MORAZÁN, EL SALVADOR — Salvadoran street vendor Maria* earned just $10 selling sweets and handicrafts today – a particularly bad day. It’s half of what she usually gets: $20 on average; $25 if she’s lucky.
“Sales are not good. There is tourism in the area, but people don’t come to the village,” she tells openDemocracy in the square of Osicala, a small municipality in Morazán, eastern El Salvador. It’s a four-hour drive from San Salvador, the capital, on a winding road interspersed with volcanoes and fruit stands. It’s also 110 kilometres from the slopes of the Conchagua volcano, where president Nayib Bukele has promised to create Bitcoin City – a tax-free, smart city bonanza.
