Post #2

El Salvadorans speak Spanish primarily as it is the state language and the most widely used. There are some indigenous languages that are spoken in the Western part of El Salvador, like Nawat, which less than 5% of the population speaks, and Lenca, which less than 40,000 people speak. Nawat is proving to be a difficult language for Spanish to squash as it is the language of the El Salvadorans ancestors. It is the language that was spoken in the region of El Salvador before Spanish colonists arrived, and some teachers at a school want to keep it alive. Nawat is widely spoken in parts of Mexico but the unique version in El Salvador is dying out slowly.

El Salvador has been a member of the International Monetary Fund since 1946, a member of the WTO since 1995, and was one of the founding member states in the United Nations. The country doesn't have any outstanding payments to the IMF, so they are on good footing with the IMF. They have played a role in many dispute cases in the WTO as the third party, while having only one case as the complainant. Aside from helping ot form the United Nations, recently, the UN fully supports El Salvador's new law to help and protect iindigenous people that were displaced and moved from their homes in the past. The Gini coefficient for El Salvador is 38.00 and its GDP per capita has been steadily rising for the past 50 years at 3889.31 currently. This is below Guatemala, but above Honduras. So not the best, but also not the worst in Central America.

Recently, El Salvador heavily armed soldiers and police “forced their way into parliament, demanding the approval of a $109m loan to better equip them.” The president just proposed this loan plan, and gave the congress 7 days to to back his loan plan. Opposiitions of the loan plan are calling this act of intimidation “unprecedented.” Most of the violence that plagues El Salvador is due to criminal gangs that operate all across Central America. The loan “would be used to buy police vehicels, uniforms, surveillance equipment and a helicopter. There was no debate in parliament over the proposed bill, meaning it would probably not be passed. This is what prompted Presidnet Bukele to ask his supporters to “decend on the parliament building.” The presidents opponents are using this to accuse his actions as turning increasingly authoritarian. Who knows what this will turn into in a matter of a couple weeks.