Central America

President Bukele’s government inaugurates Phase II of the El Salvador Hospital

Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, announced yesterday on national TV that on August 7, Phase II of the El Salvador Hospital had been inaugurated. The President said that there are already 25 patients being treated in this area.

“Many people wondered why we did not inaugurate Phase II of the El Salvador Hospital, and it was because the Director needed to use these beds immediately, since Phase I was already full. We did not organize an event, but the Salvadoran people inaugurated it,” said President Bukele.

The President added that 1,125 beds are available across the country’s public hospital network. “El Salvador has become the country with the most intensive-care beds in all of Central America. El Salvador has more ICU beds available than all the countries in Central America combined,” he added.

The country with the fewest COVID-19 cases

Despite no state of emergency and constant hold-ups by Deputies in the Legislative Assembly, El Salvador remains the country with the lowest number of coronavirus cases in Central America. Recent rates result from the early actions taken by President Nayib Bukele’s government.

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To date, El Salvador has 20,423 confirmed cases. Costa Rica has 22,802 cases, Honduras 46,973, Guatemala 56,189 and Panama 73,651. In Nicaragua, the information available is limited and doubtful.

Among the early actions taken by President Bukele’s government, even before the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, are: Health controls at seaports, airports and land borders. This made it possible to identify the first cases and to contain the spread of the virus.

The quarantine also proved to be an effective measure. While it was in force, the infection curve was flat. However, since the quarantine was lifted and legal resources were taken away from the Executive, cases have been on the rise, with an average of 400 cases per day over the past two weeks.

“Despite the rulings, we will continue to fight the pandemic with what we have,” said President Bukele.

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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.