Vulnerabilities of Central American Children
Central American News
In Brief
Central American Children continue to be the most vulnerable in society. In Honduras, NGOs have asked for an education emergency to be declared. Only about 1.7 million children, between ages 3 to 17, from approximately 3 million eligible youths are enrolled in classes. Adding to the exclusive access to education in the country, natural disasters, violence, extreme poverty and the pandemic have impacted the access to education. While in Belize, 31 primary school students between the ages 4 and 15 along with 7 adults were hospitalized on Tuesday after suffering marijuana intoxication. Children ate drug infused candies from unlabeled packages that were shipped from the US.
In the US, migrant children continue to be victims of child labor. US officials release children from migrant shelters often to sponsors who expect them to work in grueling jobs which violate child labor laws. The Biden administration has been criticized for repeatedly ignoring warnings about migrant children exploitation.
Greetings,
The Central American News Team
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Headlines
Migration
📰Detention Fire Protest: 3,000 migrants from Central America, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and Cuba protested Mexican detention centers a month after the migrant detention fire in Ciudad Juárez. They began their march in Tapachula, near the Mexico-Guatemala border and ended in Mexico City. Migrants demand changes to the way they are treated in the country.
📰 Child Labor: The Biden Administration repeatedly ignored warnings that migrant children worked under hazardous or illegal conditions. U.S. officials released children from migrant shelters to sponsors who expected them to work in grueling jobs that violated child labor laws.
📰Environmental Migration: Rising sea levels are forcing the displacement of the Guna Yala tribe off the Atlantic coast of Panama. The Panamanian government is assisting the relocation efforts of this island community into mainland territory owned by the tribe.
Central America
📰Climate Change: A new study from the University of Bristol showed a likelihood of an increase in heat waves. The study identified the Central American region as one of the most at risk and underprepared for it.
El Salvador
📰Government: El Salvador’s lawmakers recently passed a bill to eliminate taxes on companies developing AI and other computer programming work for 15 years. The bill will exempt them from income tax, local government taxes and more.
📰Political Trial: On Wednesday, El Salvador opened a trial against former President Mauricio Funes alleging that he negotiated a truce with the country’s gangs during his presidency. The trial will proceed without him as he lives in Nicaragua.
📰Human Rights: Human rights defenders from Humanitarian Legal Aid began collecting information to establish a lawsuit against El Salvador for its treatment of prisoners during the State of Exception. Meanwhile, an international support campaign was launched demanding justice and release of six environmental activists detained for their opposition to repealing the mining prohibition law.
Honduras
📰Education: NGOs ask Honduras to declare an educational emergency. Out of nearly 3 million eligible youth, only 1,697,163 kids between the ages of 3 and 17 are enrolled in classes. While the exclusion of access to education is historically a structural issue, natural disasters, the pandemic, violence, and extreme poverty have also worsened conditions.
📰Politics: Libre party representative, Ramón Barrios, proposes an initiative to eliminate the presidential designation system. The current system consists of three designees sharing power under the President. If passed, the constitutional reform would mean going back to selecting a single vice president, as it was before 2001.
📰Environment: Forest fires weaken soil and make it more prone to the spread of disease. According to the Forest Conservation Institute, 202 forest fires have already been reported in 2023, affecting 7,355 hectares of forests in Tegucigalpa. With 2-3 fires remaining active on average, the capital suffers from air pollution, increasing the risk of respiratory disease.
Costa Rica
📰Public Employment Law: The union representing medical specialists in Costa Rica (Siname) is filing an action of unconstitutionality against the Public Employment Law. Doctors with Siname say that the law violates the country’s Social Security Fund.
📰Police Conditions: President Rodrigo Chaves conceded his efforts to the national police force for a measure that would have mandated a 6x4 work schedule, that would have made officers work six days and take four rest days off instead of the current 3x3 schedule where officers work three days and take three days for rest. Chaves said the measure is “in the freezer” after the union representing police officers protested.
📰Indigenous Land: Ngäbe Indigenous leaders met with the Vice Minister of Justice and Peace to request action on President Rodrigo Chaves’ previous campaign promises to grant them land in the country’s southern region that borders Panama. The Sixaola Ngäbe Indigenous Association’s traditional territory includes land on both sides of the border.
Guatemala
📰Elections: The magistrates of the Constitutional Court developed a public hearing for the registration of the National Unity of Hope party (UNE). The Todos party then filed an appeal against the registration of the presidential binomial for UNE. On Wednesday, a public hearing was held where the parties involved made their arguments known.
📰Ministerial Agreement: Today, the Interior Ministry (Mingob) published the Ministerial Agreement 231-2023. The Traffic Department (DT) of the general Directorate of the National Civil Police must comply with regulations to become effective on 1 May on the Palín-Escuintla highway, regarding the restriction for six-axle cargo vehicles to circulate on that section.
📰Guatemala/Taiwan: On Tuesday, President Alejandro Giammattei met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, and vowed that Guatemala will remain a 'solid diplomatic-ally.' He was presented with the Order of Brilliant Jade to recognize the two countries' cooperation in the fields of economy, health, culture, and education.
Belize
📰Drug Abuse: Thirty-one primary school students between the ages four and fifteen, and seven adults were hospitalized on Tuesday after suffering marijuana intoxication. It is believed that they ate sweets that were laced with marijuana. The Belize Police Department has determined an officer who has been on interdiction since March 2021, as the intended recipient of a consignment of weed gummies that were shipped from the United States.
📰Crime: Jazmin Hartin pleaded guilty to manslaughter by negligence in the shooting death of Superintendent of Police, Henry Jemmott. After requesting a sentence indication hearing, she chose to enter a guilty plea escaping a custodial sentence.
📰Lottery: The exclusive license is being revoked for Brad’s Gaming Group. The Belize Lotteries Committee issued an advisory to the public, Boledo agents, and sub agents that as of May 2, 2023, they too are prohibited from selling Government Lotteries.
Central American Culture
Most women still use the regional costume of Concepción Chiquirichapa, as well as the practice of weaving on a waist loom, from which many of the garments that are part of the attire of the Chiquirichapenses come out. The traditional clothing of the women of Concepción Chiquirichapa, Guatemala, consists of a huipil, sash, cut, ribbon for the hair, shawl and apron, as well as jewelry.
Good Reads
📌Guatemala: Core Code, the trainer who wants to make Central America a technology hub (Forbes).
📌Costa Rica: Artificial Intelligence in Costa Rica: justice, ethics, and inclusion so that no one is left behind (UNESCO).
📌El Salvador: Sandra Carolina Mena: "El Salvador forces unviable fetuses to be born with anguish" (EL PAÍS).
Good News
✨2023 Green Awards: The Guatemalan Tuk Tuk Solar project won in the sustainable mobility category of the 2023 Green Awards that were held in Ecuador.
✨Robotics Competition: Belize High School’s (BHS) robotics team brought home the Rookie Inspiration Award from the FIRST Robotics Competition held in Houston, Texas.
✨Festival of Books: Salvadoran author Javier Zamora won the Christopher Isherwood Prize Autobiographical Prose award at this year’s Festival of Books for his memoir “Solito,” which recounts his unaccompanied 4,000-mile journey from El Salvador to the U.S.
Events
📅Cultural Festival: The Guatemalan Booksellers Association (Asligua) is holding the Cultural Festival for International Book Day in Guatemala City. Find the stands on the 6th. Avenue and 8a. street, in front of the Portal del Comercio, zone 1 of Guatemala City. The festival began on April 14 and will end on May 7.
📅Art Exhibition: Choose to Create art exhibition by 60 students. It will take place on Friday May 12th, 2023, 7:00 pm at the Image Factory on 91 North Front Street, Belize City, Belize.
📅Film Festival: The Garifuna International Indigenous Film Festival (GIIFF) celebrates the Garifuna, the Caribbean and indigenous cultures from around the world. It will be held from 8-17 November 2023 in California. Electric Lodge Theater 1416 Electric Avenue , Venice CA 90291.
My first job as an engineer in an institution, I remember having a colleague who was an agronomist engineer. Once she used a phrase that stuck with me, “Meryll, a woman always has to prove herself three times: she has to prove to herself that she can do it, she has to prove to her family that she can do it, and she has to prove to society that she can do it”
- Meryll Arias, Costa Rican Forest Engineer
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