Central America
Salvadoran heroes who provided aid in Turkey return home
February 19 |
After nine days away from home, the Urban Search and Rescue Team (USAR) El Salvador and the Humanitarian Rescue Unit (HRU) of the Armed Forces, made up of 111 rescuers, military and health personnel, who carried out search and rescue work in Turkey, returned to Salvadoran soil.
This nation was strongly affected last February 6 by two earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 on the Richter scale, and El Salvador was one of the first countries to send rescue support.
The Salvadoran heroes landed on their return flight on Saturday afternoon at the San Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport, where they were received by the authorities of the Ministries of the Interior, Defense, Health, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and the directors of Civil Protection and Firefighters.
“Thank you, a great job, it is a pride to work with you, it is a pride to have you at home, welcome heroes”, were the words of the Minister of the Interior, Juan Carlos Bidegain.
He added that thanks to the work done, El Salvador was able to demonstrate in Turkey that it has highly prepared teams that have now been placed among the elite USAR teams around the world.
“We are the ones who are grateful to you, what you have done, what you have done is incredible, what you have done is wonderful,” said Bidegain.
For his part, Erick Vázquez, lieutenant of the USAR-EL SALVADOR group, in his report to the authorities, highlighted the rescue of two people alive.
“We have done a job with all the logistics involved, we went to put into practice everything we learned. We had the joy of performing two rescues, a minor and a woman of approximately 30 years of age, we are proud to have done it”, celebrated Vázquez.
He explained that during their stay in Turkey, from February 9 to 17, they worked in 15 buildings, in which the canine unit and the rescuers did the work they were assigned to do, earning the respect and admiration of USAR groups from the rest of the world.
“Leaders of other USAR groups around the world have told us that we have positioned ourselves among the best, along with France, Germany and Egypt, among others,” Vazquez said.
The recognition given by the leaders of other USAR groups was also shared by Defense Minister Rene Francis Merino Monroy.
“I want to highlight the level of the two search teams of El Salvador [USAR and UHR] to provide assistance to other countries,” said the official.
At the same time he added: “We have in El Salvador a response team that can highly prepared to help foreign countries”.
Merino Monroy congratulated the USAR and UHR team of the Armed Forces for putting the name of El Salvador on high and fulfilling the mission entrusted to them.
“The mission that was entrusted to them, to the USAR and UHR group of the Armed Forces, to rescue lives was fulfilled, in addition to reviewing and cleaning each of the buildings in which they worked,” said the minister.
Turkey’s ambassador to El Salvador, Gül Büyükerşen, also received the heroes and expressed her gratitude for the support of the Salvadoran teams, as well as to President Nayib Bukele’s willingness to help from the first moment.
“President Nayib Bukele was one of the first leaders who spoke with my president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, by phone (after the earthquakes),” said the diplomat.
In addition, he stressed that “El Salvador may be a small country (in territory), but it has a big heart”.
Central America
El Salvador to host World Cup qualifiers vs. Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán
El Salvador’s national football team will host its final round World Cup qualifying matches against Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán, the honorary president of the National Sports Institute (INDES), Yamil Bukele, announced Thursday via a statement on his X account.
The official explained that this decision comes after the American rock band Guns N’ Roses, originally scheduled to perform at Estadio Cuscatlán on Saturday, October 4, will now hold their concert at Estadio Jorge “El Mágico” González. This change allows both of La Selecta’s qualifying matches to be played at the “Coloso de Monserrat.”
“After a series of efforts and in response to popular demand, we are pleased to announce that our senior national team’s CONCACAF World Cup qualifying matches next October (Oct. 10 vs. Panama and Oct. 14 vs. Guatemala) will take place at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement reads.
Bukele also thanked the event promoters and the band for agreeing to the stadium change. “We sincerely thank Guns N’ Roses and StarTicket for agreeing to move the concert originally scheduled for October 4 at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement adds.
Additionally, Bukele expressed gratitude to the FESFUT Regularization Commission for their efforts with CONCACAF to make this possible, and he urged fans to stay tuned to official channels to purchase tickets and support La Selecta in their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Central America
Honduran president Xiomara Castro suspends activities due to influenza
Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Thursday that she has “temporarily” suspended her public activities due to a severe influenza virus.
“A strong influenza virus requires me to rest, trusting that I will be fully recovered for the grand celebration of our National Independence Day” next Monday, Castro stated on the social media platform X.
The president had planned to participate in several inaugurations across the northern, central, and eastern regions of the country throughout the week. She added that “these events will be rescheduled for new dates.”
Central America
Nicaragua’s government expels bishops, priests, and nuns in religious persecution
At least 261 religious figures, including the president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, Carlos Enrique Herrera, have been expelled as part of the persecution by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s regime against the Catholic Church, reported the NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más in its report Faith Under Fire.
The report details that among those expelled are bishops Silvio Báez, Rolando Álvarez, Isidoro Mora, as well as the Apostolic Nuncio in Managua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, along with approximately 140 priests, over 90 nuns, ten seminarians, and three deacons from different dioceses in the country.
“Since the expulsion of Nuncio Sommertag in March 2022, relations between Nicaragua and the Vatican have significantly deteriorated,” the NGO noted.
The report also documents the closure of 5,609 non-profit organizations, of which 1,294 were religious, including churches, universities, schools, clinics, and humanitarian organizations. Most of these had their assets confiscated by the Sandinista government. Additionally, the telecommunications regulator TELCOR shut down 54 media outlets, including 22 religious radio stations and TV channels.
Repression has extended to other religious denominations, with forced disappearances and criminalization of evangelical pastors, control over temples, media censorship, fiscal pressure, property confiscation, and the cancellation of legal status for the Moravian Church. Pastor Rudy Palacios remains in detention as part of this pattern of persecution.
The NGO emphasized that churches, especially the Catholic Church, played a key role in the 2018 national dialogue, denouncing abuses and providing refuge to injured protesters, which fueled the government’s hostility.
In 2023, Pope Francis described Ortega’s regime as a “blatant dictatorship”, to which the Nicaraguan president responded by dissolving the Society of Jesus and labeling the Church as a “mafia” and “anti-democratic.”
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