Sanctuary, borders, justice, salvation

For the people in Prince William County, VA and the anti-immigrant lobby...

What!

But the memory of the Holocaust has a way of making the world feel smaller. People of different nations can imagine they share a single human drama. Salvadorans have been as surprised as anybody to rediscover their part in it. To have been on the side of the angels at one of the darkest moments in history, when other countries stood by, is something a small, relatively poor, geopolitically minor nation can be proud of.

It would be no surprise to me if my wife reads this post, sends word to her mom, and we find out this Col. José Arturo Castellanos was a family friend.

Another reason to pass on the North Face

From Tim's El Salvador blog:

"Women in El Salvador sewing $165 jackets for North Face and $54 shirts for Eddie Bauer cannot afford milk and other basic necessities for their children as their wages fall behind soaring food costs. Some mothers report they will have to take their children out of school.

The women are paid just 94 cents for each $165 North Face jacket they sew—meaning that their wages amount to less than six-tenths of one percent of the jacket’s retail price."

Suchitoto Water Protest

From Tim's El Salvador Blog.

/snip/
Those arrested have been charged with “Creating Public Disorder,” and lawyers who have been in contact with the police headquarters in Cojutepeque confirm that their case will be designated under those charges to the Cojutepeque departmental attorneys and court system. Under Salvadoran law the departmental prosecutors have 72 hours to present charges at a hearing, which will most likely be held in Suchitoto.

Despite the charges of “Creating Public Disorder,” the CRIPDES leaders arrested never came close to the protest activities being carried out in Suchitoto. News footage shown on the Salvadoran Tele-Corporation (TCS) channels clearly show a the police vehicle overtaking the CRIPDES truck on the paved road between Suchitoto and San Martín, swerving in front and stopping the CRIPDES leaders. The video also shows the police forcefully removing the passengers from the pick-up truck, and taking them away in handcuffs, several kilometres away from where the protest was staged.
/snip/

Still, the protest leaders and others arrested at the protest are being charged under anti-terrorism laws