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.

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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.”

Guatemalan prosecutors, police, and military forces captured 24 alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) on Sunday during a large-scale anti-extortion operation, authorities confirmed.

According to the National Police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, MS-13 and other gangs in Guatemala primarily target business owners and public transportation operators, demanding extortion payments. Those who refuse to comply are often threatened or killed.

More than 1,500 police officers and military personnel participated in the operation, which took place in the El Gallito neighborhood, a densely populated area in downtown Guatemala City. The police stated that the coordinated action aimed to “directly impact the criminal operations of the Mara Salvatrucha.”

The operation also involved the deployment of heavily armed military units supported by armored vehicles.

Authorities explained that this anti-extortion crackdown follows a complaint filed in February and is part of ongoing efforts to dismantle MS-13’s influence in the country. The United States has officially designated Mara Salvatrucha as a terrorist organization.

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Despite not being at war and reporting a decrease in crime rates, Honduras remains one of the most violent countries in Central America and the region, according to Migdonia Ayestas, director of the Violence Observatory at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH).

“Even with all the reductions in crime, we still average six victims per day, and on average one of them is a woman,” Ayestas told EFE in Tegucigalpa. “This shows that, despite not being in a war, Honduras continues to rank among the most violent countries in Central America and across the continent.”

According to Ayestas, violence and crime have dropped more than 40 percentage points, but this improvement mainly reflects homicide rates — the international standard for measuring insecurity. Other forms of violence, however, remain alarming, especially sexual violence, which affects an estimated 88% of women nationwide.

The situation is particularly concerning for women. So far in 2025, 162 women have been killed violently, highlighting that homicides are only part of the problem. Many attacks occur within homes or community spaces — places that should be safe.

Among girls aged 10 to 14, the risk of experiencing violence is especially high. Ayestas also emphasized that firearms are the main weapons used in injuries and deaths, with many believed to be illegally trafficked.

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Furthermore, beyond gender-based violence, many Honduran families continue to suffer from extortion and common crime, adding further strain to daily life in one of the region’s most dangerous environments.