Dr. Ricardo J. Valencia
@ricardovalp.bsky.social
🇸🇻🇺🇸 Associate Prof California State Fullerton. Columnist elfaro.net. RT≠like,endorsement. Posts are my own. Go Dodgers!
Chema Tojeira, a vital figure in El Salvador’s history, has passed. In 1989, he bore the heavy task of identifying the UCA martyrs, killed by a military squad.As a student at UCA, I got to know his wisdom and humility through a small reading group. His quiet strength made me want to be a Jesuit.
September 5, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Chema Tojeira, a vital figure in El Salvador’s history, has passed. In 1989, he bore the heavy task of identifying the UCA martyrs, killed by a military squad.As a student at UCA, I got to know his wisdom and humility through a small reading group. His quiet strength made me want to be a Jesuit.
Great piece by @lrb.co.uk
Torture chambers like Bukele's CECOT aren't unique—nor is their use by global powers. What’s unique is that he keeps his in plain sight, even turning it into a tourist attraction. Bukele himself has posted on social media the very evidence of his decay.
www.lrb.co.uk
Torture chambers like Bukele's CECOT aren't unique—nor is their use by global powers. What’s unique is that he keeps his in plain sight, even turning it into a tourist attraction. Bukele himself has posted on social media the very evidence of his decay.
www.lrb.co.uk
September 5, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Great piece by @lrb.co.uk
Torture chambers like Bukele's CECOT aren't unique—nor is their use by global powers. What’s unique is that he keeps his in plain sight, even turning it into a tourist attraction. Bukele himself has posted on social media the very evidence of his decay.
www.lrb.co.uk
Torture chambers like Bukele's CECOT aren't unique—nor is their use by global powers. What’s unique is that he keeps his in plain sight, even turning it into a tourist attraction. Bukele himself has posted on social media the very evidence of his decay.
www.lrb.co.uk
La frontera, el borde,
August 12, 2025 at 9:57 PM
La frontera, el borde,
Apparently, the new way to travel as a brown person is carrying a passport—even within California.
August 11, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Apparently, the new way to travel as a brown person is carrying a passport—even within California.
As I mentioned at the @uniondemcomm.bsky.social conference, Bukele was disturbingly sadistic and relentless in promoting his gulag—live-streaming human rights abuses for the world to see. Fascist!
August 7, 2025 at 1:55 AM
As I mentioned at the @uniondemcomm.bsky.social conference, Bukele was disturbingly sadistic and relentless in promoting his gulag—live-streaming human rights abuses for the world to see. Fascist!
I've watched this unfold in phases:
No illegal immigrants, only legal ones.
Only U.S. citizens deserve rights.
Real Americans are American-born.
"American" really means white European
The mask slips, layer by layer.
No illegal immigrants, only legal ones.
Only U.S. citizens deserve rights.
Real Americans are American-born.
"American" really means white European
The mask slips, layer by layer.
July 24, 2025 at 5:33 AM
I've watched this unfold in phases:
No illegal immigrants, only legal ones.
Only U.S. citizens deserve rights.
Real Americans are American-born.
"American" really means white European
The mask slips, layer by layer.
No illegal immigrants, only legal ones.
Only U.S. citizens deserve rights.
Real Americans are American-born.
"American" really means white European
The mask slips, layer by layer.
My new @subpop.bsky.social pride that I bought on my trip to Seattle
July 14, 2025 at 9:55 PM
My new @subpop.bsky.social pride that I bought on my trip to Seattle
"I'm just here for the brown ones…"
July 5, 2025 at 4:20 AM
"I'm just here for the brown ones…"
As a foreign-born American, I see the U.S. as an open experiment. Not perfect—often cruel to workers and immigrants—but still capable of becoming a nation grounded in justice, solidarity, and shared meaning. America is a just a signifier. We get to shape it.
July 4, 2025 at 9:42 PM
As a foreign-born American, I see the U.S. as an open experiment. Not perfect—often cruel to workers and immigrants—but still capable of becoming a nation grounded in justice, solidarity, and shared meaning. America is a just a signifier. We get to shape it.
I've learned enough German to understand this: Europe proves Trump's claim right- relying on American military action while passively applauding the destruction that follows.
June 23, 2025 at 2:16 AM
I've learned enough German to understand this: Europe proves Trump's claim right- relying on American military action while passively applauding the destruction that follows.
Trump's Tony Blair.
June 22, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Trump's Tony Blair.
Finishing touches for my conference presentation
June 19, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Finishing touches for my conference presentation
Many of my students are like Ross: young, male, working-class, apolitical vets who served out of necessity (no "woke" btw). In colleges, they are worried about jobs. What fired them up this week? Not @gavinnewsom.bsky.social @dncstaffunion.bsky.social , or Joe Rogan. It was ICE harassing communities
June 16, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Many of my students are like Ross: young, male, working-class, apolitical vets who served out of necessity (no "woke" btw). In colleges, they are worried about jobs. What fired them up this week? Not @gavinnewsom.bsky.social @dncstaffunion.bsky.social , or Joe Rogan. It was ICE harassing communities
This may help explain the protests in LA. According to the USC California Immigrant Data Portal, at least 2.5 million U.S. citizens in California live with an undocumented family member, and additional 721,000 green card share household with undocumented relative immigrantdataca.org/indicators/m...
June 11, 2025 at 6:19 PM
This may help explain the protests in LA. According to the USC California Immigrant Data Portal, at least 2.5 million U.S. citizens in California live with an undocumented family member, and additional 721,000 green card share household with undocumented relative immigrantdataca.org/indicators/m...
Sharing German DNA? That is a weird statement coming from the German Chancellor
June 6, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Sharing German DNA? That is a weird statement coming from the German Chancellor
Bukele is once again threatening civil society and journalists for reporting on the judges and prosecutors involved in the sham trial against human rights activist Ruth Lopez.
June 6, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Bukele is once again threatening civil society and journalists for reporting on the judges and prosecutors involved in the sham trial against human rights activist Ruth Lopez.
It's easy to bully trans kids—but it takes real courage to stand up to bullies and those who spread hate. Happy Pride, amigues!
June 2, 2025 at 3:19 AM
It's easy to bully trans kids—but it takes real courage to stand up to bullies and those who spread hate. Happy Pride, amigues!
This helps explain Bukele’s repressive wave. Per @googletrends.bsky.social, U.S. searches for “El Salvador + jail” far outnumber those for “El Salvador + #bitcoin” — except during a spike in 2024. The country’s concentration camps have become its new global image.
May 20, 2025 at 6:08 AM
This helps explain Bukele’s repressive wave. Per @googletrends.bsky.social, U.S. searches for “El Salvador + jail” far outnumber those for “El Salvador + #bitcoin” — except during a spike in 2024. The country’s concentration camps have become its new global image.
Academics -especially the ones in elite universities need some media training, mainly when they are not used to dealing with the Bukele’s propagandists
May 18, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Academics -especially the ones in elite universities need some media training, mainly when they are not used to dealing with the Bukele’s propagandists
I was recently interviewed by @theguardian.com for a piece exploring the ties between members of the Trump cabinet and the authoritarian regime in El Salvador. Here is the quote:
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m…
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m…
May 15, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I was recently interviewed by @theguardian.com for a piece exploring the ties between members of the Trump cabinet and the authoritarian regime in El Salvador. Here is the quote:
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m…
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/m…
New @washingtonpost.com story. In a piece about Trump defying a court order to send immigrants to El Salvador's gulags, DOJ & others say Bukele wants gang leaders in US back in ES—fearing they know details of secret pact between his gov’t and the gangs www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
May 4, 2025 at 10:12 PM
New @washingtonpost.com story. In a piece about Trump defying a court order to send immigrants to El Salvador's gulags, DOJ & others say Bukele wants gang leaders in US back in ES—fearing they know details of secret pact between his gov’t and the gangs www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
Spread the news! @elfaroenglish.bsky.social is under the attack of the Bukele government, which is planning to arrest El Faro's staff in El Salvador
May 4, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Spread the news! @elfaroenglish.bsky.social is under the attack of the Bukele government, which is planning to arrest El Faro's staff in El Salvador