Central American News

Apr 22, 2022

Dear Readers,

Welcome back!

Apologies for the late newsletter - we wanted to include the historic extradition of the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández. On April 21, 2022, he boarded a flight towards New York, where he will face trial for drug-trafficking charges. He is accused of participating in an international drug affair that trafficked more than 500 tons of cocaine from Honduras to the U.S.

But there are also other important news coming from Honduras, where legislators repealed the Employment and Economic Development Zones. They cite that ZEDEs -- territories and cities with a special jurisdiction to attract investors-- put national sovereignty at risk. Honduran communities had actively opposed them.

Also, it's Earth Day today. In Central America, despite concerns over the climate crisis, deforestation, drought and forced migration, there are a couple of more positive news regarding the environment. Recently, Panama granted nature rights and Honduras banned open-pit mining due to the environmental concerns.

Check out the headlines, good reads, and other stories -- including those of student organizers in the U.S. and old postcards!

Salú,

Melissa and the team

Headlines

Migration

📰 Rest in Peace, Cristopher: Honduran teen en route to reunite with his mother in the U.S. drowned while crossing the Rio Grande.

📰 From Texas to D.C.: Texas governor Greg Abbott has triggered a trade blockade at the U.S.-Mexico border in his continued anti-immigration struggle with the U.S. government. He also bussed asylum seekers to Washington D.C. to protest Biden administration's immigration policies.

📰 Title 42: Border officials prepare for more migrants entering the U.S. as the Biden administration lifts Title 42. // Transgender migrants seeking asylum are waiting for Title 42 to lift so that they may file their asylum request.

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Belize

📰 Indigenous women: In Toledo District, fifteen Maya women have been trained to use GPS mapping and become data collectors. This is to inform each village’s land usage and future planning and is part of the process to legalize Maya customary lands.

📰 Labor: The ministries of Immigration, Human Development, Home Affairs, Labour, Tourism, and Agriculture along with the Director of Public Prosecutions discussed migrant labor for agroindustry in Belize and the need to strengthen collaboration amongst ministries in preventing and combating labour exploitation and trafficking in persons.

📰 Oil leak: The Belize Port Authority investigated a reported oil leak that occurred in the sea near Placencia in response to videos circulating by concerned citizens.

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Costa Rica

📰 Presidential transition: President Carlos Alvarado and president-elect Rodrigo Chaves held a meeting for the peaceful transfer of governmental power. The two discussed issues of urgent national interest including inflation and the global food supply. Chaves announced that Natalia Díaz will be the Minister of the Presidency. Chaves will become president on May 8.

📰 Cyber attack: Various government ministries were under a cyber attack since Monday by an international criminal group that calls itself Conti. The office of president Alvarado said it will not give into extortion after the group demanded a payment of $10 million.

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El Salvador

📰 Arrests: Since the approval of El Salvador’s state of emergency in late March, over 13,000 alleged gang members have been arrested. Critics have called this tactic by Bukele “punitive populism,” while the head of the national police union has said that officers have created false statements to meet arrest quotas. Friends and families of those arrested defended their innocence. Stories of wrongful detainment such as Kevin Rivas’ have gained popular attention.

📰 Human rights: Cristosal and the Association of Journalists of El Salvador filed a suit with the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court to overturn the recent gag reform passed criminalizing journalists for reporting on gangs.

📰 Justice: Jorge Guzmán, the former judge who oversaw the case of the El Mozote Massacre, denounced the actions of two men who were outside his home harassing and insulting him.

📰 Workers' rights: On Monday, vendors in San Salvador’s Rubén Darío Street were evicted. They were given a 48-hour notice to vacate and as of now, have not been provided clear relocation plans.

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Guatemala

📰 Attorney General: The commission tasked with evaluating the candidates for the new Attorney General is in an impasse. Lawyers are pressuring to include Consuelo Porras as a candidate. She is the current head of the Public Ministry, but the country's judicial situation has deteriorated significantly under her watch, and she has led efforts to retaliate against anti-corruption prosecutors and judges.

📰 War crimes: A judge must decide if 15 soldiers and policemen -- accused of ordering the disappearance of 183 people through the Diario Militar (Military Journal) -- will face trial for crimes against humanity. The Diario Militar recorded women, men and even children who were considered enemies of the state during the internal armed conflict. The women were subjected to torture and sexual violence.

📰 Prosecutors: The former prosecutor of the Public Ministry, Virgina Laparra, has denounced through open letters that she was captured and imprisoned through a process full of anomalies. Laparra headed the Quetzaltenango Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity, and from there she investigated cases of corruption that impacted local power. The Human Rights Ombudsman reported that she is in prison in inhuman conditions, where she spends 23 hours a day without seeing the sun.

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Honduras

📰 Extradition: Juan Orlando Hernandez, former Honduran president and U.S. diplomatic ally, was extradited to the United States on drug-trafficking charges. Hernandez was arrested and indicted by U.S. authorities, and is set to be tried in a U.S. court. Though Juan Orlando has been extradited, a human rights expert denounced that the criminal structures in the country are still intact.

📰 Economic Zones: The Honduran National Congress repealed the Employment and Economic Development Zones legislation. Authorities cite that ZEDEs divided the country and sold national territory, putting at risk national sovereignty.

📰 Health personnel: The Honduran Medical Association protested the government’s failure to meet agreements to create more positions in health facilities in the context of COVID-19. Additionally, the government has failed to pay some health workers for up to 4 months.

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Nicaragua

📰 Civil society: The government closed 25 more NGOs, making a total of 164 closed organizations since 2018. The latest NGOs include cultural, children’s humans rights, and local development programs.

📰 Cultural censorship: Government detained three musicians and producers just before Holy Week, but they have not yet filed charges or officially informed of their whereabouts. Another detainee, Leonardo Canales, was deported to Costa Rica, and Italian citizen Emilia Arienti was deported back to her country. Nicaraguan musician Carlos Luis Mejìa, when returning from holiday, was not allowed to enter the country. It is believed these detentions and expulsions are due to political activism.

📰 Migration: At least 81,000 Nicaraguans have emigrated to United States in the first quarter of 2022, according to US Customs figures, almost leveling the total of 87,000 Nicaraguan migrants to US in 2021.

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Panama

📰 Maternal death: In 2020, Panama registered an increase in the maternal death ratio compared to the previous year. The latest official statistical data confirms that the maternal death ratio in 2020 was 84 per 100,000 live births, while in 2019 it was 39.4 per 100,000 live births. It may be due to a weakened health system due to COVID-19. The increase was more reflected in the Indigenous Ngäbe-Buglé comarca, where the maternal death rate was 256.5 per 100,000 live births in 2020.

📰 Teens at risk: Most teens who are in conflict with the law in Panama go to prison or juvenile detention centers rather than receive alternative sanctions (they represent 54% of those sanctioned). Nationally, there are almost 20,000 people in prison, 95% of whom are men. With a prison capacity of only 15,000 people, overcrowding within the prisons is a problem.

Earth Day

Earlier this year, Panama brought in a new law granting nature the "right to exist". It grants nature the “right to exist, persist and regenerate its life cycles” meaning Panama’s parliament will now have to consider the impact of its laws and policies on the natural world.

Good Reads

📌 Mass Arrests: GatoEncerrado’s Karen Moreno writes about how the inequality gap has expanded as many women and mothers are now facing extra economic burdens due to their partners being "arbitrarily detained."

📌 Mano Dura: Developmental psychologist Dr. Danielle Parada argues that tough-on-crime policies, especially those aimed at children, do not work — especially in a country with generations of torn community and family relationships. (Global Voices)

📌 Misinformation campaign: Border Patrol officials have stoked a misinformation campaign surrounding the Biden administration’s decision to end Title 42 (The Border Chronicle).

📌Anti-immigration on YouTube: Politico spotlights the anti-immigration activists who have successfully spread their anti-immigrant ideologies and politics through YouTube.

From Nicaragua to Brazil

Tania Daley became the first non-Brazilian Latina to be crowned “reina” of a samba school in Sao Paulo. Confidencial prepared a report on her life and career.

Central American Student Organizing in the U.S.

Cal Poly Humboldt students and Arcata residents gathered on April 7 in solidarity with recent events in El Salvador. The event was led by Klara Hernandez, a senior environmental studies student at Cal Poly Humboldt.

About a week later, a visit of the Vice President of El Salvador, Felix Ulloa, to discuss the impact of bitcoin on the Salvadoran economy at the University of California at Berkeley, has been suspended following the rejection of the Central American student community of the University.

Also, Central American students at the California State University want to connect students with Central American organizations on campus and having transnational ties with Central America.

Postcards from El Salvador

The Central American Historical and Ancestral Society (CAHAS) published vintage postcards of El Salvador in the last century.

Indigenous women vendors in San Salvador, circa 1930s

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