Thousands of Nicaraguans are packing their bags to flee

Aug 17, 2021

Dear Readers,

Facing renewed political and economic turmoil at home, and with less hope than ever for democratic elections in November, thousands of Nicaraguans have been fleeing their country since May. The number of those apprehended at the U.S. border multiplied by 52 in less than a year (256 in October 2020 to 13,338 in July 2021). They also have increasingly been seeking refuge in Costa Rica, as they have in 2018.

Nicaraguans started fleeing once the government arrested some 30 political activists and opponents, including potential candidates in the November presidential elections.

Meanwhile, the press is Nicaragua has been further hit, as the General Manager of La Prensa has been incarcerated and their offices raided. La Prensa stopped printing newspaper and is only online now.

Thank you for reading and supporting Central American News! Below the headlines, you'll learn about Kuna mola textiles, Afro-Salvadorans who made historical contributions and an archive of true stories of those who built the Panama Canal, and more, all curated by our talented team.

Salú,

Melissa

PS: We are urgently searching for a Belize news curator -- please share the word!

Photograph of the last front page of the newspaper La Prensa. EFE/Jorge Torres. "The dictatorship withholds our paper, but cannot hide the truth"

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Headlines

Central America

📰 Food security: Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have been included in a "23 hotspots" list of countries risking famine in the next four months, put together by the World Food Program. Farmers are most at risk.

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Migration

📰 Deportation: The U.S. is starting flights of Central Americans to southern Mexico 24 times a month, with hopes of ramping up, according to a U.S. official. The UNHCR has expressed concern over this practice. Mexico has also been flying thousands of undocumented migrants to the south of the country.

📰 New Strategy: White House lays out "new strategy" to address economic insecurity and inequality, corruption, promoting human rights, and combating violence in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The U.S. is also working with countries like Canada, Costa Rica and Spain to expand access to legal migration pathways.

📰 Nicaraguans: Costa Rica received over 5300 asylum requests by Nicaraguans in July, three times the number of requests in May 2021. The number of Nicaraguans apprehended by US Customs and Border Protection increased by 10 times over the last year.

📰 Other migrants: Migrants from South America, the Caribbean and as far as Eastern Europe are trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border at an unprecedented rate.

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Belize

📰 COVID-19: School is back in session, but it is still being held virtually, based on Ministry of Health recommendations. // The Government of Belize is considering making vaccinations against the virus mandatory in order to be allowed access to public spaces. // 27 vaccinated US Americans on a Carnival cruise to Belize tested positive for the virus.

📰 Save the Manatee: Jamal Galves, known as "the Manatee Man", is making a case for protecting manatees—and Belize's ecosystem in general—from dangerous effects of cruise tourism.

📰 September Celebrations: In preparation for the annual September celebrations, and Belize's 40th birthday, a team of artists will be painting murals in Belmopan.

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Costa Rica

📰 Migration: President Alvarado highlighted the need for international attention to migrants from Haiti and Cuba, as well as from countries in Africa and Asia, who enter through the Colombian-Panama border. Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica asked for more coordination with the International Organization for Migration on the matter.

📰 Climate Crisis: The Minister of Environment and Energy expressed the country’s support for the most recent report released by the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Climate Change and asked the international community to make a “decisive turn” on the use of fossil fuels.

📰 Early Retirement: The board of directors for the Costa Rican Social Security Fund approved reforms to eliminate early retirement for men in order to strengthen the country’s pension system.

📰 “Digital Nomads”: President Alvarado signed a law meant to attract remote workers from other countries, if they meet certain criteria, in an effort to reactivate the tourist economy.

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El Salvador

📰 FMLN Money Laundering Investigation: Former President Salvador Sánchez Cerén allegedly received more than a million dollars during his time as Vice-President. // On Aug. 13, the defense lawyers for the former Minister of Public Health, Violeta Menjivar, filed an appeal asking for the reversal of her detention citing her health as a reason. // The first FMLN official, former Minister of the Environment, Herman Rosa Chávez, was expected to testify on Aug. 13 but did not show up.

📰 Military Spending: Armed forces claim urgency to directly purchase ten armored cars, a helicopter, vests and helmets worth $5million. According to experts, this method evades public tender processes.

📰 Constitution: On Aug. 11, a commission led by Vice-President Félix Ulloa agreed to review the constitution and published recommendations with more than 200 changes. If adopted, the constitutional reforms would extend the presidential term (from five to six years) and Presidents could also seek reelection after only one term out of office, instead of two.

📰 Corruption: The union of workers for the Court of Auditors allege that corruption exists within the institution, claiming that there are selective salary increases. // During his appearance in the special committee investigating funds granted to NGOs, former president of the Supreme Electoral Court, Eugenio Chicas, asked to investigate government officials who allegedly received funds from Alba Petróleos.

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Guatemala

📰 #ParoPlurinacional: Guatemala marks 14 days of protests demanding the resignation of President Giammettei and Attorney General Consuelo Porras. Indigenous organizations set Aug. 18 as the deadline for their resignation. Ancestral Authorities also call for the implementation of a transitional government and the installation of a Plurinational State which recognizes and represents the interests of all peoples: Maya, Xinca, Garífuna, and Mestizo, and other communities.

📰 State of Calamity: On Aug. 13, President Giammattei announced a new "state of calamity" due to the increase in COVID-19 infections and set a curfew from 10:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. Vice President Guillermo Castillo voted against the state of calamity, stating his concern about constitutional rights.

📰 COVID-19: As the health crisis continues, there are more than 43,000 active COVID-19 cases and the total death toll amounts to 11,085. Several hospitals announced they were in a state of crisis and would possibly have to stop emergency care. Public indignation towards health authorities rose as photos were published online showing COVID-19 patients sleeping on the concrete floor and in plastic chairs while being connected to oxygen.

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Honduras

📰 Politics: The Liberal Party, together with the Patriotic Alliance, have issued separate statements announcing that their Congresspeople are withdrawing from the virtual sessions demanding that the face-to-face sessions in the National Congress return.

📰 Human Rights: The Public Ministry requested to extend the preventive detention for the defenders of the Guapinol River by six months, despite the UN calling these detentions arbitrary.

📰 Elections: The National Electoral Council launched a bid to contract a company to enable the system of transmission of preliminary electoral results. The president of the electoral council stated that this purchase will enable clean elections, which are scheduled for November.

📰 Energy Sector: The Honduran state increases its debt to meet energy demands. The state energy company denounced a private company it is working with for breach of contract. The private company was supposed to reduce the losses of the state company. Five years later, the losses have increased, instead.

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Nicaragua

📰 Press Freedom: On Aug. 12, newspapers La Prensa and Hoy announced they can no longer print their daily editions due to a government embargo on imports. One day later, the police raided their offices, took over the building and jailed their general manager Juan Lorenzo Holmann. The media continue only online now. Earlier this year, two other chief managers of La Prensa, Cristiana Chamorro and Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, have been jailed on money laundering allegations and treason charges after they had expressed interest in running for the presidential elections.

📰 Diplomacy: Switzerland sanctioned 8 Nicaraguan officials on corruption, human rights violations and undemocratic behavior; Spain retired its ambassador from Managua; UK’s foreign minister declared that November elections in Nicaragua “will lack credibility”.

📰 Elections 2021: The Supreme Electoral Council changed its electoral calendar. One of the changes reduces the campaign period to 42 days due to “preoccupation on the pandemic”.

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Panama

📰 Environmental Impact: A dynamic study that began in 2017, highlights the way Panamanian highways have critically impacted the environment and reveals how it has negatively affected species from reptiles to birds, and various mammals.

📰 Relief Fund for Haiti: After a 7.2 earthquake hit Haiti on Aug. 15, killing almost 3,000 people and destroying homes, Panama and Chile plan to coordinate together in an effort to aid their Caribbean neighbor during this difficult time.

📰 Economics: The Panama Canal has made 1.1 million transits since its inauguration in 1914.

LOUD

LOUD, the history of reggaetón. A Spotify original podcast, exploring the roots of the genre in Panamanian culture.

Good Reads

📌Elections 2021: The Center for Strategic and International Studies argues that Nicaragua needs long-term forms of pressure on the Ortega regime, as the electoral route is now out of the question. (CSIS)

📌 Human stories from the Canal: Aug. 15 was the inauguration birthday of the Panama Canal. Who are the people who worked on its construction? Here are real stories. (Isthmian Historical Society)

📌MS-13: Bryan Avelar reports on how the MS-13 gang banished trans women from a town in El Salvador and murdered those who stayed. (VICE)

📌 Mennonite Community: There are 12,000 Mennonites in Belize, most of whom arrived from Canada and Chihuahua, Mexico, in the 1950s. Here is a photo essay. (DailyMail)

Kuna Fashion

Yaliveth Roldan described her experiences as an artist of Visual Expression of the Kuna World, one of the largest indigenous communities in Panama, through the art of mola. (TVN)

Black History Month in El Salvador and Costa Rica

✨Highlighting Afro-Salvadorans: Check out @CentAm_Beauty’s Twitter thread about Levi Toney and Luis Ramírez Zapata, Afro-Salvadorans who made historical impacts.

✨Law No. 10001: On Aug. 10, Costa Rica approved the “Affirmative actions in favor of Afro-descendants” law. According to the country’s Vice President Epsy Campbell Barr, the law “provides differentiated treatment for the Afro-descendant population, in order to ensure their access to employment, education and promoting culture.”

Costa Rican officials raised the Pan-African flag on August 10.

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