Central America
Nicaragua detains another opposition presidential hopeful
AFP/Editor
Police in Nicaragua on Saturday took opposition politician Arturo Cruz into custody, detaining a second presidential hopeful in less than a week.
Cruz was seized at the Managua airport upon return from the United States, on accusations of acting “against Nicaraguan society and the rights of the people,” prosecutors said.
His detention came three days after opposition figure Cristiana Chamorro — a possible challenger to leftist President Daniel Ortega in November elections — was placed under house arrest, after government claims that she was guilty of money laundering.
Cruz, 67, announced his candidacy two months ago, running with the conservative Citizen Alliance for Freedom.
The National Police said it would “refer the person under investigation to the competent authorities for prosecution and to determine criminal responsibilities.”
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights called Cruz’s detention a “perverse strategy” on the part of Ortega’s government to silence people he considers political enemies.
“These are not criminal investigations, this is political persecution,” it said.
The United States called for Cruz’s “immediate release.”
“The international community has spoken: under Ortega, Nicaragua is becoming an international pariah and moving farther away from democracy,” acting undersecretary of the US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Julie Chung said on Twitter.
– ‘Dance of suppression’ –
Cruz served as Nicaragua’s ambassador to the United States between 2007 and 2009, under Ortega’s government.
His detention followed that of Chamorro, a 67-year-old journalist not aligned to any party.
The daughter of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, a recent poll showed her to be the favorite to beat Ortega in November, though he has not confirmed he will seek a fourth term.
But Chamorro has for weeks been the subject of a judicial investigation into money-laundering, which she has denounced as a “macabre farce” set up to prevent her from standing as a candidate.
A day before his arrest, Cruz had warned via Twitter that he was considering withdrawing from the race.
If Nicaraguan authorities “continue the dance of suppression and we are left without other candidates, the logical thing is that this servant does not participate in this process,” he said on Twitter.
“We must seriously consider participating in this spurious exercise.”
Last month, Nicaragua’s legislature appointed a majority of governing party-aligned magistrates to the election body that will oversee the elections.
It has since disqualified two parties.
In December the legislature approved a law critics say is aimed at preventing opposition politicians from standing in the election. Sponsored by Ortega, it bars “those who ask for, celebrate and applaud the imposition of sanctions against the Nicaraguan state.”
Ortega, an ex-guerrilla who governed from 1979 to 1990, returned to power in 2007 and won two successive reelections.
Central America
Arévalo accuses Porras and judge of undermining democracy in Guatemala
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo denounced a new attempt at a “coup” orchestrated by the Attorney General’s Office. He also requested an extraordinary session at the Organization of American States (OAS) to address the country’s ongoing political crisis.
The president has been at odds with Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union for being “corrupt” and “anti-democratic.” Since 2023, Arévalo has accused Porras of launching investigations against his party, Semilla, and the 2023 elections as part of a scheme to prevent his inauguration in January 2024.
From the presidential office, Arévalo has said he continues to “resist” the “coup plotters,” but tensions escalated last Friday when Judge Fredy Orellana, at the request of the Attorney General’s Office, ordered the electoral court to annul the Semilla party’s promoter group. Arévalo interpreted this as an attempt to revoke the positions won by the party.
“Orellana, a hitman who distorts the law in service of Consuelo Porras, is attempting to force […] the unconstitutional removal of a mayor, 23 elected deputies […], the vice president, and the president of the country,” Arévalo said in a televised address on Sunday.
“We call on the international community not to turn a blind eye to the coup being attempted in Guatemala,” he added, speaking alongside his cabinet and congressional members at the National Palace in Guatemala City.
Arévalo requested that the Organization of American States hold an extraordinary session to present “the serious threats” to the Guatemalan Constitution and democracy perpetrated by Porras and Orellana.
Yesterday, Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martínez reaffirmed the president’s statements, emphasizing the need “to go and expose the situation” Guatemala has been facing since last week due to the actions of the Attorney General’s Office.
Central America
New dismembered bodies found in San Juan river days after mass killing in Palencia
On the morning of Monday, October 27, Guatemala’s Volunteer Firefighters confirmed the discovery of two bodies and two human heads inside plastic bags in the San Juan River, located in the Zacualpía village at kilometer 21 of the Atlantic Highway, in the jurisdiction of Palencia.
The remains were found by personnel from Companies 85, 50, and Central, who responded after receiving a report about suspicious bags floating in the water. The gruesome discovery was made just a few meters from the site where eight tortured bodies were found under the San Juan Bridge on Friday, October 24.
Local authorities do not rule out a connection between both incidents and suspect they may be tied to the same criminal organization. Investigators from the Public Ministry and the National Civil Police arrived at the scene to gather evidence and transfer the remains to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif).
According to data from the National Economic Research Center (CIEN), Guatemala recorded 2,154 homicides between January and August 2025, an increase compared to the 1,816 reported during the same period in 2024.
Central America
Four guatemalan soldiers arrested for stealing weapons from Northern Air Command
Four soldiers were arrested in connection with the theft of weapons from the Northern Air Command of the Ministry of Defense in Petén, Guatemala, following operations conducted by the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office).
“During the operations, criminal scenes were processed, analyzed, and documented photographically, possible escape routes were identified, surveillance cameras were located, and potential witnesses were interviewed,” the Prosecutor’s Office explained in a social media post.
The detained soldiers were identified as Ludwin Jónathan Cardona Baltazar, charged with illicit association, dereliction of duty, and aggravated theft; and Josué Israel Pérez Jerónimo, Alain Omar Marroquín Soch, and Carlos Ernesto Ibarra Corrales, charged with dereliction of duty, according to Guatemala’s Prensa Libre.
The military personnel reportedly stole 55 rifles, 14,420 rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition, 92 magazines of 35 rounds each, 19 magazines of 20 rounds each, and three grenade launchers, “which were allegedly moved from the arms warehouse to the outside for illicit sale.”
The Ministry of Defense stated that it will keep its internal control mechanisms active to prevent similar incidents.
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