Central America
Blinken calls for global cooperation on migration in Panama trip
AFP
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday sought greater cooperation in Latin America on migration, taking on a cause of growing political headaches that has only been exacerbated by the crisis in Ukraine.
The top US diplomat was paying a two-day trip to Panama, his first to Latin America this year, weeks before President Joe Biden’s administration ends pandemic restrictions that allowed swift expulsions to Mexico.
Opening talks with a generous dinner at the foreign ministry, Blinken and US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met with counterparts from more than 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere.
“This issue is a priority for the United States,” Blinken said, calling for a “safe, orderly and humane” way of migration.
“We care about the well-being of millions of people across the hemisphere who have made the desperate decision to leave their homes and communities in search of a better life,” he said.
“All of us bring our concerns to this discussion but also the shared sense of responsibility to meet the migration challenges throughout our region.”
Nearly 100 million people have fled their homes worldwide — a figure that Blinken noted is the highest since World War II.
The global crisis has been worsened by the startlingly fast displacement of millions of Ukrainians since Russia invaded in February.
In the United States, authorities apprehended more than 221,000 people on the Mexican border in March, the highest for a single month in more than two decades — an issue sure to be high on the agenda of Biden’s Republican rivals in upcoming congressional elections.
The spike comes as people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras flee dire poverty, rampant violence and natural disasters aggravated by climate change.
– Refocusing on region –
But the United States is far from the only nation in the hemisphere experiencing migration strains. Venezuela’s economic and political crisis has triggered an exodus of more than six million people, with neighboring Colombia taking the most.
Blinken signed with Panama an agreement to work together on migration, the second such pact after one last month with Costa Rica.
Panamanian Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes said that the trading nation — home to the dangerous Durian Gap that connects North and South America — saw a record of more than 130,000 migrants last year.
She doubted that migration would ease, pointing to the effects of climate change and the invasion of Ukraine.
“The difficult and harsh reality — our reality — puts us all in a scenario that demands collaboration,” she said.
“Coordinating our efforts is no longer optional. It’s a necessity.”
Brian Nichols, the top US diplomat for Latin America, said the Panama talks would seek to boost support to nations that welcome refugees, including through multinational institutions.
The Panama trip will also help lay the groundwork for a summit of Latin American leaders that Biden will lead in Los Angeles in June.
With Latin America rarely seen as a global security hotspot, the international community spends more than 10 times on each refugee from Syria compared with each Venezuelan migrant, according to a Brookings Institution study.
“There’s going to be less and less appetite from the international community to support migrants in the Western Hemisphere while we have a major migration crisis being provoked by Russia,” said Jason Marczak, an expert on Latin America at the Atlantic Council.
“We need to avoid that becoming an afterthought for the global community, so it’s really important to have Secretary Blinken along with Secretary Mayorkas there in Panama.”
Ukrainian refugees have received a warmer welcome in much of the West than did mostly Muslim migrants from Syria and Afghanistan.
Biden has promised to welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, drawing few protests from former president Donald Trump’s Republican Party, which has generally made opposition to immigration a core issue.
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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