Central America
El Salvador delivers aid to Costa Rica amid severe flooding and red alerts

Costa Rica raised alert levels on Tuesday due to ongoing heavy rains that are expected to continue throughout the week. So far, flooding has forced 1,369 people into shelters, and the country is receiving humanitarian aid from El Salvador in response to the emergency.
The National Emergency Commission (CNE) declared a red alert (the highest level) for the provinces of Guanacaste and Puntarenas along the Pacific coast, and an orange alert (high level) for the rest of the country, except for Limón province (Caribbean), which is under a yellow alert (intermediate level).
The CNE reported that the rainy pattern is expected to persist throughout the week. The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) is also monitoring tropical wave number 46, which has a high potential to develop into a tropical cyclone over the Caribbean Sea in the next seven days.
“Rainfall is expected to continue over the coming days, especially along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. Additionally, there is a high saturation of soil across much of the country, creating significant vulnerability to incidents like flooding and landslides,” explained the CNE.
El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, who is wrapping up a two-day visit to Costa Rica on Tuesday, announced on Monday the dispatch of a plane carrying humanitarian aid. Originally, the aid was intended for flood victims in Valencia, Spain, affected by a recent storm.
Bukele explained on Tuesday that Spain is currently not accepting international aid, so he decided to redirect the shipment to Costa Rica, splitting it across three smaller planes, with an additional 20 trucks carrying 400 tons of aid set to arrive in the coming days.
On Tuesday, planes carrying humanitarian aid arrived in Costa Rica, as confirmed by both governments.
“We have sent aid missions to Turkey, and we intended to send one to Spain, but the government there did not accept international assistance—not just from us, but from anyone. We were surprised at how swiftly the Costa Rican government acted,” Bukele stated on Tuesday.
Central America
Costa Rica faces historic vote on lifting presidential immunity for Rodrigo Chaves

Costa Rica, a country internationally recognized for its democratic and political stability, is heading toward an unprecedented decision: whether to lift President Rodrigo Chaves’s immunity so he can face a criminal trial over alleged irregular management of funds from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI).
On Wednesday, the Legislative Assembly formed a commission of three lawmakers to analyze the accusation against the president, which was forwarded earlier this month by the Supreme Court of Justice. The commission has 20 days, extendable for another 20, to issue a report so that the full Assembly can vote on whether to lift the president’s immunity.
Lifting the immunity would require 38 votes — two-thirds of the legislature — which is largely composed of opposition parties.
If immunity is removed, prosecutors would be able to continue their investigation and potentially question the president. If the motion fails, the case would return to the judiciary and remain pending until Chaves’s term ends in May 2026.
Since the country’s last civil war in 1948 and the abolition of the army later that year, Costa Rica has held uninterrupted elections, every president has completed their term without major issues, and none has ever had their immunity lifted — although several have faced judicial proceedings.
Central America
Honduras sees ongoing killings of land defenders and attacks on press, warns NGO

The Association for Participatory Citizenship (ACI PARTICIPA) denounced on Thursday that killings of land defenders and attacks aimed at silencing the press continue in Honduras.
“We continue to see murders of defenders of land and territory, as well as aggressions to silence the press. In 2024, there were 490 attacks and aggressions that constitute human rights violations,” said ACI PARTICIPA’s executive director, Hedme Castro, during the presentation of the 2024 Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Honduras.
Castro noted that the aggressions range “from attempts on lives, threats, harassment, intimidation, and smear campaigns, which have become very frequent, to obstruction of work, surveillance, and criminalization.”
She highlighted that, although only seven defenders were killed in 2024 compared to 24 in 2023, “last year we saw a significantly high number of women murdered, and cases of missing children.”
Moreover, Castro criticized the authorities for failing to address the violence. “There is no response from the authorities to reduce the violence in the country; in fact, I believe that the ‘fathers of the nation’ (members of Parliament) are not setting the right example, and the situation in the Legislative branch is actually fueling violence,” she added, referring to frequent violent incidents in Congress.
The ACI PARTICIPA report also notes that the government led by President Xiomara Castro has made “an important effort over the past two years to improve citizens’ access to basic rights, helping to cushion the effects of economic deterioration, although a decent standard of living has yet to be achieved for the majority of Hondurans.”
Central America
Daniel Ortega’s last historic sandinista ally detained in Managua

Former Sandinista revolutionary commander and presidential economic adviser Bayardo Arce Castaño was arrested on Thursday in Managua for alleged irregular transactions involving state-owned assets, according to local media reports.
The arrest was carried out by agents from the Special Operations Directorate of the Police, who raided his residence in the southern part of the Nicaraguan capital. The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) is investigating Arce for “transactions and/or negotiations” that, according to authorities, do not comply with current legal standards.
Arce, 76, was one of the nine historic commanders of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) who led the overthrow of dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. Since 2007, he had served as the economic adviser to dictator Daniel Ortega, and was the last of the historic commanders still aligned with the regime.
The Attorney General’s Office accused Arce of contempt after he refused to appear for questioning about properties registered in his name. Authorities allege that Ricardo Bonilla, Arce’s assistant, was also involved in questionable financial dealings and was jailed after failing to comply with a summons.
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