Central America

Nicaragua dissolves 83 ‘foreign agent’ organizations

AFP

Nicaragua’s parliament on Tuesday dissolved 83 non-governmental organizations including the country’s language academy, accusing them of having violated a law on “foreign agents.”

Dominated by allies of President Daniel Ortega, parliament overwhelmingly approved the government’s request to dissolve the legal entity of these associations without even debating the bill.

The Nicaraguan Academy of Language, founded in 1928, works on Spanish grammar and the Spanish dictionary.

“The Nicaraguan Academy of Language deeply regrets the cancellation of the legal standing of an institution dedicated to the study of the language and the cultivation of Nicaraguan letters,” it said in a statement.

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The move will “hamper the functioning of an institution whose work has contributed to extolling the most precious asset of culture: language,” it added.

All the dissolved bodies are accused of failing to comply with a 2020 law obliging people and organizations receiving funds from abroad to register as “foreign agents” with the interior ministry.

They must also supply financial records to authorities.

The interior ministry said the 83 organizations had “violated and failed to respect their obligations” and had “obstructed the control and surveillance” of their activities.

Around 200 entities such as NGOs and humanitarian organizations have been dissolved by Ortega’s government since mass street protests against his rule in 2018.

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Authorities cracked down on the protests, leaving more than 350 people dead and thousands forced into exile, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The government accuses NGOs that receive foreign funding of attempting to foment a coup d’etat backed by the United States.

Ortega, a 76-year-old former leftist guerrilla, won a fourth successive election last year after all his credible challengers were jailed, in a vote widely dismissed as a farce.

Central America

Panamanian farms take action to reduce jaguar attacks and promote coexistence

A growing number of farms in Panama are taking steps to reduce jaguar attacks on livestock, showing that coexistence between humans and these American felines is possible, a UN agency said on Friday.

The jaguar (Panthera onca) holds a prominent place in Mayan and Aztec mythology, but many farmers kill them after livestock attacks.

Ninety-six percent of jaguar deaths in Panama from 1989 to 2019 occurred following attacks on livestock, according to the NGO Fundación Yaguará. Additionally, the prized jaguar hide made them targets for poachers, causing the population to decline by 20 to 25% since 2000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

“Conserving the jaguar is not just about protecting an iconic species; it also involves safeguarding and restoring critical ecosystems, and improving water management and biodiversity,” Juan Bello, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), told AFP.

Fundación Yaguará, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and UNEP are running a program to “reduce conflicts between communities and wildlife” in Panama.

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Through this innovative project, many farms have adopted measures to reduce livestock attacks and avoid retaliatory killings of jaguars, demonstrating that coexistence is indeed possible.

Central America

Police confirm multiple victims and fire after church shooting in Grand Blanc, Michigan

A new mass shooting shook the United States this Sunday, this time at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintslocated on McCandlish Rd. in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

The Grand Blanc Township Police Department confirmed that there were multiple victims, though their identities and the extent of their injuries have not yet been disclosed. Authorities have not specified whether there are fatalities.

According to the official report, the attacker “is down” and the threat has been neutralized.

“There are multiple victims, and the shooter is down. There is NO threat to the public at this time. The church is actively on fire,” the department said in a statement.

In addition to the shooting, a fire is consuming the temple, prompting police to urge residents to avoid the area as emergency operations continue.

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Central America

Bukele and Trump highlight joint fight against gangs and terrorism

U.S. President Donald Trump thanked the Government of El Salvador for its collaboration in imprisoning criminals who had entered U.S. territory irregularly. The Republican leader acknowledged the work of his ally during his address at the 80th United Nations General Assembly taking place this week in New York.

“I want to thank El Salvador for the successful and professional work it has done in receiving and imprisoning so many criminals who entered our country. Under the previous administration [of Joe Biden], the numbers reached record levels, and now we are expelling them all,” Trump stated.

For his part, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele expressed his gratitude to the U.S. leader for his remarks and for officially designating the 18th Street gang as a terrorist group.

“In El Salvador, we had already taken that step by formally labeling them terrorists, and although some organizations have criticized us, the majority of their members are currently imprisoned at Cecot, the Terrorism Confinement Center, designed specifically to confront these threats,” Bukele said.

He added that both countries share a common vision in the fight against terrorism. “We are convinced that cooperation between our nations is key to eradicating these criminal structures and ensuring a future of peace and security for our people,” Bukele emphasized.