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
El Salvador to host World Cup qualifiers vs. Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán
El Salvador’s national football team will host its final round World Cup qualifying matches against Guatemala and Panama at Estadio Cuscatlán, the honorary president of the National Sports Institute (INDES), Yamil Bukele, announced Thursday via a statement on his X account.
The official explained that this decision comes after the American rock band Guns N’ Roses, originally scheduled to perform at Estadio Cuscatlán on Saturday, October 4, will now hold their concert at Estadio Jorge “El Mágico” González. This change allows both of La Selecta’s qualifying matches to be played at the “Coloso de Monserrat.”
“After a series of efforts and in response to popular demand, we are pleased to announce that our senior national team’s CONCACAF World Cup qualifying matches next October (Oct. 10 vs. Panama and Oct. 14 vs. Guatemala) will take place at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement reads.
Bukele also thanked the event promoters and the band for agreeing to the stadium change. “We sincerely thank Guns N’ Roses and StarTicket for agreeing to move the concert originally scheduled for October 4 at Estadio Cuscatlán,” the statement adds.
Additionally, Bukele expressed gratitude to the FESFUT Regularization Commission for their efforts with CONCACAF to make this possible, and he urged fans to stay tuned to official channels to purchase tickets and support La Selecta in their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Central America
Honduran president Xiomara Castro suspends activities due to influenza
Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Thursday that she has “temporarily” suspended her public activities due to a severe influenza virus.
“A strong influenza virus requires me to rest, trusting that I will be fully recovered for the grand celebration of our National Independence Day” next Monday, Castro stated on the social media platform X.
The president had planned to participate in several inaugurations across the northern, central, and eastern regions of the country throughout the week. She added that “these events will be rescheduled for new dates.”
Central America
Nicaragua’s government expels bishops, priests, and nuns in religious persecution
At least 261 religious figures, including the president of the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference, Carlos Enrique Herrera, have been expelled as part of the persecution by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo’s regime against the Catholic Church, reported the NGO Colectivo Nicaragua Nunca Más in its report Faith Under Fire.
The report details that among those expelled are bishops Silvio Báez, Rolando Álvarez, Isidoro Mora, as well as the Apostolic Nuncio in Managua, Waldemar Stanislaw Sommertag, along with approximately 140 priests, over 90 nuns, ten seminarians, and three deacons from different dioceses in the country.
“Since the expulsion of Nuncio Sommertag in March 2022, relations between Nicaragua and the Vatican have significantly deteriorated,” the NGO noted.
The report also documents the closure of 5,609 non-profit organizations, of which 1,294 were religious, including churches, universities, schools, clinics, and humanitarian organizations. Most of these had their assets confiscated by the Sandinista government. Additionally, the telecommunications regulator TELCOR shut down 54 media outlets, including 22 religious radio stations and TV channels.
Repression has extended to other religious denominations, with forced disappearances and criminalization of evangelical pastors, control over temples, media censorship, fiscal pressure, property confiscation, and the cancellation of legal status for the Moravian Church. Pastor Rudy Palacios remains in detention as part of this pattern of persecution.
The NGO emphasized that churches, especially the Catholic Church, played a key role in the 2018 national dialogue, denouncing abuses and providing refuge to injured protesters, which fueled the government’s hostility.
In 2023, Pope Francis described Ortega’s regime as a “blatant dictatorship”, to which the Nicaraguan president responded by dissolving the Society of Jesus and labeling the Church as a “mafia” and “anti-democratic.”
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