Central America
Nicaragua court finds activists guilty of ‘conspiracy’
AFP
A Nicaraguan court Thursday found two prominent opposition figures guilty of “conspiracy,” according to a human rights organization which condemned the trial as “null and void” for taking place behind closed doors.
Former guerrilla Dora Maria Tellez and student leader Lesther Aleman were tried at El Chipote — one of the country’s most notorious prisons where dozens of activists detained in the run-up to last year’s election are being held.
The trial of the Tellez — a former leftist guerrilla who fought alongside President Daniel Ortega during Nicaragua’s civil war — and Aleman took place behind closed doors, with only a sole family member of each in attendance.
“They were found guilty of forming an association of wrongdoers undermining national integrity,” the independent Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights said.
“The process was null and void because it violated the constitutional guarantees that stipulate that trials must be public and that the press must be able to attend,” it added.
It was not clear what the sentence was, but a member of the opposition Blue and White National Unity party told AFP that magistrates had asked for a 15-year jail term for the 66-year-old Tellez, a historian and one of the founders of the dissident Sandinista Renovation Movement.
Student leader Aleman, 24, rose to fame after publicly calling for Ortega’s resignation during a dialogue between the government and activists involved in 2018 protests.
“His only crime is to have spoken in the name of everyone in 2018, confronting Mr. Ortega with his crimes and demanding he leave office,” journalist Carlos Fernando Chamorro, speaking from exile in Costa Rica, said on Twitter.
Family of the dozens of activists held since last year have said the opposition figures are suffering from serious health issues, experiencing blackouts and loss of teeth.
Last month the United Nations human rights body urged Nicaragua — Central America’s poorest country — to free people who had been arbitrarily detained and to stop prosecutions and harassment of political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders.
Central America
Panama confirms drug contamination of El Salvador coffee shipment occurred on its territory
A container originating from El Salvador and carrying coffee for export was contaminated with more than 1,152 packages of drugs while in transit through Panama, according to official information confirmed by the Panamanian government this Tuesday.
The case, which had previously generated political controversy in April 2025 after opposition sectors attempted to link the Salvadoran government to drug trafficking, has now been clarified through renewed investigations.
Authorities confirmed that the container departed from the port of Acajutla after being properly inspected, with no illicit substances detected at the time of export.
According to statements previously provided by El Salvador’s Minister of Defense, René Merino Monroy, the shipment traveled first to the port of Balboa in Panama, where it remained stored for several days before being transferred to another vessel bound for Manzanillo in Colón.
It was at that terminal that Panamanian authorities discovered the drugs and identified tampering with the container seals, indicating that the illicit alteration occurred during its transit in Panama rather than in Salvadoran territory.
The findings align with earlier explanations provided by Salvadoran officials and confirm that the contamination of the cargo took place outside of El Salvador’s jurisdiction.
Central America
Uber Eats adds Puntarenas and Turrialba to growing Costa Rica network
Uber Eats announced that it is continuing to expand its presence in Costa Rica with the launch of operations in the cities of Puntarenas and Turrialba, further strengthening the company’s growth in the country.
With this expansion, the delivery platform is now available across all seven Costa Rican provinces and works with more than 6,000 partner businesses. Its offerings include prepared food, supermarkets, pharmacies, pet stores, and other specialty retailers.
As part of the announcement, Uber Eats also introduced Marco Nannipieri as its new Regional General Manager for the Andean Region, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Nannipieri will oversee the company’s operations in Costa Rica along with seven other countries in the region.
“Costa Rica is a key market for Uber Eats in the region, with growing adoption of technology among users and businesses. Over the past five years, more than 1,000 restaurants and merchants have joined the app, and today we are entering a new stage of expansion that will allow us to reach more cities outside the Greater Metropolitan Area, creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs across the country,” Nannipieri said.
Central America
Report questions direction of Nasry Asfura after 100 days in office
The Center for the Study of Democracy warned Tuesday that the government of Nasry Asfura, which marks its first 100 days in office on Wednesday, has failed to show a “significant change in direction” and continues to follow a model characterized by exclusion, inequality, and external dependence.
In its report titled “100 Days of the Nasry Asfura Government: Concerns and Demands,” Cespad stated that the administration has maintained an economic and political model that prioritizes debt payments, the promotion of extractive projects, and the strengthening of the security apparatus over social investment.
The organization argued that the current policies have not addressed structural problems affecting large sectors of the Honduran population and warned that inequality and economic dependence remain key challenges for the country.
Nasry Asfura won the general elections held on November 30, 2025, in a process marked by allegations of fraud and delays in the vote count that lasted nearly a month due to a series of technological failures.
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