Central American News

Mar 23, 2022

Dear Readers,

Let's highlight Nicaraguan news. This past week, Nicaragua's Ortega-Murillo government has continued to shut down NGOs and Mayangna Indigenous leader Salomon López Smith was found dead with signs of torture. His nephew asserts that people illegally appropriating Indigenous land were to blame for the crime.

For those who want to leave the country, the risks are high. Two Nicaraguan women died while crossing the Rio Bravo at the Mexican-US border on March 21 due to strong currents. One of the ladies, Felícita Lucrecia Soza, had lived in the U.S. for 22 years as an undocumented person and had gone back to Nicaragua to visit her children.

More than 13,000 Nicaraguans have tried to informally enter the U.S. in February 2022.

According to International Labor Organization (ILO), more and more Central American, Haitian and Dominican women have been migrating north, resulting in the "feminization of migration."

In Honduras, female students have protested against rapes happening on their campus. Their goal was to break the silence surrounding gender-based violence and bring a recent suspected criminal to justice. It looks like they are succeeding.

See more news below an finish your reading with a video of Nicaraguan artist Patricia Belli and get to know Jody García, our Guatemala correspondent. Big thanks for following Central American News!

Salú,

Melissa and the team

Gabriela Tatiana Espinoza Pérez (left) and Felícita Lucrecia Soza (right) were victims en route to the United States.

Headlines

Migration

📰 Hemispheric Immigration Control: The US government urged the governments of Mexico and Costa Rica to address immigration in the region as it leans toward re-opening the southern US border. The governments of Costa Rica, Panama, and Dominican Republic proposed that the U.S. government dedicate funding to deter migration.

📰 Women on the Move: In the last few years, migration from Central and Latin America has reflected an increase in women’s migration.

📰 Detention Facility Conditions: Homeland Security’s inspector general called for the immediate evacuation of dozens of immigrants detained at a privately run detention facility in New Mexico, for unsanitary and inadequate conditions.

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Belize

📰 Protesting UK Prince William and Kate Middleton: Indian Creek villagers launched a protest against the Commonwealth monarchy using their football field as a landing site to tour the Maquin family's Akte'il Ha Cacao Farm in that area. The villagers were rejecting the visit due to Prince William's association with the organization Flora and Fauna International (FFI). The FFI reportedly owns some twenty thousand acres of land adjacent to Indian Creek Village, which is currently part of a land dispute under a communal land rights claim.

📰 Cannabis Bill: A revised Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Control and Licensing Bill was tabled by the House of Representatives. The Government of Belize has been attempting to establish proper legislation to govern the cultivation, processing, distribution, and delivery of cannabis and industrial hemp products for eight months.

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Costa Rica

📰 Presidential Race: Presidential candidates José María Figueres Olsen (PLN) and Rodrigo Chaves Robles (PSD) criticized each other while on the campaign trail ahead of the April 3 runoff election. Figueres warned voters that Chaves represents a “populist” risk for the country, while Chaves criticized the party of Figueres that has governed under previous administrations.

📰 Public Employment Law: Two human rights specialists foresee problems with the recently passed Public Employment Law. It includes a clause that allows for public workers to opt out of training if it goes against their “religious, ethical or moral convictions.” The specialists say it can allow for public officials to discriminate against minorities, such as the LGBTQ+ community.

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El Salvador

📰 Spyware: During the hearing at the IACHR regarding the use of Pegasus spyware against journalists and activists, representatives of El Salvador maintained their stance that the State was not responsible for the use of Pegasus. The Commission also urged the country’s prosecutor’s office “to act impartially and independently.” During the hearing, human rights officials called for the ban on the use and sale of Pegasus spyware.

📰 Bitcoin: El Salvador's government postponed the "Bitcoin bonds" launch. Several Bitcoin advocates take inspiration from El Salvador's "Bitcoin Beach" and look to create a “crypto paradise” at Guatemala’s Atitlan Lake.

📰 Water: In connection with World Water Day, several organizations called for the repeal or reform of the Water Resources Law. GatoEncerrado put together an infographic about the current state of El Salvador's rivers.

📰 Civil War: A court in Chalatenango held a hearing for the case of Hans ter Laag, a Dutch journalist who was killed in 1982.

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Guatemala

📰Justice: Judge Erika Aifán, who was awarded by the U.S. as a Woman of Courage, resigned from her position due to systematic attacks against her. Due to intimidation and death threats, Aifán left Guatemala for exile in the United States. In this interview with El Faro, she details how the complaints against her intensified when her jurisdiction was to hear and judge an investigation against President Alejandro Giammattei. // On March 22, Guatemala’s Supreme Court of Justice said it has suspended Judge Pablo Xitumul, who is known for his fight against corruption and handling high-profile cases against the military and former government officials.

📰Hospitals: While the justice system is being hit, the situation of the national hospitals remains critical. The San Juan de Dios General Hospital is facing a medicine supply crisis that has been going on for five weeks. Medical staff has protested and sent letters to public officials, including the president. There hasn't been a response yet.

📰Women: Agencia Ocote published a directory of Latin American women experts in various fields for journalists and researchers to consult.

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Honduras

📰 #NiUnaMenos: The rape of two female first-year university students at Zamorano University sparked a feminist march on campus. The crimes were condemned on social media, where people demanded the perpetrator to be arrested and tried. Later in the day, the police detained and arrested Byron Zamora, accused of raping the underage students. A former professor denounced that gender-based violence acts have been happening for years.

📰 Garifuna community: The Garifuna community of Tornabé denounced that the rapid growth of palm oil plantations is threatening their livelihoods.

📰 Health for Tolupan people: The Indigenous Tolupan people demand the reopening of the local medical clinic in Locomapa, after the municipality decided to close it in early 2022. Villagers say the government has not answered their call yet.

📰 Corruption: Former first lady Rosa Elena Bonilla de Lobo and her secretary Saul Escobar were found guilty of fraud, according to a recent Court sentence. Bonilla and Escobar had started a program called "Shoes and uniforms for Honduran children" where they made false contracts and diverted a total of 6 million lempiras (equivalent to $245,130 dollars).

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Nicaragua

📰 Migration: Two Nicaraguans have died while crossing the Rio Bravo at the Mexican-US border within 24 hours this past week.

📰 Political Prisoners: Political prisoners' health continues to deteriorate, with symptoms of severe weight loss, facial paralysis, fungus, and other ailments.

📰 Violence against Indigenous leader: Mayangna Indigenous leader Salomón López Smith was found dead after gone missing for 7 days; his body was found with signs of torture.

📰 Civil Society: The government closed 25 more NGOs. There has been 139 organizations closed since 2018. The newly closed ones affected organizations and beneficiaries from Caribbean and Indigenous groups, environment, health, free press, education and economics. The government reported that they are monitoring a list of 1700 organizations that are "vulnerable to terrorism funding”; this could be an argument to monitor and close more NGOs.

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Panama

📰 Martinelli: Former President Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014) faces charges in Spain for allegedly spying on and harassing his partner, Indira Brunot in Mallorca. Four agents of the Spanish Civil Guard as well as private security personnel are also implicated in the case, as they were allegedly orchestrated by Martinelli to inform him of his partner's movements. // Martinelli is already under investigation in Spain for allegedly receiving bribes from Spanish construction company FCC in exchange for public works contracts during his administration. He was also acquitted last November in Panama for the case of illegal wiretapping of opponents and journalists.

📰 COVID-19: More than 3 million people in Panama have two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine according to the Ministry of Health. Extended Immunization Program data show that since January 2021, 7.9 million doses have been applied, mostly from Pfizer pharmaceuticals. To date, Panama has accumulated 760,000 cases of COVID-19 and 8,000 deaths.

Jody García, our Guatemala correspondent

Check out our Instagram to meet Jody García, our Guatemala news curator. Jody is a journalist with ten years of experience covering politics, corruption, and human rights as well as environmental, migration, and judicial issues. She has published in numerous Guatemalan publications like Plaza Pública, and internationally, in the New York Times.

Salvadoran activist: 'At last my name is legally valid'

Bianka Rodríguez, a Salvadoran spokesperson for the rights of trans people, obtained her ID after several complex judicial processes in El Salvador. See her story in El Faro.

Honduran women chant against femicides, rapes

This tweet is part of the online activism surrounding the case of two students victims of rape on Honduran Zamorano university campus. Demonstrators sing Vivir Quintana's song "Canción sin miedo."

YO NO QUIERO SER VIOLADA @YViolada

NOSOTRAS CREEMOS Y ACUERPAMOS A LAS MUJERES COMPAÑERAS DE LA UNIVERSIDAD #ZAMORANO Mujeres valientes que levantaron la voz, en una institución donde siempre han existido rumores de violencia sexual entre sus estudiantes. #YoNoQuieroSerViolada

Nicaraguan Art

Nicaraguan visual artist Patricia Belli strives to conjure up emotions and conversations surrounding topics such as femininity, trauma and survival, all particularly within Nicaragua itself. Her work is now exhibited at the Tate Gallery, U.K.

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