Salvador Sánchez CerénSalvador Sánchez Cerén
Of the many challenges which El Salvador’s Salvador Sánchez Cerén will face when he takes office on June 1, there is none so pressing as that posed by an escalation in violent crime and extortion associated with the country’s mara gangs.
Homicides are on the increase and in recent weeks gangs have carried out a series of brazen attacks on police, prompting one former head of the national police (PNC) to warn that El Salvador is at risk of becoming a “failed State”.
Just as there are marked differences between politicians about how to deal with the maras – more repression or more emphasis on prevention and reinsertion – two separate peace plans have emerged in the last week: one tabled by the current justice and public security minister, Ricardo Perdomo; and one by nine different churches, including the original two mediators of the March 2012 gang truce. Reported by Latin News.
Alarming food dependency on imports in Mexico
Mexico’’s food dependency on imports reaches alarming levels today due to rural depopulation, insufficient national production and the concentration of the market in big corporations, said the Chamber of Deputies.
A Federal Superior Auditors (ASF) report released last February showed an increase in poverty in rural settings and a scarce generation of employment.
According to the document, there is a divorce between agriculture and industry, bad quality and low levels of fertility of the land due to erosion and soil degradation, lack of technology, infrastructure and credits.
The text added that the incidence of drug trafficking in crop patterns, as well as the escalation of violence and insecurity, extreme poverty, low educational levels and the lack of public services add to the serious situation in the country, La Jornada journal reports today. The text said the importation of basic foodstuffs reaches 45 percent, above the 25 percent recommended by FAO.
The ASF warns about how the increase in food prices has intensified food poverty, since the population whose income is below the well-being line rose from six million people in 2010 to seven million in 2012.
Latin American films have greater presence at Tribeca Film Festival
Alonso RuizpalaciosAlonso Ruizpalacios
The current edition of the Tribeca Film Festival intends to visualize better the Latin American scene, with movies from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, organizers said today.
According to Genna Terranova, one the festival organizers, last year there were not so many Latin American films and now we are trying to include many more. There is a lot of variety, many countries and many voices, she said.
Besides about 80 movies, the festival includes short films and documentaries that will be playing until May 27th.
The festival was created in 2002 as an initiative of producer Jane Rosenthal and actor Robert de Niro to revitalize the homonymous neighborhood after the 9/11 events.
The Mexican film ‘’Güeros’’, by Mexican filmmaker
Alonso Ruizpalacios, stands out among the 160 movies that will be played here at the Tribeca Festival 2014.
The film, which is the only Mexican movie included in the festival, will compete in the category World Narrative.This is Alonso Ruizpalacios’ feature debut, in which three young men, searching for a folk-rock legend rumored to be an idol of Bob Dylan, journey across Mexico City during a student strike at a university in the 90s.
Feature films, short films and documentaries participate in the festival, founded in New York City as an important film center and to contribute to the long-term recovery of Lower Manhattan.
by the El Reportero’s wire services
