Central America
For Honduran youth, US is the only escape from poverty
AFP
Wilmer Rodriguez’s mother, Lesly Madariaga, spent a sleepless night looking for him in the streets of Nueva Suyapa, a poor neighborhood in the hills surrounding the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.
But to no avail: like thousands of other young Hondurans trying to reach the United States in search of work, Rodriguez and a friend had stolen away in secret.
It was February 2020 but a month later he was back home.
Rodriguez, then 17, only got to Mexico before he was picked up by authorities and returned to Honduras.
“I want to go again, I still have the desire and it won’t leave my head until I pull it off,” Rodriguez told AFP.
“If they catch me one, two, three, four, five times again I’ll still keep trying because my dream is to support my family.”
In a country suffering from deep economic woes and rampant violence, and where more than half the population of 10 million lives in poverty, thousands expose themselves to the many risks of migration, not least from human traffickers and extortionists.
It can be a costly and fruitless exercise.
According to a recent report, Central American migrants spend around $2.2 billion a year trying to reach the US, most of which is paid to traffickers.
Around 50,000 Honduran migrants have been sent back home this year alone, according to official figures.
– ‘They’re all liars’ –
Hondurans will head to the polls Sunday to elect a successor to President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
After 12 years of right-wing Nationalist Party hegemony, some see in leftist former first lady Xiomara Castro an opportunity for change.
But not Rodriguez. No matter who wins, his dream will remain resolute.
“I don’t have much faith in politicians because the truth is, they’re all liars,” he said.
Now 18, he puts his faith instead in his ability to become “one of the great” barbers of the world — in the United States.
Upon his return to Honduras, Rodriguez trained to cut hair and is now employed in his neighborhood’s La Bendicion salon.
He has already won a pair of awards for his work.
In La Bendicion, the barber capes feature the US Stars and Stripes — if ever Rodriguez needed more encouragement.
He has not told his mother as much, but she suspects he again will seek to reach the US.
“I wouldn’t want to go through that process again,” she said. “I wouldn’t want him to run that risk.”
She believes “God always provides food,” but knows that is not enough for today’s dreamers.
“The youngsters leave for a better life because there is no work here in Honduras.”
– ‘My goal is to work’ –
There are two types of homes on the steep unpaved streets of Nueva Supaya: sturdy ones built of concrete blocks, whose owners have family abroad, and flimsy ones made of wooden or metal planks.
Rodriguez’s house measures no more than 20 square meters (215 square feet) but a dozen family members are crammed into its two rooms.
In the bedroom, blankets provide makeshift dividing walls. Rodriguez sleeps atop a bunk bed, his mother and sister below.
He earns money now, but not enough.
“It’s something, but just for me — not to support 12 people,” he said.
Still, he is determined not to fall into the trap that has seduced many others: gangs.
Like many Honduran neighborhoods, Nueva Suyapa is beset by the curse of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 gangs whose drug-trafficking and extortion-related violence force many young people to flee the country.
Local non-governmental groups run programs trying to keep youths out of harm’s way, and at home. But the lure from abroad is powerful.
“When children become youngsters they want to leave for other countries to look for better opportunities because here there are none,” said Rosa Maria Nieto, executive director of the Sharing Association.
“It creates great pain and suffering in families.”
Rodriguez says neighborhood younths are attracted to crime and “easy things” like selling drugs, although Rodriguez has always resisted.
“My goal is to work…. My house is my goal too. I know that one day I will build it.”
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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