Central American News

Feb 09, 2022

Dear Readers,

The Costa Rican presidential election was historic for two reasons: it had the most candidates and the highest abstentionism rate.

It is proceeding to a runoff on April 3, as no candidate won more than 40% of the votes. The race is now between two familiar faces: former President José María Figueres Olsen (PLN) and former Finance Minister Rodrigo Alberto Chaves Robles (PSD).

The political party of current President Carlos Alvarado (PAC) suffered a major blow with candidate Welmer Ramos González gaining less than 1% of the vote and no legislative seats.

While the Feb. 6 election is an example of a robust democracy, Costa Rica faces challenges such as a poverty rate that affects more than a quarter of people living in the country. Government corruption (such as the Cochinilla Case and Operación Diamante) is also high on the list of issues.

Whoever is elected president in April will face an economy ravaged by the pandemic and systemic issues that have existed since before the Second Republic was established in 1948, such as economic, racial and gender inequalities and Indigenous people's rights.

See the bottom of the newsletter for Pablo's short commentary on Costa Rica's main parties.

Salú,

Pablo (Costa Rica news curator) and Melissa

Belize News

We'd love to welcome our new Belize editor, Candice Gillett, MPH. She was born in Belize and currently resides in Chicago. Candice’s passion and work lies in empowering others through education, promoting health equity and individual well-being. We hope you love her coverage of Belize as much as we do.

Headlines

Migration

📰 Title 42: The Biden administration will resume using Title 42 to expel asylum seekers at the border citing Omicron as a key reason.

📰 Immigration Courts: A U.S. Democrat bill aims to separate the immigration court system, as a separate entity, from the Department of Justice.

📰 Chicken Plants: Federal agencies are investigating the Alabama poultry industry following claims of migrant exploitation and poor working conditions.

📰 Roots of Migration: Activists are urging the Biden administration to take further action to address root causes of migration from Central America and abroad.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Belize

📰Gender Violence: The Belize Parliament unifies on the issue of gender-based violence. Minister of Human Development, Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, lashed out against gender-based violence and presented a motion that sets out specific measures for the government to take.

📰 Climate Change: The Ministry of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management officially launched the “Building Climate Change Resilience and Social Integration of Displaced People in Settlements of Western Belize” Project. These communities will benefit from improved infrastructures such as new polyclinics, upgrading the current potable water systems and rebuilding hurricane shelters and community centers.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Costa Rica

📰 2022 Elections: The presidential election with the most candidates in the country’s history is proceeding to a runoff on April 3 after no candidate won more than 40% of the votes. Former President José María Figueres Olsen (PLN) won more than a quarter of votes while former Finance Minister Rodrigo Alberto Chaves Robles (PSD) was second place with 16% of votes. The two candidates will compete in the runoff as the pandemic-ravaged economy is a top priority. The political party of current President Carlos Alvarado (PAC) suffered a major blow with candidate Welmer Ramos González gaining less than 1% of the vote. The party won no legislative seats.

📰 A 'Civic Fiesta': The Feb. 6 elections were marked by a healthy turnout and citizens’ trust in democracy, according to international observers from across the Americas and Europe. The foreign minister of Panama said she observed a “robust” democratic process with one of the most “solid” electoral exercises in the region. As voters had 25 presidential candidates to choose from, one observer called the election a “civic fiesta.” However, these elections also set records for abstentionism: more than 40% of voters did not go to polls.

-------------------------------------------------------------

El Salvador

📰 'Digital Undercover Agents': The Legislative Assembly approved reforms to the Code of Criminal Procedure that allow the National Civil Police and the prosecutor’s office to use digital undercover agents. Lawyers are concerned about the reform's lack of clarity and possible violation of the constitutional right to be free from wiretapping.

📰 Environment: The Environmental Chamber of Santa Tecla extended the ban on a hydroelectric project on the Sensunapán River for another six months.

📰 International Waters: Nicaragua’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the violation of maritime space by El Salvador’s military on Feb. 4. However, El Salvador rejected this allegation on Tuesday.

📰 Mass Grave: On Feb. 4, Gustavo Villatoro, the Minister of Justice and Security announced the discovery of a mass grave in Nuevo Cuscatlán, which adds on to the discussion about disappearance rates in El Salvador.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Guatemala

📰 Pre-elections: On Sunday, February 6, the National Unity of Hope party (UNE) held an assembly to give back control over the party to Sandra Torres. Torres tried to be president three times, and in recent years she has fought to regain control of her political party and to defuse an investigation against her. This journalist factchecked elements of her speech.

📰 Indigenous Land: The Maya Q'eqchi' indigenous community of Agua Caliente will have a hearing on Feb. 9 before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) for the violations and damages suffered by their ancestral lands and will demand the right to have a collective property title to decide on their territories.

📰 Corruption: The Public Prosecutor's Office of Guatemala announced that it has requested the withdrawal of immunity of Guatemalan congressman Jorge García Silva, for his alleged participation in a millionaire corruption case in which some of his relatives are already being prosecuted.

📰 Economy: The cost of the market basket, which includes 34 products divided into 10 groups such as cereals, meats, dairy products, fats, fruits, legumes and vegetables, is increasing. In one year it increased by US$16 dollars. To cover these basic expenses, 2.3 minimum wages are needed.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Honduras

📰 Legislative Crisis, Solved: After two weeks of crisis, the leadership of the Honduran Parliament was resolved on Feb. 8 through a political pact. An internal conflict in the ruling party had left the Chamber with two conflicting boards of directors. Luis Redondo, of the Partido Salvador de Honduras (PSH), is now the only recognized president of the Parliament.

📰 Amnesty Decree: In the Parliament led by Redondo, a law proposed by Deputy Rasel Tomé was approved last week, which condemns the coup d'état, 12 years after the events. "This law includes an amnesty decree which benefits land and water defenders, but which would also give impunity to public officials from the period between 2006 and 2009, who could be freed from prosecution for corruption-related crimes," writes Contracorriente.

📰 JOH: A New York judge sentenced a drug trafficker who prosecutors link to former president Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH), to life in prison. // JOH's name enters U.S. "Engel List" of corrupt officials in Central America. His U.S. visa has been revoked.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Nicaragua

📰 Education: The Nicaraguan government closed six private universities and reopened them as three public universities; experts called this a de facto confiscation and an attack on academic freedom. The Central American University (UCA, in Managua) could be the next one to be closed by the government. Eleven NGOs were also closed.

📰 Political Trials: Nine political prisoners have been convicted in the first week of trials, which, according to human rights organizations, violate due process of law. Prosecutors say that the defendants conspired against the country and violated the Cybercrimes Law. Among those sentenced are: Yader Parajon, whose brother was killed in the 2018 demonstrations; Ana Margarita Vijil, lawyer and renowned human rights defender; student leader Lesther Alemán, who gained notoriety by confronting Ortega in the first national dialogue.

📰 Refugees in Spain: More than 12,000 Nicaraguans have applied for asylum in Spain in four years of crisis.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Panama

📰 Human trafficking: Four Panamanian women (and a Costa Rican man) were charged with the crime of human trafficking for child sexual exploitation; three of them were provisionally detained. This came out of the Panama-Costa Rica operation "Luz de Esperanza". Nine girls between the ages of 4 and 12 were rescued.

📰 Pegasus: New York Times journalists reveal how former President Ricardo Martinelli has allegedly bought Pegasus in exchange for votes in favor of Israel at the UN. Martinelli allegedly wanted to buy software allowing him to hack into the Blackberry instant messaging system (BBM). For context, In November 2021, a court in Panama acquitted Martinelli in the illegal wiretapping case known as "pinchazos".

Indigenous Peoples of El Salvador

Grandchildren of El Salvador's 1932 La Matanza survivors speak in this illustrated mini-film. This is part of GatoEncerrado's reporting special on "The Ongoing Extermination of Indigenous Peoples," which has a lot of essays, photogalleries, and other resources.

Costa Rica's Parties

Pablo Arauz Peña, our Costa Rica news curator, explains the main parties in Costa Rica right now as candidates from the PLN and PSD are facing a run-off in April.

"While the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) is officially part of the Socialist International and is one of the two parties that previously held more power, the PLN party has a spectrum of liberal/progressive and centrist factions which differ on various issues. The party itself is known to have shifted more center or even right in past few elections which don't make it fit neatly into one term.

Other parties like PAC which is considered center-left have distinguished themselves by where they stand on certain progressive policies so just saying 'left' would be too simplified. I would call PLN 'traditional left' or 'classical liberal.' The PAC made promises to deliver on economic growth but failed, especially once the pandemic hit, but also before, notably for workers' benefits.

The outgoing ruling party, Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) made progress on human rights including participation of women in politics, approving same-sex marriage and advances in recognition of gender identity.

The Partido Progreso Social Democrático (PSD) on the other hand has some policy stances that are fiscally and socially conservative like lower taxes and unfavorable view of abortion but other more liberal ones like decriminalizing cannabis. They have been termed as hard 'centrist' and I would agree with that."

Patreon

By becoming a Patron, you help us pay for our newsletter website and so make it possible to send Central American news out for free every week. If you would like to see the newsletter grow, please consider becoming a supporter. Please support Central American news!