Central America
Bukele and Argentine Minister Bullrich exchange their experiences on security
President Nayib Bukele received the Minister of Security of Argentina, Patricia Bullrich, in San Salvador, on Tuesday in a private meeting in which they exchanged their experiences on security and the fight against drug trafficking.
The Presidential House of El Salvador reported in an X message about the meeting that is part of a tour of the Central American country of the Argentine minister to “know the security methods” implemented by the Government of Bukele.
He added, without providing details, that “cooperation on security issues is getting closer and closer and we are sure that it will contribute to the well-being of both nations.”
For its part, the Ministry of Security of Argentina also indicated in X that Bullrich shared with the Salvadoran president about “the management that is being carried out in the fight against mafias and drug trafficking.”
In addition, he pointed out that the minister learned more about “the successful Salvadoran model” in reference to an emergency regime implemented to fight gangs.
He added that Bullrich also met with the vice president of El Salvador, Félix Ulloa, and thanked him for his collaboration in the visit made by the South American entourage.
In two days of visit to El Salvador, Bullrich visited the megaprison of the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot), met with the heads of the Police and the Attorney General’s Office.
Bullrich, the former electoral rival of the Argentine president, Javier Milei, congratulated Bukele on Tuesday through a video for “resturing peace and tranquility” to his country.
The administration of Milei and Bukele are close after the Argentine president assumed his position as president.
Milei was in El Salvador on June 1 in the context of Bukele’s inauguration for a second consecutive term despite being prohibited in the Constitution.
The security policy of the Bukele Government, which has broad popular support, has focused since 2022 on the suspension of constitutional guarantees and mass arrests of alleged gang members through an emergency regime.
This measure was approved by the Legislative Assembly at the request of the Executive in March 2022 after an escalation of murders that claimed the lives of more than 80 people in three days attributed to the gangs, but that journalistic investigations of the media El Faro indicate that it took place after the rupture of a pact between these gangs and the Government.
In fact, the United States Government has sanctioned officials of the Bukele Executive on accusations of coordinating meetings with gang members.
The aforementioned regime has left more than 80,000 arrests and more than 6,000 allegations of human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and torture.
Humanitarian organizations have also reported more than 300 deaths of detainees, most of them with signs of violence.
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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