments, business events and the Miss Universe that is scheduled for the end of the year”, commented the Minister of Tourism, Morena Valdez, recently.
Meanwhile, the foreign exchange projection for the end of the year is $2.9 billion, and up to August the registered spill over was $2.1 billion in tourism dynamics.
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