OneTeamRob 🧢

Hoy, la Primera Dama Gabriela de Bukele entregará el sello Family Friendly al Aeropuerto Internacional de El Salvador. El primer contacto que las familias tienen con nuestro país ahora brindará una experiencia más humana, ordenada y accesible para las familias. 🇸🇻

From Bullets to Biathlon: Jonathan Arias Keeps Making History for El Salvador Ridder, Norway — March 2026 Just days after becoming one of El Salvador’s first-ever Winter Paralympians, 28-year-old Jonathan Arias is back on the snow — this time with a rifle on his back. The para cross-country skier from La Libertad suited up today for Ridder Week 26 in Norway, competing in para biathlon. It’s a bold next chapter in a story that began with tragedy and was made possible by private determination. At age 14, Arias was shot by gang members and left partially paralyzed. He and teammate David Chávez shared nearly identical fates in violence-plagued El Salvador. With almost no snow in their home country, their path to winter sports seemed impossible — until a privately funded Paralympic Development Project changed everything. That project is ONETEAM El Salvador, a nonprofit initiative founded by Sean Colgan and led by head coach Rob Powers. Operating as an all-volunteer effort, ONETEAM created a full para-sports program in El Salvador, supporting athletes with disabilities through adaptive training, resilience-building, and international competition pathways. Arias and Chávez trained on sand dunes and beaches at the Colgan Foundation Para Training Center, turning “skiing on sand” into a competitive edge before ever touching real snow. Their grit paid off. At the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics, the pair — backed entirely by ONETEAM El Salvador — made history as El Salvador’s first Winter Paralympians in the sitting (LW10/LW10.5) class. Arias raced the men’s sprint sitting (qualifying 36th in 2:56.79) and the 10 km interval start, pushing through limited high-intensity prep after an earlier injury. Now, fresh off that milestone, Arias is tackling para biathlon — the demanding mix of cross-country skiing and precision rifle shooting — continuing the momentum built by ONETEAM’s development project. From selling raspados (snow cones) as a boy to gliding across Norwegian courses with a biathlon rifle, Arias and Chávez embody resilience. “Pain into purpose,” as many have described their journey — a journey made possible by private vision and funding when no other support existed. El Salvador may have no snow, but thanks to ONETEAM El Salvador, it now has trailblazers on the world’s coldest stages. Watch for Arias and Chávez — their story is far from finished. 🇸🇻❄️