Did Ortega Win... or Lose?
Dear Readers,
It's no surprise that Daniel Ortega won Nicaragua's presidential elections with 75% of votes last Sunday. However, Nicaraguans protested the way they could: by abstaining from the ballots. Between 79% and 84% of voters stayed home, according to independent organization data.
The Ortega-Murillo duo sought to consolidate power and credibility after the massacres committed in the April Rebellion in 2018, with a narrative based on anti-imperialism. However, by jailing the relevant opposition candidates earlier this year, Ortega showed that he fears a credible threat to his hold on power.
According to Nicaraguan journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, the existence of the political opposition, albeit behind bars, is a silver lining for many Nicaraguans. "For the pro-democracy movement, they represent a symbol of resistance and the hope of leadership for change," he wrote in El Faro, defending the argument that Ortega actually lost political power in the last three years.
In this newsletter, you'll also see most recent news from the region and excellent reads curated by the whole team. You'll also find an interview I gave to Central American Voices podcast, where I explain the raison d'être of this newsletter and media project.
Thanks for trusting Central American news. If you have any questions, comments, please let us know! See you next week.
Salú,
Melissa
Headlines
Migration
📰 Migrant Caravan: Thousands of people from Honduras, Guatemala, the rest of Central America and the Caribbean, are crossing the south of Mexico, headed to Mexico City and then the U.S. In a confrontation with Mexico's National Guard, a Cuban migrant died last Friday.
📰 Migrant Detention: A federal jury determined that private prison corporation the GEO Group owes nearly $17.3 million in back pay for labor performed at a Washington facility.
📰 Catch and Jail: U.S. Democrats are calling for an investigation into Texas governor Greg Abbott’s “catch and jail” policy that permits state police arrests of migrants on criminal trespassing charges.
📰 Border Politics: The Biden administration is attempting to terminate the “Remain in Mexico” policy while also restarting it after a court order to resume the program. // Two indigenous Hia Ced O’odham activists who protested Trump’s border wall construction on their tribe’s sacred land are going to trial after spending months in prison. // U.S. President Joe Biden announced that families separated at the border under Trump will not receive financial compensation.
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Central America
📰 COVID-19: Covid-19 is slowly retreating across most of North, Central and South America, the Pan American Health Organization said.
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Belize
We are looking for a volunteer Belize news curator (2h/week), please share and reach out to us!
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Costa Rica
📰 Unemployment: The national unemployment rate decreased by nearly 7% in the third quarter of 2021, now reaching about 15% of the population. The latest data shows signs of economic recovery but unemployment is still higher than it was before the pandemic.
📰 COVID-19: Health officials announced last week that 65.5% of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated. New cases of the virus also decreased by 20% for the fourth week in a row. The Health Ministry also mandated the vaccine for minors.
📰 Educator Concerns: Educators, who make up a third of public sector employees, are uncertain about their future income with the enactment of a law conceding a 12-year salary freeze which does not take into account the increased cost of living.
📰 Nicaragua Elections: President Carlos Alvarado’s administration says it does not recognize the elections in Nicaragua which were held on Sunday. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Rodolfo Solano says Costa Rica is open to granting refuge to the seven presidential candidates who were jailed by the Nicaraguan government.
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El Salvador
📰Disappearances: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) urged the creation of a normative framework to address disappearances in El Salvador by ratifying international conventions on forced disappearance and making the Territorial Control Plan public. This year, there have been more complaints for disappearances than for homicides. The FMLN, the opposition, presented a draft bill that would establish a national system to find disappeared persons.
📰 Gendered violence: The IACHR also called for strengthened protections for women who are victims of violence. El Salvador has the highest femicide rate on the continent.
📰Nuevas Ideas: Two Nuevas Ideas deputies were replaced last Wednesday as they are investigated for allegedly planning a "conspiracy" to “divide the party” after they met Roy García, founder of Nuevas Ideas and now leader of the País movement.
📰University of El Salvador: Last Thursday, 400 students from the University of El Salvador marched in protest of the Ministry of Education’s (MINED) eviction notice for the university’s Teacher Training Center.
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Guatemala
📰 Sandoval: Former anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval denounced that the Public Ministry of Guatemala, headed by Attorney General Consuelo Porras, is "planting evidence" against him and the work he did as Special Prosecutor Against Impunity ( FECI) and at the International Commission against Impunity (CICIG). More than 60 complaints have been filed against him seeking to criminalize him for his fight against corruption in Guatemala.
📰 Anti-mining in El Estor: On Monday, Nov. 8, 71 civil society organizations denounced before the Embassy of the European Union in Guatemala serious and repeated violations of collective and individual human rights in El Estor, Izabal, in the northeast of the country, where indigenous people are resisting the operations of the Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel mine despite being suspended by the Constitutional Court for operating without a community consultation. The organizations asked the EU to act because they are risking their lives in defense of their rights and nature.
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Honduras
📰 U.S. Ambassador: Laura Dogu has been appointed new U.S. Ambassador to Honduras. Dogu had the same position in the neighboring country of Nicaragua in 2015 and in 2018.
📰 ZEDEs: Along with residents' support, the mayor of Choloma, Leopoldo Crivelli, declared it to be a “ZEDE free municipality”. There is still ongoing construction of the "Ciudad Morazan" ZEDE project in the area, despite community efforts to halt it.
📰 COP26: Last week, President Juan Orlando Hernandez gave a speech at COP26 where he discussed the vast effects of climate change in the country and climate financing. Local organizations argue that the president’s speech is contradictory to his government’s policies which have negatively influenced environmental defenders and small-scale farmers.
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Nicaragua
📰 Elections 2021: Ortega was declared “winner” of the November 7 elections with a 75% voting preference, according to the Electoral Council. Independent observer Urnas Abiertas reported an abstention rate of 81.5%, the highest ever record in the country’s history. U.S. and European governments do not recognize these elections as fair. Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and the FLMN party of El Salvador supported the election results.
📰 Human Rights: There have been at least 21 confirmed detentions in the last hours before the elections. Among the detainees are journalists and political activists.
📰 Diaspora: Nicaraguans in exile convened to march in Miami, Nueva York, Los Angeles, Houston and other US cities to protest for fair elections and the freedom of political prisoners. Similar marches were called in San José, Costa Rica, and in other countries.
📰 "Fighting Imperialism": In his victory speech, Ortega did not talk about the electoral process nor his rivals but of the history of imperialism in Nicaragua. He also said that the political prisoners “are no longer Nicaraguans” but are “hijos de perra del imperialismo” (sic). Former IACHR executive director, Paulo Abrao, qualified this statement as hate speech and an invitation to violence.
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Panama
📰Pre-Columbian pieces: The Panama Government has recovered four of seven pre-Columbian art pieces that were put on auction last September in Germany. All the pieces belong to the province of Coclé and are expected to arrive in the country this month. The three remaining pieces are being processed for recovery.
📰State of Emergency Lifted Soon: The Minister of Health, Luis Francisco Sucre, said that the state of emergency, established to contain COVID-19 since March 2020, could be removed by December. 88.2% of the population has been vaccinated with the first dose and 77.8% with both.
📰Homophobia: A student at the University of Panama claimed on Twitter that one of her professors presented an openly homophobic video in class, causing a student to burst into tears. As a result of her tweet, the student says she received harassment by faculty authorities. The university has not said anything in this regard.
Melissa Vida on Central American Voices
🎙️ Central American Voices podcast interviewed founder of Central American News, Melissa Vida, about how the newsletter got started and it’s goal to center Central Americans in the news and journalism.
Quote on Nicaragua's Elections
"Certainly, Ortega can prolong the agony of the regime, screwing himself in power with the Police, the paramilitary, and the complicity of the Army, and strengthen his alliances with Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, Taiwan, Iran, and Belarus, but at an economic, social, and human cost, increasingly intolerable for Nicaraguan society," writes Carlos Fernando Chamorro on El Faro.
Good Reads
📌 Climate Change and Violence: How climate change, migration and gang violence intersect in Honduras. (The Nation)
📌 Bitcoin: In "The Value of a Volcano," Jorge Cuéllar discusses El Salvador’s plan to mine Bitcoin by using volcanic geothermal energy. (NACLA)
📌 Hogar Seguro: Agencia Ocote created a special project called "No Fue el Fuego" (It wasn't the fire). The first launch of this project is a podcast episode, ("El bochinche") narrating how a group of girls organized to protest against the poor conditions in which they lived in the institution. (Agencia Ocote)
📌 Nicaragua's election battle on social media: Opposing hashtags #YoNoBotoMiVoto and #EleccionesSoberanas2021 raged on election day in Nicaragua. (Confidencial)
📌 Cemetery Politics: Rich and poor have their own cemetery: the tale of the two cemeteries of Ilobasco, El Salvador. (La Prensa Grafica)
Environment Defenders
📌 Environmental defenders in Latin America, including El Salvador, have been targeted by their own governments, corporations, and criminal entities. (Revista Factum)
Fact of the Week
🎤 "Honduras is getting hotter and drier. The average temperature there has increased by more than 4 degrees Celsius since 1960, and the country is caught in a severe drought cycle." (The Nation)
Photo Gallery
Images of Nicaraguans in Costa Rica protesting Nicaragua's elections on Divergentes.
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The Team
Belize News Curator is needed!
Melissa Vida, Founder, Editor-in-Chief
Jonathan Peraza Campos, Migration News
Pablo Arauz Peña, Costa Rica News
Jalileh García, Honduras News
Jody García, Guatemala News
Joan Collins and Rodrigo Medina, Panama News
Kirsten Cintigo, El Salvador News
Natalie Leach, Social Media Manager
Vivian Ramos, Twitter Manager
José Martínez, Cecilia Rivas, Andres Guillen, Podcast Producers
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