Central America
The endless wait for word on loved ones arrested in Nicaragua
Every day, family members of the 21 opposition figures rounded up in Nicaragua in the past month visit the prison where they think their loved ones are held. Every day they leave disappointed, with no contact and no news.
“Some have been (held) for 31 days and no one” has been allowed to see them, “not even the lawyers,” said Martha Urcuyo, wife of detainee Pedro Chamorro.
“We hope that they are here,” she told AFP on one of her regular, but fruitless, visits to El Chipote prison southwest of Managua with other spouses, parents and children of the 21 seized in house raids and nighttime arrests which began on June 2.
Chamorro, a journalist, former opposition lawmaker and son of ex-president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, was arrested on June 25 on charges of “inciting foreign interference” and “applauding” sanctions against Nicaragua.
His was the most recent arrest in the raids that have netted five presidential candidates including his sister Cristiana Chamorro — a favorite to beat Ortega in the November poll. She is under house arrest.
The siblings’ mother had beaten Ortega in 1990, ending an 11-year spell for the ex-guerilla at Nicaragua’s helm. He returned in 2007 and has twice won re-election since then.
Ortega accuses the detainees, who include critics, politicians, businessmen and former comrades, of being “criminals” seeking to overthrow him with US backing.
Under threat, several other Ortega opponents have fled the country ahead of the election in which he is widely expected to seek a fourth consecutive term, though he has not said so.
Most of the detainees face charges under a new law initiated by Ortega’s government and approved by parliament in December to defend Nicaragua’s “sovereignty.”
The law has been widely criticized as a means of freezing out challengers and silencing opponents.
– “We know nothing’ –
The international community has condemned Ortega’s crackdown and called for the release of the detainees.
But neither the outcry nor fresh US sanctions against Ortega allies have stopped the parade of detainees to El Chipote pre-trial prison — where rights groups have reported numerous instances of beatings and mistreatment in recent years.
It has been torture for loved ones as well.
“We always bring food, and then go back home with it,” Urcuyo said as she approached the jail bearing a recyclable plastic shopping bag with goodies for her husband, squaring her shoulders as she walked past a line of police in riot gear.
“We come three times a day and the only thing they (the guards) take from us is water,” she added.
Arlen Tinoco, the daughter of detained former foreign minister Victor Tinoco, said “we know nothing” about the fate of the prisoners.
“They have not informed us, they have not said anything. They have not allowed them (the prisoners) to see lawyers, we have zero information.”
A firebrand Marxist in his younger days, Ortega and his Sandinistas toppled a corrupt autocratic regime to popular applause and seized control of the country in 1979.
But opponents have increasingly denounced a descent into dictatorship, nepotism and corruption under Ortega, who leads the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).
His vice president is also his wife, Rosario Murillo.
Last week, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet urged the UN’s Human Rights Council to hold the Ortega government to account for “serious violations committed since April 2018,” including the recent arrests.
Rallies demanding the resignation of Ortega and Murillo broke out that year, but a violent clampdown claimed 328 lives, according to rights bodies, while hundreds were imprisoned and some 100,000 Nicaraguans fled into exile.
Central America
El Niño could intensify global climate risks, warns World Meteorological Organization
Latin American countries, one of the regions in the world most affected by El Niño, must “take extreme precautions” and make use of so-called “climate intelligence” to mitigate the most severe impacts of the phenomenon, the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Celeste Saulo, told EFE on Tuesday.
With a 90% probability, El Niño is expected to return in the second half of this year, and a strong intensity cannot be ruled out.
As a result, the phenomenon could trigger intense rainfall and flooding in some areas, while causing droughts in others, leading to direct impacts on communities and a wide range of economic sectors, including fishing and agriculture.
Saulo said countries in the region have improved their scientific and institutional capacity to monitor and respond to El Niño, as well as to understand how it interacts with other climate variables, including those linked to climate change, in order to better forecast “more or less severe impacts.”
When describing likely consequences in South and Central America, the Argentine scientist first referred to the “Coastal El Niño,” as the phenomenon is known in Peru and Ecuador.
She explained that this event brings increased rainfall and ocean warming, which strongly affects the fishing industry.
She added that northern South America, Central America, and northeastern Brazil are typically exposed to below-normal rainfall or drought conditions. In past extreme episodes, El Niño has even affected the operational capacity of the Panama Canal and created serious water access and management challenges during severe droughts.
In contrast, southeastern South America—including southern Brazil, Paraguay, northern and northeastern Argentina, and Uruguay—can expect above-average rainfall, increasing the risk of flooding, severe storms, and landslides.
Given the potential for fear and misinformation among populations, Saulo urged people to “trust the institutions responsible for meteorological information,” stressing that national meteorological services are the official and authoritative sources in each country.
“These are the ultimate responsible authorities and the voices of expertise,” she emphasized.
The most recent El Niño episode occurred between 2023 and 2024 and was among the five strongest ever recorded, contributing to record global temperatures.
The WMO chief noted that climate models remain uncertain about the intensity of the next El Niño, though more accurate forecasts are expected in the coming weeks.
While climate change has not been proven to increase the frequency or intensity of El Niño events, scientists do know that both can interact and amplify extreme weather impacts, potentially leading to natural disasters.
Although Latin America is often heavily affected, El Niño impacts can also be felt in North America, the Caribbean, central and eastern Africa, parts of Asia, and Australia.
Central America
Northern Guatemala community warns of possible famine as dry season intensifies
As drought conditions intensify and the likelihood of an upcoming El Niño weather pattern increases, fear is spreading through an Indigenous village in northern Guatemala: the fear of starvation.
“If there is no rain, the crops will not grow. Whatever little we harvest we will eat, or we will have to buy it—if we have money. But if there is nothing, we will starve,” Cecilia Pasá told AFP.
The 38-year-old Maya woman, dressed in a colorful traditional handwoven outfit, has planted a small plot of corn a few meters from her adobe home, where she also raises small farm animals.
In Cunén, a mountainous and hard-to-reach area in the department of Quiché, nearly all of its approximately 47,000 residents live in poverty. Many communities rely on wells that are increasingly insufficient to meet basic water needs.
The region lies within the so-called Dry Corridor, an arid belt that stretches across parts of Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, and is highly vulnerable to extreme climate events.
It was one of the areas in Guatemala hardest hit by the food crisis triggered by El Niño in 2023, a situation that now threatens to repeat itself amid limited government assistance.
El Niño, which occurs every two to seven years, is part of a natural climate cycle that affects sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and can have significant global weather impacts.
The phenomenon is expected to develop between June and August, with effects likely to be felt worldwide in the following months.
Central America
Thousands of Teachers and Doctors Launch Nationwide Strike in Honduras
Thousands of public school teachers and healthcare workers launched a nationwide strike in Honduras on Monday amid ongoing labor and salary disputes with the government.
The protest action led to the suspension of classes in public schools and disrupted medical services at government-run healthcare facilities across the Central American country.
Union representatives said the strike was called in response to unresolved demands related to working conditions, salary adjustments and other labor concerns affecting employees in the education and health sectors.
As a result of the walkout, thousands of students were unable to attend classes, while patients faced delays and interruptions in medical care at public hospitals and clinics.
The strike represents one of the largest coordinated labor actions in recent months and highlights growing tensions between public sector workers and the Honduran government over employment conditions and compensation.
Authorities have not yet announced when normal operations in schools and healthcare facilities are expected to resume, while negotiations between union leaders and government officials remain ongoing.
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