What Is El Salvador?

Salvador Perez or Stephen Curry? Take your pick because they are both good athletes. However, they play different sports. The two athletes play in professional leagues. Salvador Perez plays baseball while Stephen Curry plays basketball.

I am Garnet Gyaase and I am going to talk about the flag of El Salvador, and the meaning behind it. The name of my country is El Salvador. It is located under Guatemala and Honduras, in Central America. The flag of El Salvador was officially adopted May 17, 1912. The blue and white are the original colors used by the Provinces of Central America. The United provinces are now known as, Yucantan, Maya, Campeche, Belize, Izabal, Los Altos, Soconusco, Miskita, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. All of the provinces convened in Guatemala, and on July 1,1823, it declared the independence of the former kingdom under the name of” The United Provinces of Central America.” Above the volcanoes is a red Phrygian capon, and a staff before the golden sun, and the date of September 15th, 1821, independence was declared to be on that day.

Have people ever heard about El Salvador? If they have, they probably heard about its high homicide rates and criminal gangs (CIA World). Unfortunately, the beauty of this Spanish-speaking country gets overshadowed by these negative traits. However, El Salvador has much more to offer such as its history, geography, culture, economy, and climate; characteristics that build up this Central American country.

My dad was born in the small Central American nation of El Salvador, more specifically in Anamoros located on the east side of the country. He lived in the countryside so he often played with their animals, spent most of his childhood swimming in the rivers or playing soccer with his friends, and would frequently hang out with his grandparents in the afternoons. In 1980, when he was about 12 years old that all began to change, he and all those around him needed to be more cautious about their surroundings.

The El Salvadoran government adopted its first comprehensive legislation to combat MS-13 and other street gangs in 2003. The measures provided were colloquially referred to as Mano Dura or Firm Hand. The government felt that that they had waited long enough to take action against the increasing threat of gang activity and would now meet the challenge head on with brutal tactics.

The mountainous country bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, and Honduras in Central America. Known as the land of the Volcanoes, El Salvador, the only country in Central America that does not have a coastline on the Caribbean Sea. Having beautiful beaches on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and warm summers that make it impossible to withstand the heat. Most of the population is made up of the poor who do not have electricity or running water in their homes. My grandfather was is this social class and stayed for most of his life. El Salvador the land of dictatorship, volcanoes, and tortillas.

I came to the United States 7 years ago. I used to live in El Salvador. There, I was taught that having discipline in life, is the key to being successful. Hence, my parents were proud of me because I was always in the ten percent of my class. Thus, it was there where I took two courses that inspired me to become an architect. One of the courses was physics, where I had to build a mockup with an electrical circuit included as a group project assignment in my first year of high school. Although I had never had done anything like that before, I had fun building a model of a modern house. The other course that I took was technical design where I learned how to trace lines using drawing tools, such as a pair of compasses, T-square, and triangle.

The first thing I smell every time I walk into my grandma’s home is her perfume and food simmering away on the stove top. It’s a scent that I come to be familiar with over the years and it is something that I now connect to a feeling of safety and love. My grandma, Alba, is one of my rocks that I am able lean on when faced with troubling times. She is someone I am able to call on the phone to recount my day to her, seek advice, and just listen to all the different stories oh her when growing up in El Salvador. She is a person who I believe has such a huge influence on my life and taught me so many life lessons that I hold to this day.

The country is known for the tango, steak and football (aka soccer). Their soccer team founded in 1901 and Estadia stadium is their home stadium. Team captain Lionel Messi won the world cup in 1978 and 1986, and fourteen American titles (Spain, n.d.).

When we think of culture, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Many of us begin to envision how certain people or countries carry themselves in their daily routines. Whether it is in the way they cook, dress, celebrate certain holidays, or just other beliefs in general. Picture a country that at one-point war was so bad and constant that is was normal for women to cook for soldiers who are passing by their homes. It isn’t frowned upon to have a corrupted government because that is something they have had to deal with since their independence, and children as young as the age of seven are militants walking around with weapons in their hands, becoming social terrors. At least during the 1980’s

The history of El Salvador begins with the time period in which indigenous peoples resided in the country. According to Roy Poland, in Culture and Customs of El Salvador, El Salvador was conquered by the Spanish in 1524; the spanish found the country was divided into three states (13). The spaniards hegemonic influence finally converted El Salvador into a Spanish colony after twenty six years of indigenous resistance(Poland 14). Such conquest brought violence, diseases, and poverty to the indigenous people. The invasion of El Salvador by the Spanish also resulted in mestizaje, racial mixing. The colonial period lasted until 1821(Poland 14). El Salvador finally became independent from Spain in 1821 and joined the United Provinces of Central America in 1823; however, in 1840 El Salvador gained full independence (Eileen Garron Batres 6), One of the most important crops in El Salvador during the 1800’s and 1900’s was coffee; during the 1900’s El Salvador was the third largest coffee producer internationally (Susan B. Hecht).

There are plenty of good things to be said about El Salvador, the Latin American country that sits in the heart of Central America, surrounded by volcanic mountains, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and a Pacific coast of startlingly beautiful beaches and rustic fishing villages.

It is very unfortunate that there are still so many countries that treat women as second class citizens with very few right or no rights at all. You touched on the rights of women and the lack of freedom to choose what to do with their own bodies. El Salvador imprisoning those young ladies for miscarrying was such a sad story. The way men in some parts of the world treat women is just so cruel, I almost want to say they actually hate women but that is my opinion. I was shocked to read your post that El Salvador made abortion illegal in 1998. I wonder why women’s rights have not changed there in 18 years. Men rule there, and I guess women have come to accept this way of life. I feel control over someone else body is wrong. Women are not property

Who are you? What are you? Where are you from? Questions that people are always asking and wondering the answer to. Although I might look like I?m a different race I?m actually Salvadorian. I?m not a quarter, nor half but a full, one hundred percent Salvadorian. El Salvador is a tiny nation close to Guatemala located in Central America. A lot of people have told me I don?t look hispanic or think I?m Salvadorian. They get surprised when I start speaking spanish, see me eat traditional Salvadorian foods, or hear the music my family and I play at family reunions or special occasions.

It is now obvious that countries in Central America have been plagued by civil war, economic crisis, election fraud to finally transition into a political system granting the population the freedom to elect their leaders. El Salvador is no different than Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras. One might notice that such issues arise due to political unrest in the region (Central America), thus creating a pattern of social, political and economic instability.