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GLOBAL NEWS Weekly from EL SALVADOR Saturday, 03 December 2005

Police Arrest Pair Tunneling Into Bank
Salvadoran police on Tuesday arrested two young men whom they caught digging a tunnel from a private home to two bank branches in this capital's Layco district. Police spokesman Carlos Rugamas said that Miguel Angel Crispin, 22, and Rafael Alberto Cerna, 16, were arrested soon after a security guard alerted the bank to a hole in the street from which light was coming. Some two dozen members of the police's rapid-reaction squad rushed to the scene. and some climbed into the hole, which took them to a tunnel about 200 meters long that extended out from a house apparently rented for the purpose. Rugamas said the tunnel had been dug to within five meters of a Banco Agricola branch, and an arm pointed toward a Scotiabank office. Police first showed the press the two would-be bank robbers in the buff, but later put shorts on them.

Coalition Will Decide Dispatch of New Salvadoran Troops to Iraq
Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca said Monday that the coalition forces will decide on whether El Salvador should send new troops to Iraq. "I am of the opinion that you have to finish the work you start," Saca told journalists in the eastern state of La Union. But he added that the coalition forces may be planning a gradual withdrawal from Iraq. "The anti-terrorist coalition in Iraq has decided to gradually reduce its troops," said the president. El Salvador, the only Latin American country that sent troops to Iraq, has 378 soldiers working for Iraq's reconstruction. They are expected to finish a six-month mission and return home next February. "If the moment comes at the end of the soldiers' tour of duty and there is a need to send a new contingent, then I will make a decision," Saca said. He said the decision would also depend on Iraq's situation. "If they have their new leaders, if there are government forces which are capable of taking control in Iraq, I will take into account all those factors at the time," he said. In August 2003, El Salvador sent its first contingent of 360 soldiers from the Cuscatlan Battalion to Iraq. Two Salvadoran soldiers have died so far.

El Salvador Tells OAS of Its Struggle against Maras
A top crime fighter from El Salvador addressed the OAS Wednesday on the subject of street gangs, a phenomenon born among emigrants to the United States and "exported" back to Central America, where rising violent crime has citizens terrified and authorities seeking ways to combat the increasingly organized thugs. Salvadoran security chief Oscar Bonilla told the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) that the "maras," as the gangs are called, are spreading lawlessness in Central America despite the "great cooperation" among the nations of the region. He made it clear, however, that there is no evidence the gangs have terrorist ties, despite rumors about such links. He also pointed to "some successes" achieved by his government in the fight against the gangs, especially through prevention and rehabilitation programs. Arts, sports and other preventive programs, plus the coordinated action of government institutions, have allowed El Salvador to steer more than 25,000 youths away from the gangs so far this year, he said. Among El Salvador's thousands of gang members, whose turfs he has personally visited, Bonilla said, there is interest in rejoining society, and the government is encouraging the private sector to provide them with jobs. Bonilla insisted "the gang phenomenon is evolving and expanding at the international level," making international cooperation essential. At a subsequent press conference, Bonilla said El Salvador's prevention programs have attracted interest in Mexico, the United States and other countries. Violence and homicide rates remain high in his country, he noted, despite the crackdown on maras launched by President Tony Saca. Bonilla is of the opinion violence will diminish "to the extent the state's efforts begin to achieve results." "For now, police programs have not succeeded in reducing the rate of violence, because in recent months more gang members have arrived, deported from the United States," he said. He sees little possibility of reducing violence in El Salvador in the short run, "but in the medium run, yes, because we know its causes and are implementing preventive factors." In addition, he noted, efforts are being made to improve and expand the nation's much-criticized prison system so that it may fulfill its mission of rehabilitating inmates, especially because in less that a year the maras have swelled El Salvador's prison population by 50 percent. In the course of his three-day visit to Washington, Bonilla has also explained to White House and State and Justice officials the threat to Central America's stability that the maras represent, and sought their help "against this scourge." El Salvador hopes to engage in "horizontal cooperation" with other Central American and Caribbean nations in its struggle against the maras, Bonilla said, as well as with the District of Columbia and several counties in neighboring Virginia and Maryland.

Protests for Higher Living Standards, Government Leaves Storm Victims Alone
On various places in San Salvador as well as the rest of the country, protests are going on against the rising price of fuel, the rise of the cost of living and the lack of aid to the victims of tropical storm Stan. Omar Ochoa, of the Social Movement, said that they reject the increasing cost of living, the privatization of water, and the removal of small farmers from their land related to the Free Trade Agreement coming into effect. "We are protesting against all these measures implemented by the government that directly affect the people. Furthermore, we want to make sure that the victims of Stan get the help they need," said Ochoa. According to the representative of the Social Movement, there are many victims, especially in the regions of Bajo Lempa and other communities outside San Salvador which have not received any help from the government.