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Politics
Friday, June 2, 2023
02/06/2023
Eight months before the elections, President Nayib Bukele announced last night that the 262 Salvadoran municipalities will be cut to 44 and the 84-seat legislature to 60. In his prime-time speech marking four years in power, he also announced the seizure of ex-president Alfredo Cristiani’s assets on unknown charges.
Nelson Rauda Zablah
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Violence
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
07/06/2023
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Violence
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
07/06/2023
Zaira Navas, head of Law and Security at the Salvadoran human rights organization Cristosal, says the “systematic policy of generalized torture” under El Salvador’s state of exception should be a “very relevant” factor in influencing the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into possible “crimes against humanity.”
Julia Gavarrete
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Politics
Thursday, June 1, 2023
01/06/2023
Suspicions of cooptation of electoral arbiters and a narco-cloud over the June 25 elections are aggravating Guatemala’s political and institutional crisis. Three excluded presidential candidates are calling for a boycott as hostilities increase. Some observers even worry that authorities could suspend the election altogether.
Roman Gressier
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Politics
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
24/05/2023
Civil society movements are nearing an agreement with El Salvador’s four most influential opposition parties on a joint ticket for the 2024 presidential elections. In a bid for a broad front against Nayib Bukele’s unconstitutional reelection, the initiative harks back to historic anti-dictatorship alliances of the 1970s despite strategic, ideological, and partisan tensions.
Gabriel Labrador
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Politics
Monday, May 15, 2023
15/05/2023
The trial of journalist José Rubén Zamora has dealt a lethal blow to the daily newspaper elPeriódico, which he has directed since 1996. The outlet, a leader of investigative journalism in Guatemala, published its last edition on Monday, May 15. Zamora has lost eight defense attorneys; four were accused of crimes and one left the country.
Julie López and Roman Gressier
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Politics
Monday, May 1, 2023
01/05/2023
Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador’s nods to Russia and China are often read as a jealousy game in the U.S. bilateral relationship. Regional leaders claim sovereignty and multipolarity as their mantra. Experts say that non-ideological short-term calculus and a search for impunity are instead guiding their actions.
Roman Gressier
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Culture
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
17/05/2023
In the world of YouTube, Nayib Bukele is cast as an invincible hero admired by Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian. First-of-its-kind research analyzed a sample of 70 channels that amplify the Salvadoran president’s message, amassing billions of views. The influencers say they are “just normal people,” unlike “media elites” and “biased journalists,” although some have demonstrated government ties. Political content creation thrives while traditional media, under Bukele’s government siege, loses ground.
Nelson Rauda Zablah
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Corruption
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
09/05/2023
Today's doubling-down of the sentence against Guatemalan prosecutor Virginia Laparra is not about legal strategy but about politics, with a courageous lawyer being used as a pawn.
Carolina Jiménez Sandoval and Isabel Carlota Roby
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Politics
Monday, April 17, 2023
17/04/2023
Tax exemptions in Honduras have caused a distortion outstripping the impact of corruption, tax evasion, and administrative weakness. Even the IMF has called for their revision.
Vicki Gass
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Violence
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
07/06/2023
Zaira Navas, head of Law and Security at the Salvadoran human rights organization Cristosal, says the “systematic policy of generalized torture” under El Salvador’s state of exception should be a “very relevant” factor in influencing the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into possible “crimes against humanity.”
Julia Gavarrete
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Politics
Thursday, June 1, 2023
01/06/2023
Suspicions of cooptation of electoral arbiters and a narco-cloud over the June 25 elections are aggravating Guatemala’s political and institutional crisis. Three excluded presidential candidates are calling for a boycott as hostilities increase. Some observers even worry that authorities could suspend the election altogether.
Roman Gressier
/
Politics
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
24/05/2023
Civil society movements are nearing an agreement with El Salvador’s four most influential opposition parties on a joint ticket for the 2024 presidential elections. In a bid for a broad front against Nayib Bukele’s unconstitutional reelection, the initiative harks back to historic anti-dictatorship alliances of the 1970s despite strategic, ideological, and partisan tensions.
Gabriel Labrador
/
Politics
Monday, May 15, 2023
15/05/2023
The trial of journalist José Rubén Zamora has dealt a lethal blow to the daily newspaper elPeriódico, which he has directed since 1996. The outlet, a leader of investigative journalism in Guatemala, published its last edition on Monday, May 15. Zamora has lost eight defense attorneys; four were accused of crimes and one left the country.
Julie López and Roman Gressier
/
Politics
Monday, May 1, 2023
01/05/2023
Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador’s nods to Russia and China are often read as a jealousy game in the U.S. bilateral relationship. Regional leaders claim sovereignty and multipolarity as their mantra. Experts say that non-ideological short-term calculus and a search for impunity are instead guiding their actions.
Roman Gressier
Our newsletter
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Bukele Blocks Release of IMF Annual Report on El Salvador Economy
The Bukele administration barred the IMF from publishing its yearly Article IV report on the “economic situation and policy strategy” of El Salvador. It was striking, given that the country is looking to spur the negotiation of a debt program and this year, to that end, hired a former top IMF official as an advisor.
Friday, March 31, 2023
Jilted by Honduras, Taiwan Shores Up Ties with Guatemala
The president of Taiwan will travel today to Guatemala and Belize to shore up its last allies in the isthmus after Honduras’ decision to shift to China earlier this month. While the U.S. and Japan warn of the dangers of Beijing’s growing influence in Central America, the region is not buying the stale neo-Cold War framing. Tegucigalpa admits the move boiled down to debt and trade.
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Costa Rican Government Proposes Spouse Permission for Abortion
As the Inter-American Court prepares for a challenge to El Salvador’s abortion ban that will set a regional precedent, just down the street Rodrigo Chaves is looking to revoke a 2019 decree compelling Costa Rican medical centers to no longer deny certain legal therapeutic abortions. Xiomara Castro headed in the opposite direction last week, approving the sale of morning-after contraceptives in Honduras.
Monday, January 30, 2023
El Salvador Obtained Three New Spyware Tools in 2020 from Israeli Intermediary
In October 2020, the Bukele administration obtained three spyware tools from an intermediary firm of an Israeli ex-special operations official close to the Salvadoran president. The first registered deployment of Pegasus in the country occurred four months prior.
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Guatemala, Colombia in Diplomatic Crisis over Retaliation against Ex-CICIG Commissioner
The Giammattei administration is locked in a diplomatic skirmish with Colombia over the news that former CICIG commissioner Iván Velásquez, now Petro’s minister of defense, will be criminally investigated. Anti-corruption organizations and the U.S. government assert that the move is yet another example of lawfare in the country.
Friday, December 9, 2022
Honduran State of Exception Expands Bukele’s Echo in the Region
The same day Nayib Bukele staged a military siege of the gang bastion Soyapango, Xiomara Castro decreed a state of exception before deploying police and military in 162 of Honduras’ most marginalized urban communities. The suspension of constitutional guarantees goes even further than in the Salvadoran model.
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Argentina Seeks Justice for Crimes during 2018 Repression in Nicaragua
Complaints before Argentinian justice have resulted in a case accusing Daniel Ortega, Rosario Murillo, and a dozen other top officials of crimes against humanity. One of the lawyers behind the probe concedes that the prospect of any verdict is far-flung, but it has made enough noise for a top U.S. diplomat to meet with the prosecution.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Under Xiomara Castro, Honduran Garifunas Receive JOH-Style Military Eviction
On November 7, the Police and Army violently evicted the Garifuna community in Punta Gorda, Roatán, defying ancestral land rights promised by Honduran law since 1995. It’s the first removal of a Garifuna community under President Xiomara Castro.
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Central American Journalists Create United Front against State-Sponsored Attacks
The nascent Network of Central American Journalists, launched on Thursday in Antigua Guatemala, hopes to protect independent news media from state-sponsored attacks, spur regional collaboration, and increase the international visibility of press freedom strained by criminalization and public- and private-sector censorship.
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Biden Closes Door on Ortega’s Gold
On Monday the Biden administration expanded Trump-era sanctions to the Nicaraguan economy, cutting off the country’s lucrative gold industry from U.S. markets as Managua deepens energy cooperation with Moscow and Tehran. The administration, aware that other Central American leaders are watching, says it will study similar moves against other industries bankrolling Ortega.
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Central America and US Avoid Condemning Bukele’s 2024 Candidacy
The Honduran government says the legality of Nayib Bukele’s possible candidacy in 2024 is none of its business. No other Central American government has commented. A year after clearly stating that immediate reelection is unconstitutional, the Biden administration now asserts that there are arguments on “either side.”
Monday, July 18, 2022
US Shows Its Teeth on Engel List
Central America, in Brief: A leaked draft of the “Engel List” adds five-dozen names to the U.S. State Department's corruption map. The presidents of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras won’t be happy: Now banned from U.S. soil are five more of Bukele’s closest confidants, businessmen and former corrupt officials linked to Giammattei, an advisor to Xiomara Castro and two of her party’s top legislators, and 23 jailers of Nicaragua’s political prisoners.
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