Central America
The University of Texas, symbol of repression against pro-Palestinian protests
Days after dozens of police officers arrested more than 100 of their colleagues in two days of protests against the war in Gaza, Linda decided to return to the campus of the University of Texas (Austin) to ask for the resignation of the president of the institution.
The third-year biochemistry student, who asked to hide her name to protect her identity, assured EFE that she does not feel discouraged, quite the contrary. “There is nothing they can do to me that compares to what young people are going through in Gaza.”
The response of the main public university in Texas to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations has been one of the toughest in the country. Without any threat of negotiation with the student leaders, the institution forcibly dissolved a camp set up by university students in a park on campus.
The images of the eviction, where the agents took the students by the arms and legs, threw pepper spray at them and even arrested a photojournalist, became a reflection of the repression against the student movement that has spread throughout the country.
The governor of the state, Republican political media Greg Abbott, has already made it clear which side he is on. “The University and the State will use all the tools at their disposal to quickly put an end to all illegal protests on campus,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
On campus, however, this message has not deterred student activists, who have more protests planned for this last month of classes.
“The repression (…) what it has done is increase the number of people who are willing to fight what is right,” stressed Linda, who has been part of the pro-Palestine student organization Palestine Solidarity Committee, suspended last week by the institution in response to the demonstrations.
A hundred young people, professors and supporters of the anti-war cause once again took the university’s south park shouting slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “We will not stop, we will not rest.”
Aman Odeh, a doctor and associate professor at the University of Texas, approached the esplanade holding his phone up. On the other side of the screen, a group of about six children watched the protest.
“They are part of a family in Gaza that welcomed me,” said the pediatric specialist. “I spent two weeks there as part of a mission and they wanted to see what’s going on here, they feel supported.”
Odeh went up on the stage and, with the phone in his ear, repeated the words of Mohammed, 15 years old, on the other side of the world: “I want to tell you how proud I am; his voice sends a powerful message.”
In addition to expressing a feeling of rejection of war, university students also seek with the protests a series of defined objectives. Force your alma mater to break financial ties with companies that sell weapons to Israel.
Higher education centers in the U.S. are financed with public money, tuition and donations. With the latter, institutions invest in a series of assets, from bonds to shares in private companies, to obtain more capital
Specifically, the students are asking the University of Texas (UT) to stop investing in companies that manufacture weapons and military equipment such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dymanics and Boeing.
Roger Reeves, a professor of literature in UT who has been involved in the pro-Palestinian movement, told EFE that the presidency of the university has decided to “listen” to the members of the faculty, but has not committed to negotiating.
“They say they listen, but at the same time they are inviting the police to occupy the university campus,” the academic stressed.
Central America
El Salvador to host World Cup qualifiers vs. Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán
El Salvador’s national football team will host its final round World Cup qualifying matches against Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán, the honorary president of the National Sports Institute (INDES), Yamil Bukele, announced Thursday via a statement on his X account.
The official explained that this decision comes after the American rock band Guns N’ Roses, originally scheduled to perform at Estadio Cuscatlán on Saturday, October 4, will now hold their concert at Estadio Jorge “El Mágico” González. This change allows both of La Selecta’s qualifying matches to be played at the “Coloso de Monserrat.”
“After a series of efforts and in response to popular demand, we are pleased to announce that our senior national team’s CONCACAF World Cup qualifying matches next October (Oct. 10 vs. Panama and Oct. 14 vs. Guatemala) will take place at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement reads.
Bukele also thanked the event promoters and the band for agreeing to the stadium change. “We sincerely thank Guns N’ Roses and StarTicket for agreeing to move the concert originally scheduled for October 4 at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement adds.
Additionally, Bukele expressed gratitude to the FESFUT Regularization Commission for their efforts with CONCACAF to make this possible, and he urged fans to stay tuned to official channels to purchase tickets and support La Selecta in their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Central America
Honduran president Xiomara Castro suspends activities due to influenza
Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Thursday that she has “temporarily” suspended her public activities due to a severe influenza virus.
“A strong influenza virus requires me to rest, trusting that I will be fully recovered for the grand celebration of our National Independence Day” next Monday, Castro stated on the social media platform X.
The president had planned to participate in several inaugurations across the northern, central, and eastern regions of the country throughout the week. She added that “these events will be rescheduled for new dates.”
Central America
Nicaragua’s government expels bishops, priests, and nuns in religious persecution
At least 261 religious figures, including the president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, Carlos Enrique Herrera, have been expelled as part of the persecution by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s regime against the Catholic Church, reported the NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más in its report Faith Under Fire.
The report details that among those expelled are bishops Silvio Báez, Rolando Álvarez, Isidoro Mora, as well as the Apostolic Nuncio in Managua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, along with approximately 140 priests, over 90 nuns, ten seminarians, and three deacons from different dioceses in the country.
“Since the expulsion of Nuncio Sommertag in March 2022, relations between Nicaragua and the Vatican have significantly deteriorated,” the NGO noted.
The report also documents the closure of 5,609 non-profit organizations, of which 1,294 were religious, including churches, universities, schools, clinics, and humanitarian organizations. Most of these had their assets confiscated by the Sandinista government. Additionally, the telecommunications regulator TELCOR shut down 54 media outlets, including 22 religious radio stations and TV channels.
Repression has extended to other religious denominations, with forced disappearances and criminalization of evangelical pastors, control over temples, media censorship, fiscal pressure, property confiscation, and the cancellation of legal status for the Moravian Church. Pastor Rudy Palacios remains in detention as part of this pattern of persecution.
The NGO emphasized that churches, especially the Catholic Church, played a key role in the 2018 national dialogue, denouncing abuses and providing refuge to injured protesters, which fueled the government’s hostility.
In 2023, Pope Francis described Ortega’s regime as a “blatant dictatorship”, to which the Nicaraguan president responded by dissolving the Society of Jesus and labeling the Church as a “mafia” and “anti-democratic.”
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