Heavy Rains in El Salvador, Honduras Kill Eleven, Leave Nearly Nine Hundred in Shelters
Torrential rains in Central America this weekend killed eleven people in El Salvador and left nearly nine hundred in shelters; authorities in Honduras have launched evacuations and report that more than five thousand have been affected (Reuters)
Authorities will prosecute suspected drug traffickers as terrorists and build a twenty thousand-person “mega-prison” as part of new anti-crime measures, President Xiomara Castro said; human rights groups said Salvadorans’ civil liberties were violated in the process (AP)
The measures echo security policies carried out in neighboring El Salvador, where crime fell following a campaign of mass arrests (DW)
Two Thousand Prisoners Transferred to “Mega Prison” in El Salvador
El Salvador has transferred around two thousand inmates to a “mega prison” in Tecoluca, one of the largest facilities in the Americas with a capacity of forty thousand people (Reuters)
El Salvador President Bukele Set to Begin Second Term
El Salvador re-elected President Nayib Bukele for a second five-year term after he received 85 percent of the vote in a landslide February victory; his continued popularity derives from extreme crackdowns on gang violence through mass incarceration, despite mounting economic concerns in the country (Al Jazeera)
Blinken Attends Regional Migration Conference in Guatemala
The talks today, attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, will discuss joint efforts to manage migrant flows and refugee integration in the Americas, according to a framework agreed upon two years ago in Los Angeles (VOA)
Ahead of the meeting, the United States issued visa restrictions against several Colombian transportation companies it said were smuggling migrants by sea (Reuters)
Guatemala Raids NGO Offices over Complaints of Children Mistreatment
Authorities searched Save the Children offices for documents as part of an investigation into complaints regarding the treatment of Guatemalan migrant children in Texas (CNN)
El Salvador’s Congress Approves Constitutional Reform, Grants President Bukele More Power
The constitutional change allows for expedited constitutional reforms, sparking concerns over the increasing concentration of power in the hands of President Nayib Bukele and potential challenges to the democratic processes in the country (AP)
Guatemalan President to Meet with Kamala Harris in Washington
Vice President Kamala Harris will discuss anticorruption efforts and migration policy with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo today; they are expected to review the status of migration offices set up in late 2023 meant to process U.S. asylum applicants in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala (AP)
Former First Lady Will Seek Honduran Presidency Next Year
On Friday, Ana García de Hernández’s husband, former President Juan Orlando Hernández, was convicted of drug trafficking in U.S. federal court (AP)
El Salvador Extends Gang-Related State of Emergency
The anti-gang emergency decree, which was extended for the twenty-fourth consecutive time, is said to be arbitrary in nature, targeting suspected gang members based on their location or appearance (AP)
Former Honduran President Convicted of Drug Trafficking
The New York jury’s decision marked an end to the two-week trial for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who will be sentenced in June and could spend life in prison (FT)
Former Honduran President Denies Drug Trafficking Charges
Juan Orlando Hernández, who served two terms as president, refuted allegations that he colluded with drug gangs in the Federal District Court in Manhattan (NYT)
New York Trial Against Former Honduran President Accused of Leading ‘Narco-State’ Begins
Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández is facing charges of conspiring to import cocaine to the United States and carrying weapons related to drug trafficking conspiracy; he has pleaded not guilty, though he faces life in prison if convicted (BBC)
President Nayib Bukele’s Party Will Hold Parliamentary Supermajority
Election authorities announced President Nayib Bukele’s party would hold fifty-four out of sixty seats in the country’s legislature following a delayed count of votes from the February 4 general election; the Organization of American States regional body said over the weekend that they had observed problems with vote authentication, and yesterday opposition parties called for a redo of the vote (Reuters)
El Salvador Election Authorities Turn to Manual Vote Count
Authorities said yesterday they would begin counting votes by hand for both the presidential and congressional races after the country’s electronic vote-counting system delayed the results of Sunday’s elections; it appears clear that President Nayib Bukele won reelection, but the makeup of the sixty-seat legislature is uncertain (Reuters)
El Salvador’s Bukele Declares Election Victory
President Nayib Bukele declared himself the winner of yesterday’s election before any official results were released, and provisional results later showed Bukele winning 83 percent of the vote; his New Ideas party is expected to win nearly all of the legislative assembly seats (Reuters)
El Salvador Holds Presidential, Legislative Elections
President Nayib Bukele and his New Ideas party have a commanding lead in polls ahead of Sunday’s vote; a legislature dominated by his party swapped out several justices on the Supreme Court, which then reinterpreted the constitution to allow him to seek reelection (NYT)
Crime in El Salvador has dropped as Bukele has carried out mass detentions of people suspected of gang violence, but human rights groups have voiced concerns he is removing checks on power (Reuters)
El Salvador Will Continue Accepting Bitcoin as Legal Tender After Presidential Election
President Nayib Bukele and Vice President Félix Ulloa are strongly favored for reelection; the International Monetary Fund has asked El Salvador to reconsider the monetary measure amid negotiations for a billion-dollar loan (Reuters)
U.S. Sanctions Former Guatemalan President Three Days After His Departure From Office
Washington banned former Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei from entry due to “credible information” that he accepted bribes during his time in office, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said (El País)
International Committee of the Red Cross Ends Humanitarian Operations in Nicaragua
The ICRC announced the move was made at the request of the Daniel Ortega government; the group had been aiding political prisoners in the country through its mission since 2018 (El País)
U.S. Imposing Visa Curbs on Some Honduran Officials
The measures are in response to officials “fomenting violence” and undermining the rule of law by appointing the country’s top prosecutor through an irregular process, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said (Reuters)
El Salvador Offers Residency in Exchange for $1 Million Donation
El Salvador hopes to attract at least one thousand wealthy individuals with its Freedom Visa program, calling on them to invest in the development of the country in return for the benefits of residency in the Bitcoin-friendly country (Forbes)
U.S. Imposes Visa Restrictions on Hundreds of Guatemalans for ‘Undermining Democracy’
The nearly three hundred sanctioned lawmakers, members of the private sector, and their families were “responsible for, or complicit in” actions to impede Guatemala’s presidential transition, including opening ballot boxes, raids, and political targeting of the opposition, the U.S. State Department said (AP)
Guatemalan Electoral Body Says Election Results Are “Unchangeable”
In response to a prosecutor’s declaration that the election of Bernardo Arévalo was “null and void” based on anomalies in vote counting, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said that “the results are validated, formalized and unchangeable” (AFP)
Released Detainees Allege Abuse in El Salvador’s Prisons
One of those released cited a lack of food and water, dismal sanitation, overcrowding, and abuse by prison guards as having “psychologically destroyed” him (AP)
El Salvador has limited journalists’ access to the prisons and prisoners, and Amnesty International said the country is experiencing one of its worst human rights crises since its civil war (AP)