A few months ago, Edgar Romero, who runs a little bar in San Salvador called Fotocafe, along with his wife who receives grant money for "supporting causes for women," organized a panel discussion to discuss abuse against women. There were a half-dozen or so photographers on the panel, all men. Included were Oscar Machon, a notorious womanizer and bisexual who has sent pictures of his genitals to Victor Hugo Duenas. I don't suppose womanizing or homosexual sexting are crimes but Machon has a wife and two children.
Frederick Meza, formerly of El Faro, was on the board, too. The last time I saw Frederick he was secretly taking pictures of naked prostitutes at a drug house in downtown San Salvador and showing them off to his friends.
There are no noteworthy Salvadoran photographers and those who are allowed inside the circle clearly make for poor activists. The event was organized by men, funded by a woman sucking off the public tit, and included not one woman speaker. Not that there aren't female photographers in El Salvador. But in a country as small and unimportant as that one, even events meant to draw awareness to the problem of violence against women are organized by peeping toms, perverts, and men who cheat on their wives.
It's a small symptom of a bigger problem. Salvadorans live in the 18th Century. Most oppose any kind of abortion. The entire upper class, according to one member of that group, is addicted to cocaine. Drugs are sold over the counter like candy. Every newspaper is run by a political party and reporters happily tow the line for 400-600 dollars a month. Not even whores work that cheap.
The fact that El Salvador is fucked up is nothing new. From the 1932 massacre of indigenous people to the forced deportation of dark skinned citizens to Honduras, El Salvador's has always been a zero tolerance culture. The flip side is that everything is tolerated. After the war, both sides agreed to a peace agreement in which nobody could ever be accountable for anything. As a result, guerilla mercenary and cold-hearted killer Salvador Sanchez Ceren is the president and the opposition is handled by Tony Saca, like Oscar Machon, a closet homosexual. Saca's claim to fame is a series of get-tough operations against gangs. None of them worked. Gangs grew stronger in response to the crackdowns. By the time Saca left office, gangs were in charge.
I spent a few years in El Salvador taking pictures of downtown San Salvador, which is essentially a pile of ruins never repaired after a string of earthquakes. It's a sad place but a photogenic one. It's like Gary, Indiana with a few more people wandering around and a lot more drunks passed out on the street. Women are enslaved. Children are sold into prostitution. Bad people kill good people. And good people go to prison for no reason. Everyone is cheating on their husband or wife. And it's all quite acceptable. There are no honest people in El Salvador. There is no reason to go there, ever.
The international media has finally gotten around to investigating a string of extra-judicial murders of suspected gang members. This is the way business has always been done in the smallest country in Central America. Non-governmental organizations, most fronts for US and European intel, fly teenagers down to study the phenomenon of violence. No solutions are proposed. Married men keep frequenting the transvestite brothels downtown and pretending it's ok. Their wives look the other way. Women see sleeping with married men as totally acceptable. All women. Stealing is part of everyday business. Dishonor is a code of honor.
A safety inspector at Avianca named Salvador Campos drinks on the job. His father is a loan shark who has dirty business ties to the Mara Salvatrucha. He spends most of his time at the Tres Rosas strip bar in Santa Tecla. The gang recently robbed him of a hotel and a car wash he owned as he was trying to flee the country, leaving his family behind. A typical Salvadoran.
I have left El Salvador. I feel no pity for the bastards and whores stuck down there. A few of them don't deserve to live in a hell hole. But most of them do. I'm never going back to that shit hole. It's a violent country, no because of gangs, but because the people, everyday people, are fucked up beyond repair.