Central America
Costa Rica crocodiles survive in ‘most polluted’ river
| By AFP | Alberto Peña |
In one of the most polluted rivers in Central America, a vulnerable crocodile species is thriving despite living in waters that have become a sewer for Costa Rica’s capital, experts say.
Every day, trash and wastewater from San Jose households and factories flood into the Tarcoles River, which vomits tires and plastic into the surrounding mangroves.
Nevertheless, some 2,000 American Crocodiles have adapted to life in the toxic river that bears witness to the country’s decades-long battle with waste management.
“It is a super-contaminated area, but this has not affected the crocodile population,” said Ivan Sandoval, a biologist with the National University of Costa Rica.
“The Tarcoles River is the most polluted river in Costa Rica, and one of the most contaminated in Central America. Heavy metals, nitrites, nitrates, and a large amount of human waste can be found,” added the crocodile expert.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are only about 5,000 of the crocodile species — found in 18 countries — left in the world after decades of hunting and habitat loss.
The organization lists the Crocodylus acutus as “vulnerable,” but says its numbers have increased in recent years. The Costa Rica population is “healthy and robust.”
Indeed, the large reptiles — basking in the sun and occasionally feeding on fish that come up the channel from the sea — appear unphased by some 150 types of bacteria that Sandoval says have been detected in the river.
He describes the carnivores as “living fossils” with the capacity to survive very tough conditions.
“They haven’t had to change anything in millions of years, they are perfectly designed.”
Laws not applied
Sandoval said that since 1980, Costa Rica’s population of the crocodiles “are recovering,” and warns of the threat of tourist activities.
The river’s crocodiles are a major draw for foreign visitors, who take boat tours to see the creatures up close.
Some feed the animals, which is prohibited, and Sandoval worries about them getting too used to being close to people.
Juan Carlos Buitrago, 48, who captains one of the tour boats, says he and other locals regularly pull hundreds of tires and plastic waste from the water.
He delights in the fauna of the river, with macaws flying over ahead at sunset, but wishes his countrymen would stop polluting his “office.”
“We cannot hide the pollution,” he tells AFP.
Costa Rica has impressive environmental credentials, with a third of its territory marked for protection, 98 percent renewable energy, and 53 percent forest cover, according to the UN’s environmental agency.
However, the law is not always strictly applied, as in the case of the Tarcoles River.
Lawyer and environmentalist Walter Brenes, 34, said that all of Costa Rica’s rules and regulations “do not solve the problem.”
He said the country needs “real public policy that is completely aimed at protecting wildlife.”
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.
Central America
Guatemala transfers top gang leaders to maximum security prison after funeral home massacre
At least 10 top leaders from the two main gangs operating in Guatemala were transferred in recent hours to a high-security prison, where they are now in isolation, following the murder of seven people at a funeral home on Tuesday night.
Guatemala’s Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez announced Thursday through official communication channels that the inmates moved are leaders of the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs, who, in his words, “believed they were untouchable.”
The prisoners were taken from several facilities to the Renovación I Maximum Security Detention Center, inaugurated under the current administration of President Bernardo Arévalo de León and located in the department of Escuintla, about 50 kilometers south of Guatemala City.
The transfer operation involved more than 800 National Civil Police (PNC) officers, who initially faced resistance from the inmates, Jiménez added.
The isolated Barrio 18 leaders include Aldo Duppie Ochoa Mejía (alias El Lobo), Wilder Rodríguez Aguilar, Mayro De León Hernández, Jarvin Leonel Itzoy Cruz, and Manuel de Jesús Rivas Granados.
Also transferred were Jair de León Hernández (alias El Diabólico), Amílcar Galileo Torres Rosales, Nixon Bantes González, Ronal Bosbeli Choc Alemán, and Ángel Gabriel Reyes Marroquín.
The move came after a massacre at a funeral home in the Guatemalan capital, allegedly carried out by members of Mara Salvatrucha while a wake was being held for a supposed Barrio 18 member murdered on Monday. The attack left seven dead and 12 injured.
Jiménez emphasized that the violence in Guatemala is driven by territorial disputes over street-level drug sales and warned: “We will not allow more victims to be created by this gang confrontation.”
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