El Salvador

TIME World Immigration

Children at the Border

Michael Scherer @michaelscherer

June 19, 2014

An exodus from Central America tests the U.S.

For the smugglers on the Southern border of the U.S., children are easier and more profitable cargo than grownups. Unlike adults, kids don’t need to evade authorities after they cross the Rio Grande. When they get caught, many are quickly sent to live with relatives already in the U.S. while the courts spend years processing their deportation.

And so in recent weeks the Obama Administration has found itself in a bizarre public relations battle with criminal cartels in Central America, which are enjoying a banner year by charging as much as $8,000 for each child they transport north. Over the past eight months, 34,611 unaccompanied children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have been detained at the U.S. border, more than 10 times the 3,304 figure from those countries in 2009.

This appears in the June 30, 2014 issue of TIME.

TIME World El Salvador

Evacuations Ordered Near El Salvador Volcano

David Stout

May 20, 2014

Soldier walk near the area of the Chaparrastique volcano in the municipality of Placitas outside San Salvador — Salvadorean soldiers walk near the area of the Chaparrastique volcano in the municipality of Placitas outside San Salvador February 13, 2014. Reuters

Approximately 1,000 people have been relocated from villages near a volcano in the country's far south that reportedly began expelling reddish ash on Monday

Authorities in El Salvador have evacuated at least 1,000 people living in close proximity to the Chaparrastique volcano, where increased seismic activity has been reported this week

Officials say that an explosion occurred near the volcano on Monday, which later began to belch reddish ash. There are now fears of a larger eruption.

The nation’s Civil Protection Department issued an alert on Monday for the municipality of San Miguel, where the volcano is located.

Chaparrastique’s last major eruption occurred in 1976, according to the Associated Press. The volcano is located 90 miles east of the country’s capital San Salvador.

[AP]

TIME World El Salvador

Salvadoran Man Returns Home With Fish Tale of the Ages

Per Liljas

Feb. 12, 2014

Pacific castaway Jose Salvador Alvarenga's family watch the broadcast of his arrival at their house in Garita Palmera 118 km. west from San Salvador, El Salvador, on February 11, 2014. Jose Cabezas—AFP/Getty Images

Family greets man who spent a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean

The Salvadoran who claims that he spent over a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean returned home late on Tuesday, after a week of rest and medical treatment in the Marshall Islands.

José Salvador Alvarenga’s 14-year-old daughter didn’t remember ever seeing her father, who left to fish in Mexico when she was only one-year-old, but greeted him with an archway of palms over the front door and a sign reading: “Welcome.”

While many have doubted the 37-year-old’s incredible story, experts have attested that it would be possible to survive through his ordeals, and details emerged over several days seem to corroborate the horrible journey.

[AP]

TIME World Marshall Islands

Castaway Released From Hospital

Charlotte Alter @charlottealter

Feb. 7, 2014

Too sick to travel back to El Salvador, doctors say

The castaway who washed ashore in the Marshall Islands last week claiming he had been lost at sea for 13 months was released from a hospital for the second time on Friday, officials said.

Jose Salvador Alvarenga was readmitted to the hospital Thursday because doctors were concerned about his dehydration, vitamin levels, and swollen legs. He is now staying in a hotel after his latest release, and plans for his return to El Salvador have been postponed, , CNN reports.

Alvarenga washed ashore more than a week ago after an ordeal at sea that he says lasted 13 months. He and his younger fishing partner left the Mexican port of Paredon Viejo in December 2012 in order to catch sharks, but his tiny boat was blown off course. He says he survived for over a year by eating raw birds and turtles, and drinking rainwater and urine. Alvarenga is originally from El Salvador, but had been living and working in Mexico.

[CNN]

TIME World Marshall Islands

Castaway is Back in the Hospital

Maddy Fry / London @maddyfryabides

Feb. 6, 2014

A man who said he was lost at sea for 13 months sees his health worsen

A man who said he was lost at sea for more than a year has been hospitalized, with doctors saying his limbs have started to swell up and that he’s too dehydrated to travel.

Jose Salvador Alvarenga’s worsening health and his hospitalization in the Marshall Islands will delay his planned Friday return to El Salvador, CNN reports. “Doctors say he’s severely dehydrated and low on vitamins and minerals,” said a trade official in Mexico, where Alvarenga had been living.

Alvarenga set out with a friend from the port of Paredon Viejo in Mexico in December 2012 on a trip to catch sharks. But their boat was blown off course by a storm and they eventually lost use of the engines. Alvarenga said he survived by living off raw fish, birds and turtles. His companion, 23-year-old Ezequiel Cordova, died of starvation after four weeks. Alvarenga made it to the shores of the Marshall Islands last week.

TIME World Marshall Islands

Castaway Fisherman ‘Survives 13 Months’ at Sea on Turtle Blood and Fish

TIME Video

Feb. 3, 2014

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Jose Salvador Albarengo, 37, a fisherman from El Salvador, told officials that he survived more than a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean, drinking turtle blood and catching fish with his bare hands.

Albarengo said he went on what was supposed to be a one-day fishing trip more than a year ago from Mexico, but was blown out to sea.

He was found in a disoriented state on a remote coral atoll, Reuters reported.

But the acting secretary of foreign affairs for the Marshall Islands, Gee Bing, said he was skeptical of Albarengo’s account.

“It does sound like an incredible story and I’m not sure if I believe his story,” Bing said. ‘”When we saw him, he was not really thin compared to other survivors in the past. I may have some doubts. Once we start communicating with where he’s from, we’ll be able to find out more information.”

Albarengo was found with no identification with him.

An exodus from Central America tests the U.S.

Approximately 1,000 people have been relocated from villages near a volcano in the country's far south that reportedly began expelling reddish ash on Monday

Family greets man who spent a year adrift in the Pacific Ocean

Too sick to travel back to El Salvador, doctors say

A man who said he was lost at sea for 13 months sees his health worsen

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