Reflecting Afro-descendent and Indigenous people’s stories

MalaYerba is the first independent socio-environmental media outlet in El Salvador. It focuses on Central America, with the goal of democratizing information about the water, food and climate crises, and documenting the forced displacement of populations vulnerable to the climate crisis and megaprojects. 

Founder Carolina Amaya says that at MalaYerba they constantly seek to reflect the stories of Afro-descendant and Indigenous populations, not only for environmental stories, but also for stories focusing on human rights and freedoms. 

For her, doing this type of journalism is in itself swimming against the current and often disrupting the status quo: “That’s why it’s called malayerba, because, you know, the weed is that species that you don’t want anywhere. You want to eradicate it, don’t you? So the weed, no matter how much you want to, no matter how much you cut it, it will always come back.”

“That’s why it’s called malayerba, because, you know, the weed is that species that you don’t want anywhere. You want to eradicate it, don’t you? So the weed, no matter how much you want to, no matter how much you cut it, it will always come back.”

Carolina Amaya