Deadly Stampede at an El Salvador Football Stadium
In Brief
Hi Readers, Welcome back!
Gender based violence and femicide continues to rise in the region. Two Honduran women were found dead last week in San Pedro Sula. While the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced $44.5 million to Guatemala to combat gender-based violence and address root causes of migration.
The press continues to face challenges with Honduras being named as one of the countries in the world where journalists are most at risk. In Costa Rica, The constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) condemned attacks on journalists by President Rodrigo Chaves and his administration.
In El Salvador, a dozen people were killed in a stampede during a local tournament at El Salvador’s football stadium between Alizana and Club Deportivo.
Greetings,
The Central American News Team
Seeking volunteers
Want to join a growing team of Central Americans passionate about Central America? We are now seeking Belize and Guatemala news curators (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
📰Gender-Based Violence: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced $44.5 million to Guatemala to combat gender-based violence and address root causes of migration.
📰Mexico: In an effort to relieve pressure from border cities, Mexico is transporting migrants from their Guatemalan and U.S. borders to the nation’s interior while also temporarily closing some migrant detention centers.
Honduras
📰Femicides: Two women, Yailin Sosa and Sandy Mejia, were found dead last week in San Pedro Sula. San Pedro Sula, Choloma, La Ceiba, and El Progreso are among the most dangerous zones for at-risk women falling victims of murder by men. This highlights a larger issue in the nation, with an impunity rate of 95% for crimes against Honduran women.
📰Threat to Democracy: Reporters Without Borders lists Honduras as one of the nations in the world with most freedom of press at risk, along with Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba. The violent deaths of six people working in media, threats, and attacks of journalists and human rights defenders were reported between 2022 and 2023.
📰Food Security: At least 50,000 families are expected to be affected nutritionally in the dry corridor of Honduras due to the “el niño” phenomenon. The dry corridor is already the population that suffers the most from food insecurity in the nation. With the cost of a healthy diet currently averaged at $3.48 dollars, 51% of the population finds even $1 dollar as unaffordable.
El Salvador
📰Election: With presidential elections about 8 months away, Salvadoran civil society groups and political parties are looking to back a single 2024 presidential candidate to oppose Nayib Bukele.
📰Police: On May 17, Salvadoran police officers arrested the son of environmental activist Vidalina Morales hours after Morales made statements against the State on YSUCA radio. Also, five thousand soldiers and 500 police officers were deployed to Nueva Concepcion after an officer was killed while on patrol in that area.
📰Stadium stampede: A dozen people were killed in a stampede during a local tournament at El Salvador’s football stadium between Alizana and Club Deportivo. As a result, Alianza has been given a one-year stadium ban and fined $30,000.
Costa Rica
📰Attacks on Journalists: The constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) condemned attacks on journalists by President Rodrigo Chaves and his administration, including former Health Minister Joselyn Chacón Madrigal. Sala IV ruled in favor of an appeal by journalist Jason Ureña who argued that the attacks on him and several news outlets, including La Nacion and CRHoy.com were unconstitutional attacks on freedom of expression.
📰Manuel Antonio Park: The Chaves administration and the Ministry of Environment and Energy are taking control of the administration of the popular tourist site Manuel Antonio Park as an intervention measure after magistrates with Sala IV ordered that control of the park be given to the state.
📰Organized Crime Law: Legal experts have expressed concerns about the Organized Crime Law that is currently being discussed in the legislative assembly. Legislative deputies finalized an extensive discussion about the law on Wednesday, May 24 which included several hundred motions.
Nicaragua
📰Migration: More than 8,000 Nicaraguan nationals have been deported from Mexico since 2020, with more than 17,000 Nicaraguan people deported from the country in the past decade. Deportations and asylum applications have spiked in recent years to coincide with the socio-political and economic crisis that the Central American country has experienced in recent years.
📰Repression: The human rights watch organization Monitoreo Azul y Blanco identified at least 322 acts of repression by the Ortega-Murillo regime in the 45 days preceded May 24. That includes sudden arrests, raids and threats throughout the country including in Managua, the Southern Caribbean, Masaya, Grenada and Madriz. The regime is holding at least 46 political prisoners in custody.
📰HIV Outbreak: Epidemiologists and data from the Ministry of Health (Minsa) denied claims on social media of an HIV outbreak in the country. Minsa claims that only 340 new cases of HIV were reported in the country in the first three months of 2023. The average number of cases is 3.7 per day which created some alarm but Minsa assured there is no significant difference in cases in the past five or six years.
An elderly Mayan-Belizean woman engaging in pottery making, cultivating ancestral knowledge and culture. “Their skills and knowledge passed down from generation to generation, reminding us of the importance of preserving our cultural heritage.”
Good Reads
📌El Salvador: The faces of endometriosis in El Salvador (GatoEncerrado)
📌Panama: In Panama, legal rights given to sea turtles, boosting the “rights of nature” movement (The Associated Press)
📌Nicaragua: Javier Nart: United opposition in Nicaragua would bring more EU support (Confidencial)
Good News
✨Guatemala: Guatemalan Viviana Aroche set a new athletics record at the national and Central American level during a competition in Europe.
✨Honduras: Honduran journalist Javier Castro is nominated for three Emmy Awards.
✨Belize: Belizean cyclist Derrick Chavarria placed third in the Pro 1/2 race in Iowa.
Central American Studies
🎓 Felicidades: Congratulations to Ph.D. student Kevin Ramirez for being awarded the Open Research Fullbright grant to go to El Salvador in the Fall! (Twitter)
🎓 Felicidades: Congratulations to Natalie Castillo for being recognized as Cal State Northridge’s Wolfson Scholar, one of the highest honors given to a graduating student. Castillo is a Salvadoran student graduating with a B.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Central American Studies. (CSUN)
Events
📅History Tour: Guided tours of the National Palace of Culture of Guatemala. Tours run from Monday to Friday and are offered in English and German. The tour is free for Guatemalans presenting DPI and has a cost of Q 40.00 for foreigners.
📅Maya Festival: Another Beautiful Day in San Antonio will be held on 11th June in San Antonio, Cayo (Oxmul Kah), Belize.
“Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of a democratic government, if there is not, there is no democracy. - Kenia Oliva
The Team
Editorial team: Mindrid Tesucum
Coordinating team: Karla Saenz Porras, Kayla Alamilla, Shahrazad Encinias
Social media: Abigail Galvez-Aguirre
News curators: Pablo Arauz (Costa Rica), Jody García (Guatemala), Kirsten Cintigo (El Salvador), Luna Cordóba (Nicaragua), Rodrigo Medina and Joan Collins (Panama), Allison Aguilar (Honduras), Oliver Martínez López (Migration)
Film curator: Robert Zuniga