Rivera-Arce

MEMORANDUM ***

Jose Rivera-Arce petitions for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) order dismissing his appeal of an Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture.

We have jurisdiction to review the BIA’s order under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and do so for “substantial evidence,” meaning that we must affirm the BIA’s ruling unless the record “not only supports [the conclusion that Rivera-Arce has established eligibility for asylum], but compels it.” INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478 , 478 n. 1, 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (emphasis in original).

Rivera-Arce claims past persecution by Salvadorian Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (“FMLN”) guerrillas based on two events: his capture and torture, and unrelated death threats received from the family of an FMLN prisoner who committed suicide while under Rivera-Arce’s supervision. To establish asylum eligibility, “the applicant must establish that race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion *633 was or will be at least one central reason for persecuting the applicant.” 8…