Salvador

By Lucia Newman in Americas on August 14th, 2011

I had not returned to El Salvador for 20 years, since the end of the country’s civil war, so I was of course, expecting it to be very changed.

I knew that there was now an acute economic crisis, and that the right-wing death squads that used to terrorise the country when I was covering the war in the late 1980s, had been replaced by violent gangs and drug traffickers.

I also knew that for the first time in its history, central America’s smallest and most densely populated country had a moderate left-wing president, Mauricio Funes.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on November 16th, 2009
Photo by Reuters

There are some interesting diplomatic dynamics from Brazil in relation to the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and relations between Iran and the United States.

Consider these travel schedules:

ISRAEL: President Shimon Peres visited Brazil last week – Nov. 10 through 15 – making stops in Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Peres’ visit marked the first time an Israeli head of state visited Brazil since Zalman Shazar did so in July 1966. (The visit barely registered on international radar screens, or in Brazil for that matter, as on Peres' first night in Brazil the country saw a nationwide power outage that cut electricity to nearly 90 million people.)

Nevertheless, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met with Peres in Brasila. Afterwards the foreign ministry sent out a press release trumpeting the fact both countries signed a cinematography co-production agreement.

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