The U.S. Goes After "the Dirty 55"

Jul 05, 2021

Dear Readers,

A much-awaited "Engel list", published by the U.S. State Department, has the names of 55 "corrupt an undemocratic" Guatemalan, Salvadoran and Honduran officials. This means that presidential aides, top judges and former presidents will have their U.S. visas revoked. The list has been criticized for being incomplete -- to which U.S. officials respond that the list is a living document.

Next to the Engel List, the Guatemalan Ombudsman, civil society organizations, and street protestors demanded the resignation of President Giammattei. The reasons are: a bad management of the pandemic and not enough efforts to combat corruption and impunity. #RenunciaGiammattei (#GiammatteiResign) was trending on Twitter over the week-end.

In the newsletter, you'll also find stories about Guatemala's theater scene, a groundbreaking court decision for a transphobic murder in Honduras, the first pupusería in Belgium and Panama's huge ocean protection initiative. Thanks for reading!

Salú,

Melissa

Guatemalans protest corruption, too

Photo by Omar Solís @noel_solis (July 4, 2021)

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Headlines

Migration

📰 New Deportation Priorities: The Biden administration has reactivated the “prosecutorial discretion” tool allowing prosecutors to stop deportation proceedings for migrants who present “low priority” cases.

📰 Mexico: A Mexican human rights official decries the “filthy conditions” that migrants in a border town are detained in. // A group of 53 kidnapped migrants were rescued in Mexico.

📰 Border Wall: Texas governor Greg Abbott invited former U.S. President Donald Trump to Texas to tout a Trump era policy of building a border wall to deter migration.

📰 Unaccompanied Minors: A third of unaccompanied minors detained do not have relatives in the U.S. // The number of unaccompanied minors at the Fort Bliss emergency shelter has reduced in size. Additional intake sites will be closed down.

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Central America

📰 Corruption List: US State Department issued the Engel List, officially called the “List of Corrupt and Undemocratic Actors”, with 55 officials, businessmen and politicians from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala included by name. As a result, sanctions could be implemented on those named such as the suspension of visas and, indirectly, the freezing of assets.

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Belize

📰 Project LAIT UP BELIZE!: The government of Belize has signed an agreement with the European Union to finance project LAIT UP BELIZE!, an initiative to bring electricity to rural areas in the country.

📰 11th amendment: The government of Belize has announced it will be amending Belize's Constitution with an 11th amendment. This amendment will state that Belizeans who have been convicted of certain crimes will be disqualified from seeking a seat in the House of Representatives.

📰 COVID-19: A new strain of COVID has been confirmed to be spreading throughout Belize, suspected to be the Delta variant. As a result, new safety measures are being put in place, including extending the curfew and requiring certain businesses to operate at half capacity.

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Costa Rica

📰 Electric Train: The UN’s Green Climate Fund approved $271 million in funding for an electric train project that will help Costa Rica achieve sustainable development and decarbonization goals. The train will connect the most populous central region of the country with 42 stations and 10 connections.

📰 IMF Loan: The Costa Rican legislature approved a $1.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. A majority of the loan will be used to pay off the country’s debt and 10% will be allocated to the country’s social security fund. Unions and social organizations opposed the loan because of the impact on middle and lower class citizens.

📰 Drug Bust: The Ministry of Public Security reported the discovery of a vehicle with 475 kilograms of cocaine and various weapons in Playa Cabuyal, Guanacaste. In 2020, authorities seized a record 71 tons of drugs in the country.

📰 Clara Sola: The first Costa Rican film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight on July 7 was filmed seven weeks before the pandemic began. Director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s “Clara Sola” is featured along with over two dozen international full length and short films.

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El Salvador

📰 Judicial: Lawmakers in El Salvador on June 30 voted to keep the head of the Supreme Court in place for three more years and appointed five new justices, triggering concerns that President Nayib Bukele is consolidating power in the judicial system.

📰 COVID-19: El Salvador received a batch of COVID-19 vaccines from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. More will arrive in the coming days from the U.S. (Moderna vaccine) and China’s Sinovac vaccine. Individuals over the age of 25 are now eligible to register for a vaccine.

📰 Corruption: The “Engel List'' features 14 Salvadorans that have been linked to corruption or undemocratic actions. Four of them are or have been previously linked to current President Nayib Bukele. President Bukele answered that the list responds to political motives.

📰 ARENA: The official headquarters of ARENA were raided in order to recover donations from Taiwan that were misused by ARENA’S late President Flores back in 2003. According to President Bukele, the recovered funds will be used to assist the families who fell victim to the 2001 earthquakes and also be partially invested into 15 schools.

📰 Women’s Rights: Since the disappearance of Flor Maria Garcia, conversations surrounding femicide have once again rose to the top as families increasingly publicize their search for their missing loved ones. // Sara Rogel, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for having an abortion, was released on June 8 after serving 10 years of her sentence.

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Guatemala

📰 #RenunciaYaGiammattei: Human Rights Ombudsman Jordan Rodas issued an open letter calling for President Giammattei to reflect on the current humanitarian and health crisis and to officially resign. // The anti-corruption organization Acción Cuidadana went to the Public Ministry to denounce Giammattei for illicit association, fraud, embezzlement and misappropriation of resources.// A protest was held on Saturday July 3 by organizations and citizen groups to support this call for Giammatei’s resignation.

📰 Corruption: The “Engel list” includes 20 Guatemalans, two of whom are judges and one is a former president. Here are the names of the Guatemalan officials on the list.

📰 Mucormycosis: The Minister of Health, Amelia Flores, confirmed three cases of mucormycosis known as “black fungus” and declared an epidemiological alert due to the spread of the infection which is attributed to COVID-19.

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Honduras

📰 Corruption: The United States released the Engel Listdenounced corrupt officials in Central America. Concerning Honduras, 21 people were named, 18 were or currently serve as Congressmen, one was the official in charge of governmental purchases for COVID-19, along with ex-President Pepe Lobo and his wife Rosa Elena Bonilla.

📰 Human Rights: The verdict in the case against one of the masterminds of Berta Cáceres’ murder will be delivered on Monday, July 5 // The Inter-American Court for Human Rights declared that the State of Honduras was guilty of the murder of trans woman, sex worker, and activist Vicky Hernandez in the context of the 2009 coup d’état. // The construction of highways by the mining company Inversiones Los Pinares has caused damages to the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, a report by the Municipal Committee of Tocoa found.

📰 ZEDEs: The installation of the Economic and Development Zones (ZEDEs) will produce inequality, displacement, and migration, according to a study by the National Anti-Corruption Council. Various cities in the department of Atlántida have rejected the installation of the ZEDEs, including the residents of La Ceiba and the municipality of Tela.

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Nicaragua

📰 Migration: The national army captured 143 migrants from Haiti and Uruguay, including 28 minors. This operations is part of the “contention wall” strategy to stop illegal migration and drug-trafficking through Nicaragua.

📰 Elections: Alianza Ciudadana por la Libertad will choose their presidential candidates under “stealth” mode due to the recent imprisonment of 21 political and social leaders, including 5 presidential candidates. They will only reveal the names of the candidates on July 28.

📰 Economy: The Nicaraguan Businesswomen Network denounced a wave of cyber-scams to their members; local tax authorities also issued a warning about such cyber-scams.

📰 Solidarity: An open letter was signed by 500 “progressive activists who have been part of the U.S. anti-intervention and solidarity movements that supported the Sandinista revolution against recent repression in Nicaragua. // 140 Latin American intellectuals, including Elena Poniatowska and Pepe Mujica, signed a statement against the political repression and human right violations in Nicaragua.

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Panama

📰 Environment: A total of 70 organizations from private enterprise, the public sector and civil society have committed to reducing their carbon footprint.// Panama's government is aiming at increasing mining ventures in the country.

📰 Protests: President Laurentino Cortizo completed his second year in office amidst protests by labor, student and teachers' unions. Dozens of demonstrators, who briefly confronted police riot units, demanded for jobs and justice. There is an economic crisis due to the pandemic and several unresolved corruption scandals.

📰 R&D: Panama's is trying to create a "Regional Center for Innovation in Vaccines and Biopharmaceuticals", estimated to cost $100 million. The goal is for Panama to be able, in the future, to create its own vaccines and not depend on large production companies.

The First Pupusería en Belgium

And probably the Netherlands, Luxemburg, and France, too. Don Santos and his family made history in this corner of the world. El Pulgarcito!

Good Reads and Screens

📌 China: The former president of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís, writes about China’s growing push into Central America. Growing tensions with Washington, and the post-COVID landscape, seem to provide an open door for Beijing. (America’s Quarterly)

📌 Gang Pact: Insight Crime asks whether a possible gang pact between the Salvadoran government and the MS-13 also includes a non-extradition clause.(Insight Crime)

📌Pride: Meet the artistic expression of “Drag” in El Salvador. They are Alexa Evangelista, Lady Aphrodite and Orquidixia. (Diario El Salvador)

🎥 “Animales Políticos”: A new television docu-series explains and reflects on the Costa Rican political system. A new episode is broadcast each week on TV and Youtube.

🎥 Nicaragua, is there any hope left? DW hosts a round panel with activists and debates about current political situations in the country. (DW)

Ocean Protection

On June 8, Panama created a marine reserve to protect its seas. The reserve, which is as big as the country's land, will shelters turtles, sharks and whales and includes nine mountain ranges under the sea. (El País)

Contemporary Theater in Guatemala

🎓 Scholarly paper: "Creating In-between Times and Identities".

“Theatricality in contemporary Guatemala has its own poetics shaped by a tense interaction of multiple identities in a context defined by enforced colonial logic. By recognizing Mayan and Ladino/mestizo theatrical trends, we can explore alternative ways of thinking that shape contemporary artistic production in the country.”

Belizean athlete at the Olympics

Amado Cruz has been chosen to represent Belize at the Olympics in Tokyo this summer, becoming the first Belizean canoe athlete to attend.

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