The Salvi Digest: A selection of short Salvadoran reads for you
Pop culture and war, #LiberenAKarla, and Salvadorans in the L.A. Times!
Hola mi gente,
First, I want to share my latest piece of writing. After watching HBO Max’s documentary series “Menudo: Forever Young,” I was inspired to write about the time a Menudo concert briefly stopped the war in El Salvador. It’s a little-known piece of history about the war. I wrote it for Gran Varones, a platform started by my friend Louie that uplifts queer history, pop culture and Afro Latinxs.
You can read the piece HERE
What You Should Care About: Freeing Karla in El Salvador:
17 year old Karla Cáceres was beaten by Salvadoran authorities to the point of losing her baby. She was arrested as a part of Nayib Bukele’s state of exception that is arbitrarily arresting Salvadorans without due process in a mano dura effort to combat gangs. Her mother and Salvadoran social organizations are demanding her freedom.
You can read this article in Spanish to learn more.
And follow the hashtag #LiberenAKarla on Twitter.
Salvies in the L.A. Times
Here’s a couple stories you should definitely check out! Los Angeles is home to the largest population of Salvadoran in the U.S. and we’re making our mark off and on the pages of the city’s most prestigious paper.
“How a Salvadoran market became the soul of a community — and now fights to survive”
Writer Karla Tatiana Vasquez, known for her Salvadoran cooking platform SalviSoul, takes us to the Salvi market on Vermont Ave in Los Angeles. The market is an important landmark for Salvi Angelenos. I’ve personally been there, and it truly makes you feel like you’re at a beautifully chaotic street market in the homeland. However, it’s also a space that remains intentionally neglected by the City of Los Angeles who would prefer it didn’t exist.
L.A. Times writer Soudi Jiménez takes the pulse of Salvadorans in Los Angeles who are critical of the Bukele regime and fear his proposed unconstitutional re-election could fuel further turmoil for El Salvador. The piece is in Spanish and I implore you send it to your Spanish-dominant loved ones, or even read it a lout to them in-person or over the phone. We need to break them free of the YouTube fake news propaganda regarding this regime.
The Mayan League — stay tuned!
Last time I wrote to you, I said I have more things in the work and I did not lie. I just got back from a trip to Guatemala with the International Mayan League to learn about and document the struggles of the Maya Q’eqchi’ people in the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala. Follow the Mayan League on Instagram, there’s more to come.