Central America

The endless wait for word on loved ones arrested in Nicaragua

Every day, family members of the 21 opposition figures rounded up in Nicaragua in the past month visit the prison where they think their loved ones are held. Every day they leave disappointed, with no contact and no news.

“Some have been (held) for 31 days and no one” has been allowed to see them, “not even the lawyers,” said Martha Urcuyo, wife of detainee Pedro Chamorro.

“We hope that they are here,” she told AFP on one of her regular, but fruitless, visits to El Chipote prison southwest of Managua with other spouses, parents and children of the 21 seized in house raids and nighttime arrests which began on June 2.

Chamorro, a journalist, former opposition lawmaker and son of ex-president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, was arrested on June 25 on charges of “inciting foreign interference” and “applauding” sanctions against Nicaragua.

His was the most recent arrest in the raids that have netted five presidential candidates including his sister Cristiana Chamorro — a favorite to beat Ortega in the November poll. She is under house arrest.

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The siblings’ mother had beaten Ortega in 1990, ending an 11-year spell for the ex-guerilla at Nicaragua’s helm. He returned in 2007 and has twice won re-election since then.

Ortega accuses the detainees, who include critics, politicians, businessmen and former comrades, of being “criminals” seeking to overthrow him with US backing.

Under threat, several other Ortega opponents have fled the country ahead of the election in which he is widely expected to seek a fourth consecutive term, though he has not said so.

Most of the detainees face charges under a new law initiated by Ortega’s government and approved by parliament in December to defend Nicaragua’s “sovereignty.”

The law has been widely criticized as a means of freezing out challengers and silencing opponents.

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– “We know nothing’ –

The international community has condemned Ortega’s crackdown and called for the release of the detainees.

But neither the outcry nor fresh US sanctions against Ortega allies have stopped the parade of detainees to El Chipote pre-trial prison — where rights groups have reported numerous instances of beatings and mistreatment in recent years.

It has been torture for loved ones as well.

“We always bring food, and then go back home with it,” Urcuyo said as she approached the jail bearing a recyclable plastic shopping bag with goodies for her husband, squaring her shoulders as she walked past a line of police in riot gear.

“We come three times a day and the only thing they (the guards) take from us is water,” she added.

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Arlen Tinoco, the daughter of detained former foreign minister Victor Tinoco, said “we know nothing” about the fate of the prisoners.

“They have not informed us, they have not said anything. They have not allowed them (the prisoners) to see lawyers, we have zero information.”

A firebrand Marxist in his younger days, Ortega and his Sandinistas toppled a corrupt autocratic regime to popular applause and seized control of the country in 1979.

But opponents have increasingly denounced a descent into dictatorship, nepotism and corruption under Ortega, who leads the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).

His vice president is also his wife, Rosario Murillo.

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Last week, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet urged the UN’s Human Rights Council to hold the Ortega government to account for “serious violations committed since April 2018,” including the recent arrests.

Rallies demanding the resignation of Ortega and Murillo broke out that year, but a violent clampdown claimed 328 lives, according to rights bodies, while hundreds were imprisoned and some 100,000 Nicaraguans fled into exile.

Central America

Guatemala Court Voids List of Candidates for Top Prosecutor Position

President of Guatemala cannot remove attorney general from office

Constitutional Court of Guatemala on Thursday annulled the shortlist of six candidates for attorney general and head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, ordering authorities to repeat the evaluation phase of the selection process.

The ruling came in response to a legal appeal filed by Raúl Amílcar Falla Ovalle, who challenged the way professional experience had been assessed for some applicants, particularly those with careers in the judiciary.

As a result of the decision, the selection process has been suspended, and the Postulation Commission must return to the stage in which the original 48 applicants were evaluated.

According to the ruling, the commission must reapply the grading criteria without automatically counting years served as judges as equivalent to the professional experience required for the position.

“The Postulation Commission for the election of the Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is ordered to reassess the applicants by strictly applying the approved grading table,” the resolution states.

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The Constitutional Court also stressed that the process must guarantee merit, competence, and suitability, while ensuring greater transparency in the assignment of scores.

Central America

U.S. extradites Iranian man over alleged sanctions evasion scheme

The United States has extradited from Panama an Iranian national accused of evading economic sanctions against Iran by illegally exporting U.S. technology. He is scheduled to appear this Monday before a court in Seattle.

Reza Dindar, 44, was extradited on April 17 after being detained in Panama since July 2025 on charges related to export control violations between 2011 and 2012, allegedly carried out through companies based in China.

The defendant appeared before a U.S. district court in Seattle, where he faces charges of violating sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran in 1995 during the administration of Bill Clinton. These sanctions prohibit the unauthorized export, re-export, or supply—directly or indirectly—of U.S. goods, technology, or services to Iran or its government.

According to the indictment, between 2010 and 2014, Dindar led the company New Port Sourcing Solutions in Xi’an, China, which allegedly concealed the procurement of U.S. products for shipment to clients in Iran.

Central America

Bukele administration surpasses 1,100 homicide-free days amid ongoing crackdown

El Salvador's PNC adds 85 days without murders and April is on track to be the safest in Salvadoran history

On Saturday, April 18, the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) reported that no homicides were recorded in El Salvador, bringing the total to 17 days without murders.

With this update, the country has accumulated 91 homicide-free days so far in 2026. January closed with 27 such days, followed by 24 in February and 23 in March, according to police data.

During the administration of President Nayib Bukele, a total of 1,193 days without homicides have been registered. Of those, 1,079 have occurred since the implementation of the state of exception.

This extraordinary security measure has been extended 49 times by the Asamblea Legislativa de El Salvador, with the latest extension in effect from April 1 to April 30, 2026. Under the measure, more than 91,700 gang members and collaborators have been detained and prosecuted for illicit association.