El Salvador

[from "Communications Landscaping: North and Latin American Transnational Communities"]

By Marta González - FLACSO El Salvador

Summary

Salvadorans have become part of the globalization by exporting their labor to the United States or to other countries and also through other spaces, such as telecommunications.

In spite of the fact that the advance in the development of telecommunications in El Salvador has led to more population now having greater access to communications media, there are still indicators that reflect an important gap among the social sectors of the population with possibilities to access such media and the sectors that do not have access to them, especially those in rural areas.

Some government measures aimed at the telecommunications sector, particularly regarding privatization and the creation of Information Centers in the interior of the country, have favored a real takeoff for the sector. Thus, El Salvador is number one in cell telephony of all the Central American countries. Long Distance Service is also very significant, given the population of more than one million Salvadorans living in the United States and in other parts of the world.

Communications media play an important role in establishing and maintaining ties between the transnational community tied to Salvadoran migration. The most common media that we may identify are the telephone, letters, visits of relatives or people bringing packages, the use of the Internet and videoconferences, videos, and cassettes.

A series of surveys carried out among the residents of the municipality of San Salvador who have relatives living abroad showed that the most used means of communication is the telephone followed by e-mail. Another study found that, in Salvadoran rural homes with relatives living abroad, communication with international migrants is established through letters, calls, and visits.

Television, radio and Internet communications media enable the migrant population and their relatives to find other information spaces beyond the family itself. That is to say, these media give them the opportunity to be recipients and transmitters of information on national problems related to issues of a political, economic, and social nature and, especially, on topics related to migration. These media are important not only for sharing news but also for transmitting opinions and values regarding everyday occurrences. This happens not only among the migrant population but also among migrants and the country of origin, whose letters with their opinions are published in newspapers in El Salvador.

Some national newspapers have special sections devoted to information on the Salvadoran community abroad. The most representative case is the section Departamento 15 (Department 15) in La Prensa Gráfica newspaper; the name of the section refers to the 14 provincial departments into which the country is politically and administratively divided, the Salvadorans living abroad being provincial department 15.

Many local newspapers share information and activities in multiple places, sharing aspects of the migrants' lives, both in the new places of residence and in their cities of origin. For example, there are probably hundreds of small local "newspapers" in Los Angeles, all printed by migrants, coming from places such as Chalchuapa in the West of El Salvador, all for the purpose of creating ties with their city of origin.

There are few television networks or channels that have special programs devoted to the community abroad. Among them we mention Teledos channel and the program Realidades on channel 12. The latter basically contains national domestic information but it could become an important information medium for the Salvadoran community abroad. It also has a space to chat.

Various radio stations also serve as spaces for transnational cultural exchange and some have mechanisms established to send messages, for example between San Miguel in El Salvador and New York.

Among the new forms of communication there are bearers of tidings, men and women devoted to taking goods, money and information between El Salvador and the United States, thus helping to maintain relationships between families that have been separated and even between towns and countries. This makes them key actors in the process of strengthening and expanding transnational social networks. These bearers of tidings are a very important medium for transmitting the most recent events that have occurred in the community or town, or for giving general interpretations of what is happening in the municipality and with the family.

Other forms of exchange are the native associations, aimed at providing a space to gather the migrant community, normally joining persons from the same place of origin to celebrate various events celebrated simultaneously in their native town. One of the features of such associations is the promotion of initiatives to support specific projects in the place of origin. Social and humanitarian aid associations are another bond that has arisen mostly due to the situation of armed conflict in EL Salvador. Political parties have also been interested in establishing communication with the migrant population. There are cases of politicians who have appealed to the community abroad to present their government programs and make them public and even to request approval or intervention regarding topics of national interest, such as occurred with the topic of public health and privatizing health services.

In summary, we may say that the formal and informal family, local and national communications media have influenced the creation and strengthening of community networks, migrant associations, and local development management; and information flows have supported the formation of a transnational community bonded to Salvadoran international migration.

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