Tim Muth

With help from friends in El Salvador, I blog about everything related to that country. I am a lawyer by training, and I am the “Tim” of Tim's El Salvador Blog.

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Latest posts by Tim Muth

El Salvador: A Computer in Ecuador Stirs Up Salvadoran Presidential Campaign

  26 May 2008

A computer file purportedly discovered on a laptop computer at a FARC guerrilla camp in Ecuador, has bloggers in El Salvador wondering what impact it will have and what impact it should have on the upcoming elections in their country scheduled for March 2009. Much of the focus has been on FMLN presidential candidate Mauricio Funes and his reaction to the discovery.

El Salvador: Blogging for Justice in a Little Girl's Murder

  12 April 2008

Katya Miranda was young girl who was murdered in 1999 in El Salvador, in a crime of shocking depravity. All the charges against the suspects, who have ties with the military and police, were subsequently dismissed in legal proceedings widely criticized by human rights organizations. With the ninth anniversary of Katya's murder, Salvadoran bloggers are raising a call for justice to be done in this case.

El Salvador: Bloggers and Journalists

  15 October 2007

The intersection points of blogging and journalism are many and varied in El Salvador. Journalists are bloggers. Bloggers write about journalists and vice versa. Although El Salvador is a country where most people can't spend significant amounts of time online, the ever-growing number of bloggers in El Salvador is starting to influence public debate.

El Salvador: What Bloggers are Saying About Protesters and Terrorism

  16 July 2007

A bloody street protest one year ago led to the passage of an Anti-Terrorism Law in El Salvador. The alleged cop-killer in the disturbances outside of the University of El Salvador has been arrested, and the Anti-Terrorism Law is being used — to prosecute protesters demonstrating against the government’s water policy. The Salvadoran blogosphere has had much to say about this turn of events.

What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — about murders in Guatemala

  6 March 2007

Recent events involving the murder of four Salvadorans in Guatemala have dominated the blogosphere in El Salvador. On February 19, three members of the Central American parliament (PARLACEN) from El Salvador's ruling ARENA party were found murdered in Guatemala along with their driver. The group had been traveling to a...

What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — about the new year

  8 January 2007

Salvadoran bloggers begin 2007 with a call for realism when looking at the situation facing the country. There was considerable reaction to the end of the year statements(es) of the president, Tony Saca, who asserted that the economy was growing very healthily and declared that 2007 was to be the...

What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — about the armed forces

  22 October 2006

Salvadoran bloggers on the left are writing posts questioning El Salvador's level of military spending, particularly where there are pressing social problems in the country including crime, sanitation, and poverty. This small Central American country of six million people had a military budget in 2005 of $162 million (source: CIA...

What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — anti-terrorism law

  27 August 2006

El Salvador has a legislative National Assembly where no party holds absolute sway. While the majority of deputies are from parties which will work with the President Saca's ARENA party, the FMLN continues to have sufficient votes to block much legislation. Recently, even though El Salvador has not suffered from...

What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — August festivals

  5 August 2006

The first week of August in El Salvador is a week for vacation. In Spanish, El Salvador means “the Savior” and nothing gets done as this historically Roman Catholic country celebrates the week leading up to the feast day of El Salvador del Mundo. It is a time of trips...

What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — volunteer edition

  22 July 2006

Typically my bi-weekly posts concentrate on what native Salvadorans are writing in their blogs about their country. This time I will concentrate on the blogs of people volunteering their time in El Salvador. A blogger who goes by the handle Jefferson, has started a blog to chronicle his time in...

What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — UES shooting

  8 July 2006

On Wednesday, July 5, protesters amassed outside of the University of El Salvador (UES) in San Salvador. The demonstrators were voicing opposition to an increase in the cost of bus fares and in electricity, just approved by the government in response to rising world oil prices. Street demonstrations against government...

What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — about Tony Saca

  11 June 2006

The president of El Salvador, Tony Saca, presented a report on the first two years of his administration to the Salvadoran National Assembly on June 1. Jjmar at the Hunnapuh blog watched the proceedings and wrote with disappointment (es) about the conduct of the opposition FMLN legislators listening to Saca....

What Salvadoran bloggers are saying — violence and generals

  27 May 2006

The high levels of violence in the country continue without solutions. Much of the violence is tied to gang activity. Blogger Hunnapuh notes that pressured by the business sector, which fears that foreign investment will avoid a country with high levels of violence, president Tony Saca has finally recognized that...