Central American News
Garifuna people under threat in Honduras
Hi readers,
Welcome back to another week of Central American News. Let’s welcome Oliver Martínez López as our new migration news curator to the team! Oliver is a Salvadoran researcher and storyteller who studied International Relations and Latin American Studies at Tufts University, with a particular focus on migration and globalization. He is based in New York City and loves to connect with members of the Central American diaspora.
Happy reading!
The Central American News team
In Brief
As Xiomara Castro will celebrate her first year in presidency, Honduras sees another indigenous Garifuna land defender killed, Ricardo Arnaúl Montero. This comes after three Garifuna women were killed a couple of weeks ago, and more are receiving death threats. This is happening in the context of land evictions from ancestral lands at the hands of state forces. In Costa Rica, a man was sentenced to 22 years in jail for the murder of Indigenous Brörán land defender Jehry Rivera last Tuesday. This week also saw Costa Rica’s backtrack in ratifying the Escazu Agreement, an important regional environmental protection agreement. In Belize, a case of police violence is in the courts for the killing of teenager Laddie Gillet.
Guatemala is preparing its elections in full swing, along with debates on who is allowed to run for presidency and who is not. Leftist Jordán Rodas was barred, for now, from running for vice-presidency while the daughter of dictator Efrain Rios Montt, Zury Rios, has been accepted. In El Salvador, findings about spyware and mishandling of prisons under the State of Exception are leaking out. Nicaragua’s customs attempted to curtail the entry of cameras and video equipment into the country, while Panama’s COPA airline pilots are on strike.
Photos credit to Giorgio Trucchi at the Rel UITA
Seeking volunteers
Want to join a growing team of Central Americans passionate about Central America? We are now seeking a Belize news curator (2h per week). Please send over your CV and a few paragraphs of why you want to join the project to centralamericannews@gmail.com.
Headlines
Migration
📰 Expanded Parole: The Biden administration announced that its recent expanded parole program has led to a 97% reduction in the numbers of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans seeking to cross the Mexico-U.S. border since December of 2022. The new program caps the number of migrants allowed entry to the U.S. from these countries at 30,000 per month.
📰Stranded Abroad: President Biden’s new immigration enforcement measures make it almost impossible for migrants who are not from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela to enter the U.S. On the other hand, migrants and asylum seekers from these countries are only allowed entry to the U.S. as long as they can provide passports and proof of financial sponsors when filing for entry from their respective home countries. This has resulted in many stranded migrant communities in Mexico.
📰Texas Lawsuit: Representing the State of Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton, with the support of 20 other Republican-led states, filed a lawsuit against President Biden claiming that the administration’s expanded parole program, allowing entry and work permits to migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Venezuela, does not meet the necessary criteria for it to be legal.
Nicaragua
📰Economy: On January 23, the Central Bank decided to establish the sliding rate of the exchange rate of the córdoba (national currency) against the US dollar, from 2% to 1% per year, “to help offset the effects of inflation”. This is the third time in the last four years that the Central Bank has reduced the sliding rate of the exchange rate.
📰Cameras: On January 25, Nicaraguan customs announced restrictions on the entry of 140 models of photographic and cinematographic television cameras, digital cameras, camcorders, and binoculars into national territory. Two days later, the Government reversed the measure because it caused outcry in national and international news. However, human rights defenders believe there is still no guarantee that tourists will be able to bring in their cameras and equipment.
El Salvador
📰Human Rights: On January 27, Human Rights Watch and local rights organization Cristosal revealed database findings from the Ministry of Public Safety showing “mass due process violations, severe prison overcrowding, and deaths in custody” during the State of Exception. According to the database, more than 1,000 minors have been arrested.
📰IMF: The International Monetary Fund is visiting El Salvador this week to “assess the country’s economic and financial developments.” This visit comes after El Salvador cleared a $600 million bond payment.
📰Spyware: Bukele administration paid over $2.2 million USD for surveillance tools from Israeli spyware manufacturers. These acquisitions include technologies designed to trace calls and SMS, identify an inactive phone’s location, and create identity reports of social media accounts with WiFi signals and facial recognition.
Guatemala
📰Elections:
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal refused to register the presidential binomial of the leftist party “Movement for the Liberation of the People”. The Electoral Tribunal justified its decision by stating that the vice-presidential candidate (Jordán Rodas) did not present documents proving that he is clear from corruption accusations. The decision can be challenged. Rodas claims it is a setup to prevent his participation.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal registered Zury Ríos as a presidential candidate for the Valor party. She is the daughter of the former head of state convicted for genocide Efraín Ríos Montt. The decision has raised questions since the constitution prohibits her from participating in elections as the daughter of a former dictator.
📰USAC: The Superior University Council expelled Camilo García, a student at the University of San Carlos, for calling the current rector Walter Mazariegos a "usurper." Mazariegos was accused of acquiring the position through a fraudulent election. More than 40 former student representatives demanded the student’s right to study to be respected.
Honduras
📰Garifuna Community: Garifuna territory defender, Ricardo Arnaúl Montero, was murdered on Saturday, January 28. Montero was an active member of the Land Defense Committee in Triunfo de la Cruz Garifuna community and of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH). Other leaders of the Black community of Triunfo de la Cruz, located less than two miles away from Tela, have also received death threats in the past and are yet to be investigated.
📰Politics: Consensus on theelection of 15 magistrates tof the Supreme Court of Justice’s failed. According to the law, they have two weeks left to decide who the next 15 magistrates will be.
📰Government: On Monday, January 30, Xiomara will present a brief of her one year anniversary as president. Xiomara Castro is the first woman to become president in the history of Honduras, and ran her campaign on promises to bring change among human rights issues, environmental protection, and justice.
Panama
📰Education: Last Sunday, the transportation of materials for the construction of modular classrooms in the indigenous Ngäbe-Bugle Comarca continues. Fifteen modular classrooms are expected to be installed in 11 hard-to-reach communities.
📰Pilots strike: The pilots of Panama's Copa Airlines gathered at their union to vote on a strike for February 2. It was the result of failed talks between the union and the airline. Some of the pilots' requests include fair and balanced compensation, improvements in rest areas, accommodation and food on board of the aircraft.
📰Public debt: The country’s public debt balance at the end of 2022 was $44,274 million. It reflects an increase of $3,786.2 millionwhen compared to the balance of the previous year.
Belize
📰Amnesty Project: The three-month extension period for the amnesty program will end in less than four weeks. It was introduced in August of 2022 and is supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNICEF. Applicants are required to undergo medical and physical tests and applications are then vetted by the Special Branch of the Belize Police Department.
📰Migration: Belize is a growing migration hub for many Haitian nationals with the intention of entering the U.S. It has become a challenge for the Police and Immigration Department since Haiti and Belize are members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The Treaty of Chaguaramas provides for the free movement of CARICOM nationals within CARICOM member states.
📰Justice for Laddie: On Monday, the trial for the killing of 14-year-old Laddie Gillett began. Former police corporal, Kareem Martinez was charged with manslaughter to which he pleaded not guilty. Gillet was shot and killed on July 14, 2021, while on a beach in Placencia Village with his best friend.
Costa Rica
📰Escazú Agreement: Despite playing a pivotal role in its promotion, the Escazú Agreement is on track to being archived by Costa Rican legislative assembly with little chance of ratification. The agreement was meant to protect the rights of people to have a healthy environment. President Rodrigo Chaves is adamantly against the agreement and assured the private sector that it is “not on the government’s agenda.”
📰Justice for Jehry: UPDATE: On Wednesday, February 1, the courts sentenced Juan Varela Rojas to 22 years in prison for the murder of the indigenous leader Brörán de Térraba, Jehry Rivera Rivera. Rivera was killed in 2020 while trying to reclaim land for his people.
📰COVID-19: Public health officials recorded an average of 165 COVID-19 cases per day, increasing hospitalizations by about 3% compared to the previous week. Officials recorded an average of two deaths per day, which is reportedly fewer than in previous weeks as hospitalizations continue to rise.
Events
📅 Carnaval: Celebrated four days before Ash Wednesday, is the family holiday “Carnaval” in Panama that involves parades, floats, street dancing, costumes, and music.
📅 International Permanent Festival of Art and Culture: Participants from more than 30 countries have traveled to the festival to celebrate the fine arts in Suchitoto, El Salvador. The festival is 15-years-old and includes presentations of theater, film, opera, and music. You can find it in full swing during weekends in February.
“Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples.”
- Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Guatemalan human rights activist, feminist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
History
The infamous “Friendship” bridge now locally known as the “Backstab” bridge in Costa Rica has some interesting history. Gifted by Taiwan in 2003 at the high cost of $26 million, the landmark became a symbol of a friendship between Costa Rica and Taiwan. However, after four years, Costa Rica cut their ties with Taiwan in order to have a relationship with China, earning its present day name.
Photo credit to Justin Olsvik at The China Project
The Team
Editorial team: Mindrid Tesucum and Vanessa Lobo-Gradiz
Coordinating team: Karla Saenz Porras, Kayla Alamilla, Shahrazad Encinias
Social media: Abigail Galvez-Aguirre
News curators: Candice Gillett (Belize), Pablo Arauz (Costa Rica), Jody García (Guatemala), Kirsten Cintigo (El Salvador), Luna Cordóba (Nicaragua), Rodrigo Medina and Joan Collins (Panama), Allison Aguilar (Honduras)
Film curator: Robert Zuniga